John Brannen (basketball)
John Brannen (born January 18, 1974) is an American basketball coach. He was most recently the men's basketball coach of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Brannen previously spent four seasons as the head coach for the Northern Kentucky University Norse. Before that he spent nine seasons as an assistant coach to Anthony Grant at both VCU and Alabama. For the Tide's two games in the 2015 National Invitation Tournament, Brannen served as interim head coach. Coaching career. Brannen held assistant coaching positions at Charleston, Eastern Kentucky and St. Bonaventure before being hired by former Marshall  assistant Anthony Grant, who had just been named head coach at VCU. Brannen spent three seasons at VCU before following Grant to Alabama, where he was an assistant for six seasons (the last two as associate head coach). When Grant was fired following the Tide's 2015 SEC Tournament loss, Brannen was named interim head coach for the team's NIT appearance. The Tide were knocked out of the tournament by Miami in the second round following a first round home win over Illinois. Northern Kentucky. Brannen is a Kentucky native and was named the head coach of NKU, the  fifth in program history, on April 7, 2015. In 2017, Brannen led the Norse to the Horizon League championship and the NCAA tournament in the school's first season of full Division I eligibility, the first team since 1970 to do so. Brannen was also named the 2017 Coach of the Year in the Horizon League. In his four season with the Norse Brannen earned two NCAA berths, two Horizon League regular season titles, and two Horizon League tournament championships. Cincinnati. On April 14, 2019, Brannen was named the new head coach of Cincinnati. In his first season, Brannen lead  the Bearcats to a 20–10 record earning a share of the regular season American Athletic Conference title and the 1st overall seed in the conference tournament. However, the season was abruptly ended due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Bearcats were led by Jarron Cumberland and Trevon Scott, playing in a 2019–20 season record seven overtime games over the course of the season. With a new roster and added struggles including a 25 day COVID-19 pause, the Bearcats ended Brannen's second year fifth overall in the regular season with a 12–11 overall record. The team did make a surprise  run to the conference tournament championship game before losing to an eventual Final Four team in Houston. Dismissal. Within two days after the conference tournament championship, the Bearcats saw six players enter the transfer portal. On March 26, the AD John Cunningham announced the university would begin investigating allegations against the program. On April 3, it was announced that Brannen was placed on indefinite leave. On April 9, Cincinnati announced John Brannen had been relieved of his duties effective immediately. Playing career. Brannen played at Newport Central Catholic High School in Newport, Kentucky, followed by a college career at Morehead  State before transferring to Marshall for his final two seasons. As a junior, Brannen would play with teammate Jason Williams and was coached by Billy Donovan and then assistant Gregg Marshall. As a senior, Brannen led the Southern Conference in scoring and was named the league tournament MVP. Brannen played two seasons of professional basketball in Belgium's First Division before returning to the States to begin his coaching career. Personal life. Brannen is married to the former Lisa Elswick, with whom he has twin daughters. He is originally from Alexandria, Kentucky. He received his bachelor's degree in business  management from Marshall University in 1997 and was a Rhodes Scholar finalist as a college senior.