Northern Kentucky Norse head coach John Brannen is the Cincinnati Bearcats' choice to replace Mick Cronin and fill UC's head coaching vacancy.

UC confirmed the hire a little after 3 p.m. Sunday. Director of Athletics Mike Bohn informed the UC players. About 20 minutes later, NKU announced it was beginning a national search for Brannen's replacement.

"We are thrilled to welcome John, his wife Lisa and their daughters, Jaylee and Katelyn, to the Bearcats family," Bohn said in a statement. "He has a proven record as a head coach, longtime ties to the local community and coaches an exciting style of basketball. We were impressed with his passion, drive, determination and basketball acumen during the interview process where he truly emerged as the best coach to lead the Cincinnati basketball program with a bright future."

UC will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. Monday for the official announcement.

Neither Brannen nor Bohn returned calls Sunday in immediate wake of the news. Bohn headed the search.

"It's truly an honor to take over such a storied program at the University of Cincinnati," Brannen said. "The Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky community is special to my family and we are happy to remain at home. I want to thank President Pinto, Mike Bohn and the search committee for this opportunity. We are thrilled to join a world-class University and continue to build on the historic success of Bearcats basketball and the incredible lineage of former coaches."

Word of the hire was spreading at UC.

"I'm trying to get a meeting of the basketball alumni together," said Terry Nelson, UC radio analyst and former player, told The Enquirer. "We want to get behind the new coach. We thought all along it was going to be John."

Former Bearcats standout Kenyon Martin, on the other hand, gave UC an "F+" for its hiring process and suggested that other former players agree with him.

The 45-year-old Brannen, an Alexandria native and Newport Central Catholic graduate, has been NKU's head coach since 2015. In just four seasons, Brannen helped the Norse from a 9-21 record in his first year to 26-9 this past season, in addition to two NCAA Tournament appearances and one NIT appearance.

The Norse were two-time Horizon League Tournament champs (2017, 2019) and two-time Horizon League regular-season champs (2018, 2019) under Brannen - in a remarkably brief period of time since they transitioned from Div. II to Div. I.

There was speculation before Cronin even left UC to become UCLA's new head coach that Brannen might be a candidate for the Bearcats when Cronin did take another job. And it didn't take long after UCLA introduced Cronin for UC to replace him with Brannen.

Brannen had been endorsed by Cronin's brother, Dan, on Twitter, while Mick lobbied for associate head coach Darren Savino - who is now expected to be part of Mick's staff with the Bruins - to be considered for a promotion. Other coaches reportedly also showed support for Savino.

Former Bearcats standout Nick Van Exel reportedly expressed interest in the UC job, and former Bearcats player John Meeker said ex-UC coach Andy Kennedy deserved to be considered.

Former Bearcats assistant and current South Carolina head coach Frank Martin emerged as a key target, according to Stadium's Jeff Goodman, but Goodman reported the following day that Martin had decided not to meet with UC.

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