John Brannen
John Brannen (born January 18, 1974)
Current position: Program analyst and senior special assistant
Current team: Dayton Flyers (Head coach: Anthony Grant)
Current conference: Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10)
Teams coached: Alabama Crimson Tide, Northern Kentucky Norse, Cincinnati Bearcats
Alabama record: 1-1 (.500)
Northern Kentucky record: 81-51 (.614)
Cincinnati record: 32-21 (.604)
Overall record: 114-73 (.610)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 2 (2017, 2019)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 1 (2018)
- AAC Regular Season Champion: 1 (2020)
- Horizon League Regular Season Champion: 2 (2018, 2019)
- Horizon League Tournament Champion: 2 (2017, 2019)
Awards:
- Horizon League Coach of the Year: 1 (2017)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
2022-present | Dayton (special asst) |
2019-2021 | Cincinnati |
2015-2019 | Northern Kentucky |
2015 | Alabama (interim HC) |
2013-2015 | Alabama (assoc. HC) |
2009-2013 | Alabama (asst) |
2006-2009 | VCU (asst) |
2003-2006 | St. Bonaventure (asst) |
2000-2003 | Eastern Kentucky (asst) |
1999-2000 | Charleston (WV) (asst) |
John Brannen Facts
- John Brannen
- Born January 18, 1974
- Hometown: Alexandria, Kentucky
- Alma Mater: Marshall University (BA, 1997)
- Transferred to Marshall in 1995 from Morehead State to finish his degree and playing career; played for the Thundering Herd under head coaches Billy Donovan and Greg White
- Played professionally in Belgium for two seasons before getting an assistant coaching position at D-II Charleston (WV) in 1999
- Spent three seasons each as an assistant under Travis Ford at Eastern Kentucky and Anthony Solomon at St. Bonaventure before joining Anthony Grant‘s staff at VCU in 2006; Grant has been one of Brannen’s assistant coaches his junior year at Marshall
- Was on Grant‘s staff for nine seasons total at both VCU and Alabama, spending 2013-15 as associate head coach
- When Grant was fired following the 2015 SEC Tournament, Brannen became interim head coach for the 2015 NIT
- The Tide won their first game before being eliminated in the second round by Miami (FL)
- When Grant was fired following the 2015 SEC Tournament, Brannen became interim head coach for the 2015 NIT
- In the off-season, Brannen returned to his home state as the new head coach of at Northern Kentucky; NKU was entering its first season of Horizon League play after transitioning to Division I (and the A-Sun) in 2012
- The 2016-17 team won the Horizon League Tournament as the 4-seed, earning a NCAA Tournament bid in the program’s first year of eligibility
- In his second year, Brannen led the Norse to a Horizon regular season title and a NIT berth and went back to the NCAA Tournament in year three by way of another Horizon Tournament crown
- Hired in April 2019 to be the head coach at Cincinnati
- Led the Bearcats to a share of the 2020 AAC title in his first season, going 20-10 overall
- Following the 2020-21 season, a number of Bearcats’ players decided to transfer from the program amid rumors of a major rift between Brannen and the players; on April 3rd, the school announced that Brannen had been placed on paid administrative leave
- On April 9th, the school announced that it had fired Brannen after two seasons; he was 32-21 overall
- Reunited with Grant in September 2022, becoming a program analyst and senior special assistant for the Dayton Flyers
- Along with his wife, Lisa, has two twin daughters
John Brannen Coaching Tree
- Ronald Nored (Long Island Nets)
- David Ragland (Evansville)