TicketsBy Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI – When then-Northern Kentucky basketball coach John Brannen was told that he would be sharing BB&T Arena with the University of Cincinnati Bearcats for the 2017-18 season while UC's arena was being renovated he wasn't happy.
"I was not excited," Brannen said. "We had just come off an NCAA Tournament and I felt like we had a tremendous brand building. I didn't want the Cincinnati brand to come into Northern Kentucky at the time."
As it turned out, Brannen said, the temporary arrangement worked out better than he had hoped it would. Now, two years later, Brannen has become the custodian of the UC brand after he was named the 27th coach in Bearcats basketball history.
Brannen began his introductory press conference Monday with a recitation of the major accomplishments of a UC program that ranks 13th nationally in all-time wins.
"Two national titles, six Final Fours, eight Elite Eights, 31 All-Americans, 57 NBA draft picks and counting," Brannen said. "That'll humble any coach."
Brannen's familiarity with UC's history was impressive, but what's more likely to win over those UC fans was his intention to speed things up when the Bearcats have the ball.
"Our style of play will invigorate the fan base and capture your hearts," Brannen said. "It'll be wrapped around 94 feet both ways. We'll get after it and we'll press. We'll attack offensively in transition. It doesn't mean we'll take quick shots. We'll take the first available good shot. Defensively, we want to wear you out and go deep in the shot clock, which is a tradition defensively of Cincinnati basketball. It wins games. We will push the basketball and play fast offensively. A term we're going to use in our program is 'chance favors the aggressor.' We'll be an aggressive basketball team."
Brannen, 45, went 81-51 in four seasons as the head coach at Northern Kentucky University, including a 72-30 record with two NCAA Tournament appearances and one appearance in the National Invitation Tournament appearance after NKU moved up from Division II to Division I in 2016.
He checked all the boxes as the successor to Cronin, who went 296-147 in 13 seasons at his alma mater before moving on last week to become the head coach at UCLA. Like Cronin, Brannen grew up in Greater Cincinnati, having been born and raised in Alexandria, Ky. He's a graduate of Newport Central Catholic High School.
The new UC coach will face high expectations right away as he takes over a program that won 89 games over the past three seasons, winning one American Athletic Conference regular-season championship and two AAC tournament titles during that time. Under Cronin, UC was one of only six schools that played in the last nine NCAA Tournaments. But his teams were unable to make a deep run in the tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16 only. That was in 2012.
Brannen will be expected to change that.
"Our goal is to build upon the tradition," Brannen said. "Our goal is to continue Final Fours, national championships. That's the understanding and that's what we will push forward to each and every day."
Eight of the 12 returning players from last year's 28-7 Bearcats team were able to attend Monday's press conference – including AAC Player of the Year Jarron Cumberland - and were immediately addressed by Brannen.
"To the players that are here, what will permeate the hallways of Fifth Third Arena will be their trust in each other," Brannen said, "believing and investing without knowing the outcome. Right now, that trust is probably tested. They don't know what the outcome is going to be. We've got to build that over time. That won't be built in one day. We had great meetings yesterday. We'll get to work tomorrow on the court.
"The second thing is toughness, mental and physical. Physical toughness has its limits. Mental toughness is unlimited. This basketball program has been branded in toughness since the day I grew up."
Senior forward Trevon Scott, who spent four years playing under Cronin, said he was sorry to see his former coach go, but was looking forward to playing for Brannen.
"It was emotional," Scott said of Cronin's departure, "but at the end of the day I knew he wasn't going to be my coach for the rest of my life. I wish him the best of luck. In high school I had three coaches. I'm used to it. I'm ready to get to work with my brothers.
"I'm excited to work with (Brannen). When I was in high school, he recruited me at the University of Alabama. I know what type of guy he is. The things he was talking about, like he was going to change things offensively and the pace of the game, that's right up every basketball player's alley."
UC athletic director Mike Bohn said Brannen was at or near the top of his list of candidates from the beginning of the search.
"We have watched John and have been fortunate enough to see his work first-hand, so obviously John was a clear leader on our list that we wanted to look at," Bohn said. "But we scrubbed the entire nation. He emerged (on top) every single time. It was like, that guy doesn't trump John, this guy doesn't' trump John. No one ever trumped John Brannen. That's what was so impressive."
Brannen began his playing career at Morehead State, then transferred to Marshall, where he played under current Oklahoma City Thunder coach Billy Donovan for two seasons. He was the Southern Conference Player of the Year in 1997 when he averaged 20.9 points per game and scored 1,008 points in two seasons with the Thundering Herd. He was a Rhodes Scholar finalist, earning a degree in Business Management.
He began his coaching career in 1999 as an assistant at Charleston after playing two seasons of professional basketball in Belgium. He made stops as an assistant at Eastern Kentucky, St. Bonaventure, VCU and Alabama before becoming the head coach at NKU in 2015.
Brannen is well versed in Cincinnati's basketball culture. He talked at his press conference about playing in pick-up games at UC and recounted a story about when he was guarding former UC great Pat Cummings, whom he described as "a mountain of a man." As Brannen recalled, Cummings went up for a rebound only to see Kenyon Martin, the 2000 National Player of the Year, soar above him, snare the offensive rebound and dunk it.
"I was in complete awe," Brannen said.
Now it's Brannen's turn to add to the lore of a storied basketball program that has been home to Hall of Famers such as Oscar Robertson and Jack Twyman among many other greats. He knows his success, like the success of every college coach, will depend on his ability to recruit top players. He said he can't wait to get started.
"To all the recruits out there in Ohio, in Indiana and beyond," he said, "we're coming."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at the Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January, 2015.
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI – When then-Northern Kentucky basketball coach John Brannen was told that he would be sharing BB&T Arena with the University of Cincinnati Bearcats for the 2017-18 season while UC's arena was being renovated he wasn't happy.
"I was not excited," Brannen said. "We had just come off an NCAA Tournament and I felt like we had a tremendous brand building. I didn't want the Cincinnati brand to come into Northern Kentucky at the time."
As it turned out, Brannen said, the temporary arrangement worked out better than he had hoped it would. Now, two years later, Brannen has become the custodian of the UC brand after he was named the 27th coach in Bearcats basketball history.
Brannen began his introductory press conference Monday with a recitation of the major accomplishments of a UC program that ranks 13th nationally in all-time wins.
"Two national titles, six Final Fours, eight Elite Eights, 31 All-Americans, 57 NBA draft picks and counting," Brannen said. "That'll humble any coach."
Brannen's familiarity with UC's history was impressive, but what's more likely to win over those UC fans was his intention to speed things up when the Bearcats have the ball.
"Our style of play will invigorate the fan base and capture your hearts," Brannen said. "It'll be wrapped around 94 feet both ways. We'll get after it and we'll press. We'll attack offensively in transition. It doesn't mean we'll take quick shots. We'll take the first available good shot. Defensively, we want to wear you out and go deep in the shot clock, which is a tradition defensively of Cincinnati basketball. It wins games. We will push the basketball and play fast offensively. A term we're going to use in our program is 'chance favors the aggressor.' We'll be an aggressive basketball team."
Brannen, 45, went 81-51 in four seasons as the head coach at Northern Kentucky University, including a 72-30 record with two NCAA Tournament appearances and one appearance in the National Invitation Tournament appearance after NKU moved up from Division II to Division I in 2016.
He checked all the boxes as the successor to Cronin, who went 296-147 in 13 seasons at his alma mater before moving on last week to become the head coach at UCLA. Like Cronin, Brannen grew up in Greater Cincinnati, having been born and raised in Alexandria, Ky. He's a graduate of Newport Central Catholic High School.
The new UC coach will face high expectations right away as he takes over a program that won 89 games over the past three seasons, winning one American Athletic Conference regular-season championship and two AAC tournament titles during that time. Under Cronin, UC was one of only six schools that played in the last nine NCAA Tournaments. But his teams were unable to make a deep run in the tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16 only. That was in 2012.
Brannen will be expected to change that.
"Our goal is to build upon the tradition," Brannen said. "Our goal is to continue Final Fours, national championships. That's the understanding and that's what we will push forward to each and every day."
Eight of the 12 returning players from last year's 28-7 Bearcats team were able to attend Monday's press conference – including AAC Player of the Year Jarron Cumberland - and were immediately addressed by Brannen.
"To the players that are here, what will permeate the hallways of Fifth Third Arena will be their trust in each other," Brannen said, "believing and investing without knowing the outcome. Right now, that trust is probably tested. They don't know what the outcome is going to be. We've got to build that over time. That won't be built in one day. We had great meetings yesterday. We'll get to work tomorrow on the court.
"The second thing is toughness, mental and physical. Physical toughness has its limits. Mental toughness is unlimited. This basketball program has been branded in toughness since the day I grew up."
Senior forward Trevon Scott, who spent four years playing under Cronin, said he was sorry to see his former coach go, but was looking forward to playing for Brannen.
"It was emotional," Scott said of Cronin's departure, "but at the end of the day I knew he wasn't going to be my coach for the rest of my life. I wish him the best of luck. In high school I had three coaches. I'm used to it. I'm ready to get to work with my brothers.
"I'm excited to work with (Brannen). When I was in high school, he recruited me at the University of Alabama. I know what type of guy he is. The things he was talking about, like he was going to change things offensively and the pace of the game, that's right up every basketball player's alley."
UC athletic director Mike Bohn said Brannen was at or near the top of his list of candidates from the beginning of the search.
"We have watched John and have been fortunate enough to see his work first-hand, so obviously John was a clear leader on our list that we wanted to look at," Bohn said. "But we scrubbed the entire nation. He emerged (on top) every single time. It was like, that guy doesn't trump John, this guy doesn't' trump John. No one ever trumped John Brannen. That's what was so impressive."
Brannen began his playing career at Morehead State, then transferred to Marshall, where he played under current Oklahoma City Thunder coach Billy Donovan for two seasons. He was the Southern Conference Player of the Year in 1997 when he averaged 20.9 points per game and scored 1,008 points in two seasons with the Thundering Herd. He was a Rhodes Scholar finalist, earning a degree in Business Management.
He began his coaching career in 1999 as an assistant at Charleston after playing two seasons of professional basketball in Belgium. He made stops as an assistant at Eastern Kentucky, St. Bonaventure, VCU and Alabama before becoming the head coach at NKU in 2015.
Brannen is well versed in Cincinnati's basketball culture. He talked at his press conference about playing in pick-up games at UC and recounted a story about when he was guarding former UC great Pat Cummings, whom he described as "a mountain of a man." As Brannen recalled, Cummings went up for a rebound only to see Kenyon Martin, the 2000 National Player of the Year, soar above him, snare the offensive rebound and dunk it.
"I was in complete awe," Brannen said.
Now it's Brannen's turn to add to the lore of a storied basketball program that has been home to Hall of Famers such as Oscar Robertson and Jack Twyman among many other greats. He knows his success, like the success of every college coach, will depend on his ability to recruit top players. He said he can't wait to get started.
"To all the recruits out there in Ohio, in Indiana and beyond," he said, "we're coming."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at the Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January, 2015.