NKU’s Brannen introduced as new UC coach
He promises to ‘push the basketball and play fast offensively.’
Cincinnati CINCINNATI — basketball fans who didn’t care much for Mick Cronin’s emphasis on defense should like what John Brannen plans for the Bearcats starting next season.
“Our style of play will invigorate the fan base and capture your heart,” Brannen said pointedly Monday.
The newly hired coach from Northern Kentucky University was quick to address one of UC fans’ major concerns — “So everyone wants to know about style of play, right?” — at his introductory news conference at Fifth Third Arena.
With some fans questioning why UC didn’t hire a coach with UC connections or one with a national reputation, Brannen and Athletic Director Mike Bohn found themselves on the spot. Brannen tried to put them at ease, promising to “push the basketball and play fast offensively.”
“It will be wrapped around 94 feet both ways,” Brannen said of his team’s new style. “We’ll get out there and we’ll press fullcourt. We’ll attack offensively in transition. Doesn’t mean we’ll take quick shots. We’ll take the first available good shot.”
As for Bohn, he said the search for Cronin’s replacement was exhaustive, but no matter where he looked, the coach working 10 miles across the river stayed at the top of his list.
“It’s real similar to a search I did at another institution at one time — people say, ‘Ah, it’s just a local guy,’ ” Bohn said. “Yeah, he is a local leader and a guy with incredible talent.”
Bohn said whenever he compared Brannen to other candidates, “he emerged every single time. It’s like, ‘Well that guy doesn’t trump John. That guy doesn’t trump John. This model doesn’t trump John.’
“No one ever trumped John Brannen, and I think that’s what was so impressive,” Bohn said.
Brannen, 45, called coaching at UC “a dream job.” The Alexandria, Kentucky, native who put NKU on the college basketball map in his four years there said it’s been “an emotional time” transitioning from his first head coaching job, but that he is humbled, honored and energized.
“I’m very excited to get started,” Brannen said. “What you’re going to get is tremendous energy. I’m not the smartest guy, I’m not the greatest at everything, but they’re gonna get tremendous work, and the guys will feel that. Nobody will outwork us. Nobody.”
But Brannen and Bohn realize that Brannen faces a much different task than he had at NKU.
Brannen had unmatched success in helping NKU make the jump from Division II to active status in Division I. Brannen led the Norse to two NCAA Tournaments, two Horizon League Tournament and regular-season championships and one NIT appearance in the past three years.
At UC, though, he’ll be trying to build on the success of a big-name program (that’ll be Oscar Robertson sitting behind the bench) — one that won two NCAA championships in the 1960s, went to six Final Fours, plays a tougher schedule, and has a much larger fan base with much higher expectations.
Even though the Bearcats made the NCAA Tournament the past nine years under Cronin, many fans weren’t satisfied that Cronin couldn’t advance them past the first weekend in the past seven years.