(05-26-2021 12:22 AM)Bearhawkeye Wrote: Thanks. I can certainly accept that Brannen didn't always see eye-to-eye with the entire medical/athletic staff. That's far from ideal but I'm sure it happens quite a bit at many many places. In fact, a little tension might be a good thing although this anonymous version certainly makes it seem like there were probably multiple very broken relationships and things may well have become dysfunctional. Ideally, they all work it out and part of that responsibility is certainly Brannen's. But it also sounds like there were even some big divisions within the medical/athletic training staff:
Quote:For example, the athletic trainer tells Coach Brannen on January 18, 2021 @ 9:27 pm that his players have a “if you don’t feel good, don’t practice” mentality and then says “these guys just encourage each other not to practice if they don’t feel good or something hurts.” There are other text messages from the trainer to Coach Brannen with similar observations about the team as a whole and certain individual players.
But they all have a job to do. Even if Brannen did once say "F the heart monitors" according to that great source "anonymous", there's no evidence that he banned them or stopped them from being worn. In fact, it's been reported several times it was being worn by the one player who went down hard during a drill. The bottom line is there isn't even an anonymous source alleging that the medical staff was ignored or overruled.
If you're looking for a specific instance to point to, a "smoking gun" if you will, of Brannen forcing Player A to do something and medical staffer B attempting to step in and Brannen pushing them away to make the player do it anyways, I honestly don't think you're going to find it. Maybe there is evidence of such a situation but it's something that would likely be kept close to the chest by both Brannen and UC's attorneys, unlikely to see the light of day until after this thing between them gets resolved. Even then, it might get buried so deep the general public can't even see it.
But as we've seen bits and pieces come out, there's overwhelming evidence that Brannen ran an authoritarian program who created divisions between himself, the vast majority of his players, his support staff, the medical staff (even such figures as Bob Mangine, who's highly-regarded at the school), and the administration.
Is all of that enough to fire him on the spot? No, obviously not. If that were the case, this mess would've been behind us months ago and we wouldn't be sitting here waiting for Brannen and UC's attorneys to throw offers and counteroffers back-and-forth as they whittle their way to a figure that both can agree to.
But did he create a situation that was detrimental to the long term stability and success of a storied UC basketball program? My opinion is "yes"; his roster after all the transfers was three holdovers, a converted walk-on, and an emergency 2021 signee who's now at Liberty. Plus, his handpicked strength and conditioning coach (who I'm of the opinion is the "source" in the original article) up and left and, based on comments from Chad Brendel in one of his recent podcasts, at least a few AAU coaches had no intention of sending their players to play for Brannen.
Now, you certainly disagree with that, which is totally fine (difference of opinion is great!) but I fully believe that UC is better off today, on May 26th, 2021, with Wes Miller as HC, his stellar assistant staff, and the roster as it is currently than where the Bearcats would be with Brannen.
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Brannen's attorney files federal lawsuit against UC, Cunningham, Pinto
