NKU's new coach has returned home

When John Brannen was a heady, record-setting college basketball recruit in the early 1990s at Newport Central Catholic, the future Rhodes Scholar finalist chose Morehead State over a host of schools, including Northern Kentucky University, before going on to Marshall.

NKU would've liked to have had Brannen for a program that was building toward a pair of NCAA Division II championship game appearances later in the decade. NKU made an in-home visit to Brannen's Alexandria residence his senior season at NewCath, but he went on to become a 1,000-point scorer at the Division I level.

On Monday, the Norse finally got him.

"I am busting at the seams to get started," said Brannen, a first-time head coach who has found his way home after a circuitous coaching path that took him to College of Charleston, Eastern Kentucky, St. Bonaventure, Virginia Commonwealth, then six years as an assistant and recruiting coordinator at Alabama.

NKU athletic director Ken Bothof called him at 4:30 p.m. Monday and told Brannen, last season's schedule-ending Alabama interim coach, that he wanted him to be the fifth head men's basketball coach in the Norse's 45-year history.

Brannen accepted, three days after losing out on the vacant head-coaching position at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, where he was a finalist. He was Alabama's associate head coach the last two seasons.

NKU introduced Brannen, 41, at The Bank Of Kentucky Center with great fanfare Tuesday afternoon in front of approximately 400 people, several of Brannen's former coaches and most of his immediate family, including his parents and brother, Grant Brannen, the boys' basketball coach at Walton-Verona High School.

"He's a coach on the rise, and Northern Kentucky University is on the rise," Bothof said while noting John Brannen's career accomplishments, which include success as a top recruiter. "It made him a perfect fit."

SIUE chose California assistant Jon Harris, effectively sending both Harris and Brannen back home where they grew up. Harris starred at Edwardsville High School. Brannen attended basketball camps at NKU's Regents Hall as a teenager.

"It's great to be back home," NKU's new coach said. "It's been quite a journey, and I want to thank my wife and my twin daughters, and everybody, for hanging in there and supporting me."

Brannen finished his prep career in 1992 as NewCath's all-time leading scorer with nearly 1,900 points. He was inducted into the NewCath athletics hall of fame in 2007. When he attended Norse summer basketball camps at Regents, on the floor were three once and future NKU men's basketball coaches – Brannen, Norse all-time victory leader Ken Shields and then-assistant Dave Bezold, the man whom Brannen replaces. They are the three most recent Norse coaches.

NKU signed Brannen to a four-year contract, which will take the Norse through their third NCAA national tournament-eligible season in Division I. The 2015-16 season will be NKU's fourth and final reclassification season after making the jump from Division II. Brannen is the first NKU men's basketball coach with a multi-year deal. Shields, Bezold and the previous two coaches had year-to-year contracts.

Bezold began his NKU coaching career in 1990, replacing Shields, who retired in 2004 after 16 seasons. Bezold was head coach for 11 years, going 33-54 in Division I with a 194-133 career record. He was 21-29 in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The Norse finished fourth last season in the A-Sun, earned a No. 4 seed and a first-round home game in NKU's first A-Sun tournament appearance March 3, a season-ending loss to Lipscomb. That concluded a 13-17 season, and was Bezold's last game. He was fired two weeks later.

The Norse return 12 players, including a pair of former NewCath standouts, senior-to-be Jake Giesler and incoming freshman Drew McDonald. They recognize it's a full-circle moment for their new coach.

"I texted Grant some congrats to the family," said McDonald, who played for Grant Brannen when the younger Brannen coached at NewCath. "He said, 'you get to play for both of us now.' It's pretty cool for all of us to continue the NewCath tradition at NKU."