John Brannen

[bba_1979]

With a lot of "he said / he said" floating around, but nothing concrete, it's impossible to know what to believe. But I still can't understand how CJB has been a head coach at two universities for multiple years and until this crapshow hit there has been nothing negative said about him like is being said now. And the players who are complaining are all from one class...who never got a chance to experience a "normal" recruiting and bonding time together. Time spent isolated will usually foster a strengthening of negative thought. There has to be a lot more to this story that hopefully we will be told soon. I thought CJB was a good hire. It's been a tough first two years for him. The battle of wills with Jarron and the death of his father last year. The Covid-19 catastrophe this year. Not an ideal situation - one that definitely has no blueprint to follow. For those who are saying CJB seemed to have a "rage" on the sidelines, can you not remember Mick's outbursts? There is not a coach that hasn't been that way.

I'm not absolving CJB of all sins. Certainly it sounds as though things could have been handled better. But I'm still seeing a a group of immature 18 year olds (and maybe some parents too) who just didn't understand that this was no longer AAU ball.

As I read on another board, have to remember that Prez Pinto was at UofL during the Pitino/Jurich proceedings. Cunningham is a Pinto hire. There has to be a bond there that is giving the benefit of the doubt to Cunningham I would suppose.

Like many, I pray this doesn't negatively affect football / Coach Fickell.

[BearKatz]

[QUOTE=red_n_black_attack;n379901]

Kennedy and Cronin were pretty good coaches. Too bad Zimpher wanted a clean break from Huggs, because I think Andy could've thrived here.

Talk about somebody getting the Shaft.... Andy Kennedy did a great job taking the team over that year.... We should have made the tournament, and the HC Job should have been Kennedy's to lose...

[GoBearcats31]

The Skinny Podcast (Richard Skinner, Rick Broering + Chad Brendel) start discussing UC just after the 31 min. mark

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR...AAAAHQAAAAAQAQ


Have gotten about 10 mins in and the smear job on John Cunningham is the way it's going so far. I've yet to hear a local media member from Northern Kentucky take the other angle...

[coach]

With a lot of "he said / he said" floating around, but nothing concrete, it's impossible to know what to believe. But I still can't understand how CJB has been a head coach at two universities for multiple years and until this crapshow hit there has been nothing negative said about him like is being said now. And the players who are complaining are all from one class...who never got a chance to experience a "normal" recruiting and bonding time together. Time spent isolated will usually foster a strengthening of negative thought. There has to be a lot more to this story that hopefully we will be told soon. I thought CJB was a good hire. It's been a tough first two years for him. The battle of wills with Jarron and the death of his father last year. The Covid-19 catastrophe this year. Not an ideal situation - one that definitely has no blueprint to follow. For those who are saying CJB seemed to have a "rage" on the sidelines, can you not remember Mick's outbursts? There is not a coach that hasn't been that way.

I'm not absolving CJB of all sins. Certainly it sounds as though things could have been handled better. But I'm still seeing a a group of immature 18 year olds (and maybe some parents too) who just didn't understand that this was no longer AAU ball.

As I read on another board, have to remember that Prez Pinto was at UofL during the Pitino/Jurich proceedings. Cunningham is a Pinto hire. There has to be a bond there that is giving the benefit of the doubt to Cunningham I would suppose.

Like many, I pray this doesn't negatively affect football / Coach Fickell.

I'm in this camp, but furthermore unless you have concrete allegations you can terminate someone for, or 5mm to pay them this is the dumbest route and worse timing in history. You have kids all over hitting this portal and it's not like we're alone. Even if you do not want someone you don't play this hand unless you can win it. They're going to look awful stupid if they don't. If you don't, you sure as heck don't cut the legs out form under your coach to where you can't recruit. I fear this Cunningham is long on compliance and short on working common sense.

[RedDog]

With a lot of "he said / he said" floating around, but nothing concrete, it's impossible to know what to believe. But I still can't understand how CJB has been a head coach at two universities for multiple years and until this crapshow hit there has been nothing negative said about him like is being said now. And the players who are complaining are all from one class...who never got a chance to experience a "normal" recruiting and bonding time together. Time spent isolated will usually foster a strengthening of negative thought. There has to be a lot more to this story that hopefully we will be told soon. I thought CJB was a good hire. It's been a tough first two years for him. The battle of wills with Jarron and the death of his father last year. The Covid-19 catastrophe this year. Not an ideal situation - one that definitely has no blueprint to follow. For those who are saying CJB seemed to have a "rage" on the sidelines, can you not remember Mick's outbursts? There is not a coach that hasn't been that way.

I'm not absolving CJB of all sins. Certainly it sounds as though things could have been handled better. But I'm still seeing a a group of immature 18 year olds (and maybe some parents too) who just didn't understand that this was no longer AAU ball.

As I read on another board, have to remember that Prez Pinto was at UofL during the Pitino/Jurich proceedings. Cunningham is a Pinto hire. There has to be a bond there that is giving the benefit of the doubt to Cunningham I would suppose.

Like many, I pray this doesn't negatively affect football / Coach Fickell.

With all the crap I have read for the last 3 weeks and resisted responding to, this is finally a post that I can endorse. Right on bba!

[Lobot]

So we have defaulted to blindly assuming this quote from an anonymous player is 100% true? Unbelievable!

#mobmentality

Even if it was true, what does that say about the medical staff? Afraid of John Brannen??? What a joke.

I'm not blindly assuming it it's 100% true. But if it is, undermining the medical staff would be huge no no.

As far as them being afraid of John Brannen, he's makes more money than all of them which could put him in a position to get staff fired.

Whether this is 100% true or 50/50 or 0% true doesn't matter at this point to be completely honest. There is no path back to the HC position for Brannen at this point except maybe by court order. It doesn't matter if they have cause or not except from a money standpoint. In my opinion this situation is so untenable at this point that no one's going to rescue it. I don't know who started it and how it got this bad to be sure but it's now a situation that's in the hands out of outside counsel on both sides.

[longtimefan]

The Skinny Podcast (Richard Skinner, Rick Broering + Chad Brendel) start discussing UC just after the 31 min. mark

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR...AAAAHQAAAAAQAQ


Have gotten about 10 mins in and the smear job on John Cunningham is the way it's going so far. I've yet to hear a local media member from Northern Kentucky take the other angle...

Total waste of time. These guys are supposed to be sports journalists with inside info, but nothing on here but uneducated guesses you can get anywhere. Outside of Williams at The Athletic, nothing is really coming out.

[MDW79]

I can't see anyway this ends up well for John Cunningham and UC.

Fwiw, here's my best guess at what's actually gone down:

1.) John Cunningham and John Brannen weren't exactly friendly to begin with.
2.) Cunningham gets word players are unhappy. Cunningham isn't happy with the current record, or this news. He starts seriously considering how to move on from Brannen. He starts looking into things and interviews players.
3.) Players opt-out day after season. This cements things for Cunningham. He knows at this point he wants to fire John Brannen.
4.) Knowing he doesn't have enough for just cause, he tries to bully Brannen into a lowered settlement with that he does have. Perhaps it's a lowball offer.
5.) It's a staring match at this point. (This is why there was a week without any statement from the University). Brannen calls his bluff and says no. Then UC announces it has hired an ousider investigator to look into allegations.
6.) Still a staring match. Brannen calls their bluff again. UC puts Brannen on administrative leave.
7.) Tom Mars publicly appears. Both sides are trading blows in the media (Mars + Brannen = Jeremy Rouche, Cunningham + UC = The Athletic)

I think Cunningham has known all along they didn't have a clear case to fire for his cause. I think he wanted Brannen outta here and I think he's been working towards that for quite some time (before the end of the season). I think he tried to strong-arm Brannen into settling for 50% or less than what it was owed, and I think Brannen called his bluff. And I think it's been posturing ever since.

I could be wrong about some of it, but not all of it. At least I don't think. And I'm pretty sure when this all said and done we're going to be left with Cunningham screwing this from the start.

I think the best case at this point is that we get off paying Brannen at least 50% of his buyout + our legal fees + the damage done to program by how this has played out. Essentially, the best case scenario is saving 1-2 million dollars total for torpedo'ing your basketball program

Worst case scenario, and I almost think it's more likely, is that we end up spending just as much if not more to fire him now. When it's all said and done, we will have saved no money whatsoever in waiting these 3+ weeks. In the short term there is no gain,and in the long-term there's significant losses as a result of this fiasco.

[Rufus]

Regardless of what prompted this whole mess and regardless of there is any infractions or not the damage has already been done to both the program and to JB's career. The bball program has now been put back to the Ed Badger/ Tony Yates era. No one in their right mind would be willing to come here to play or coach after watching this debacle. UC bball has officially been dismantled.

[red_n_black_attack]

Regardless of what prompted this whole mess and regardless of there is any infractions or not the damage has already been done to both the program and to JB's career. The bball program has now been put back to the Ed Badger/ Tony Yates era. No one in their right mind would be willing to come here to play or coach after watching this debacle. UC bball has officially been dismantled.

With or without Brannen, the roster has been dismantled. Players want to wear the C-Paw and attend a great university. I think it is a little far to say the program has been dismantled. This is dragging on a long time, yet the right hire could turn things around quickly. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that in addition to the glut of players in the transfer portal, a lot of recruits have not been signed. There is still time to recruit good players and even out the classes a little, even if this drags on until April 15th. Add in that Davenport, Woods, Lahkin, and DeJulius are here, along with slim possibility that 1 or 2 portal players choose to stay. We could be more than decent next year and fully back in 22/23. It will hinge on the right hire, and there are several young head coaches or top assistants to choose from.

Pitino is not one of the options.

[Lobot]

Brian Fox at Bearcat Sports Radio (an attorney) just mentioned that there has to be a 14 day notice of hearing prior to termination. The question becomes did they have it yet? Was Brannen put on leave pending the hearing? If it’s pending the hearing we’ve got two more weeks of this.

[Lobot]

Brian Fox at Bearcat Sports Radio (an attorney) just mentioned that there has to be a 14 day notice of hearing prior to termination. The question becomes did they have it yet? Was Brannen put on leave pending the hearing? If it’s pending the hearing we’ve got two more weeks of this.

https://twitter.com/bearcatsradio/st...534327297?s=21

[GoBearcats31]

Brian Fox at Bearcat Sports Radio (an attorney) just mentioned that there has to be a 14 day notice of hearing prior to termination. The question becomes did they have it yet? Was Brannen put on leave pending the hearing? If it’s pending the hearing we’ve got two more weeks of this.

This is Brian's time to shine and he's had some good, measured posts during this... but I'm still trying to figure out why he is part of the "media." I am not aware of any "radio." Seems like he just gets a credential for BB and FB games and access to media-accessible events. Maybe I'm wrong.

[GoBearcats31]

Justin Williams will be on with Mo Egger this afternoon around 4:05 p.m. ET (espn1530.com/listen)

[GoBearcats31]

JB's attorney speaks with The Enquirer https://www.cincinnati.com/story/spo...uc/7088363002/

Among other quotes, he says: "The UC lawyers still haven’t spoken with Coach Brannen, and neither has John Cunningham." Well, once the lawyers get involved, lawyers speak to lawyers. It would be wrong for UC lawyers (or Cunningham) to speak with Brannen at this point. Tom Mars knows this, but it's a good quote to help spin their side of things.