The Cincinnati Bearcats didn’t have to look far to find their new head basketball coach, heck they played their 2017-18 home game in his arena and because of Northern Kentucky’s hospitality have a home and home that will be in at NKU this upcoming season, but next year John Brannen will be leading the Cincinnati Bearcats. Cronin left for UCLA and Brannen drove up 471 to Cincinnati.
✍️#Bearcats pic.twitter.com/xm0jNM3Pl1
— Cincinnati Men’s Hoops (@GoBearcatsMBB) April 14, 2019
Drew McDonald on what it's like playing for John Brannen: "He's going to play fast. He used the term '94-feet both ways.' He's going to press the ball and push the ball. 70% of the practice will be defense, but he knows the game better (offensively) than anyone I've been around."
— Joe Danneman (@FOX19Joe) April 14, 2019
Cincinnati makes it official: John Brannen is the next head coach at UC. “It's truly an honor to take over such a storied program at the University of Cincinnati.” Brannen said in a release he's excited “to build on the historic success of Bearcats basketball." @WLWT #Bearcats
— Brandon Saho (@BrandonSaho) April 14, 2019
Brannen’s deal is 6 years, $1.5 million base annual salary. @Enquirer
— Jason Williams (@jwilliamscincy) April 14, 2019
Per GoBearcats:
Brannen took Northern Kentucky University to unprecedented success as the school’s athletics department underwent reclassification. Since earning active Division I status eligibility prior to the start of the 2016-17 season, the Norse men’s basketball program has compiled a 72-30 overall record under Brannen, making three consecutive postseason appearances (NCAA Tournament [2017, 2019], NIT [2018]), winning back-to-back Horizon League regular-season championships (2018, 2019) and claiming a pair of conference tournament titles (2017, 2019). No other school in the nation has enjoyed NKU’s amount of success in its first three years with active status at the Division I level.
“We are thrilled to welcome John, his wife Lisa and their daughters, Jaylee and Katelyn, to the Bearcats family,” Bohn said. “He has a proven record as a head coach, longtime ties to the local community and coaches an exciting style of basketball. We were impressed with his passion, drive, determination and basketball acumen during the interview process where he truly emerged as the best coach to lead the Cincinnati basketball program with a bright future.”
Brannen, whose coaching career spans 20 seasons, owns an 82-52 career record as head coach. He registered an 81-51 ledger in four seasons at NKU and a 1-1 mark as Alabama’s interim head coach at the end of the 2014-15 campaign.
The 2017 Horizon League Coach of the Year, Brannen led the Norse to a 24-11 record in 2016-17, the Horizon League Tournament title and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the school’s first season of active status eligibility. NKU’s win total was an improvement of 15 victories from the previous season, marking the third-best turnaround in the nation behind only UCLA and Minnesota.
Brannen guided NKU to a 22-10 mark, the Horizon League regular-season championship and an NIT appearance in 2017-18. Last season, NKU posted a Division I-era record 26 wins with eight losses, claiming the league regular-season championship and tournament title and its second NCAA Tournament appearance in three years.
“It’s truly an honor to take over such a storied program at the University of Cincinnati,” Brannen said. “The Cincinnati-northern Kentucky community is special to my family and we are happy to remain at home. I want to thank President Pinto, Mike Bohn and the search committee for this opportunity. We are thrilled to join a world-class University and continue to build on the historic success of Bearcats basketball and the incredible lineage of former coaches.”
Brannen’s players have earned 10 Horizon League postseason accolades, highlighted by Drew McDonald receiving league player of the year honors this past season. NKU finished 2018-19 ranked 11th in the nation in both total assists (592) and assists per game (16.9). The Norse also ranked nationally in field goal shooting percentage (27th at .478), scoring margin (28th at +9.6), assist-to-turnover ratio (32nd at 1.34), three-point shooting defense (34th at .314), rebound margin (43rd at +4.5) and scoring offense (44th at 78.5 points).
