(03-26-2021 02:05 PM)TripleA Wrote: Do most of you UC fans want him gone? I think so, but not sure.
I'm only speaking for myself.
I think Brannen is just in over-his-head at this level. I'm OK with "how" he was hired (this pisses off other people... It feels like he was hired quickly and out of convenience. Before UC, Brannen coached at NKU, who lent us their arena while 5/3 was being renovated.) He was successful at the D2 and Horizon level...what was "missing" was any coaching experience at a mid-major level. We hired Mick Cronin from Murray State in the OVC, for example. Brannen jumped from a low-level program to a high-level. To be honest, he came with a record of recent success
AND existing recruiting connections locally: it was a "natural" hire at the time.
Brannen was also handed a rough hand to work with. Mick Cronin left a core of established players but not much else. He had seemingly slacked off on recruiting, and most of the "Mick" players didn't seem to mesh well with Brannen and they all pretty much left. Factor in the COVID mess and the "Portal"...none of which Brannen could do anything about...and that makes it hard for any coach. Brannen's father died this past year and that also had to hurt.
But Brannen has had
NO HS recruits this year. Zip. Nada. None. Then the majority of his team opted out and/or left right after the season finished. I said at the time that it's not so much a "rebuild" now but an enema. Thank God, it wasn't worse: Brannen retained a core of 4 players but the rest of the program was going to have to be rebuilt from scratch anyway. For his part, Brannen doesn't seem to know "how" to act/react. During games, he's brooding and sulky; after the CCG blow-out against Houston, he stomped off the court before the game was even over and sat in the locker-room alone while his team shook hands and stayed on the court. The players who left the program seem to indicate that the main reason they left was "the coach," though specifics have been hard to come by. Brannen himself has been invisible in the wake of the departures; no reassuring comments, no "wishing the guys well," not even a "I'm looking forward to working with the guys who are returning." It's like BB season ended and Brannen left town like Ted Cruz going to Mexico in the wake of the Texas ice-storm...except Cruz quickly came back.
In the end, I think it's best if Brannen and UC each go their own way. I'd like to think that a smart coach would realize that the situation is untenable and negotiate a release...not a firing but a release...so that everyone could start fresh. Brannen could use a fresh start and I hope he gets one. UC needs a fresh start.
I wish Coach Brannen the best of luck...SOMEWHERE ELSE.