Brannen is out at UC

 
Shocking. Not sure what the whole story is but sounds like a cluster f*** on both sides. Their best option is either a Top Asst at a P5 or Mid Major HC. Archie Miller wouldn’t be the worst hire in the world, especially with the current chaos in the Program and Athletic Department.
 
Erik Martin should at least get a call
Van Exel should get a call
Archie Miller should get a call
Jeff Boals - possibly gage his interest

Before you call me silly, I have seen crazier things happen: give Carl Kramer (Moeller) a call.


The president and board of trustees should take a long look at removing the A. D.
 
The question still looms what this is going to cost UC. Brannen has a very good lawyer and UC has yet to show anything to justifiably fire him for a partial buyout or nothing. He's going to want his millions and I think it would be delusional to believe he's going to willingly settle for a greatly reduced sum.

They should probably give serious consideration to hiring Erik Martin IMO. He's been on the bench with Huggins for 15 years now, and given the state of UC's program at the moment, it would probably be good to hire someone coming from a program that frequently recruits transfers and JUCO prospects.
 
UC will have to take a chance on a young assistant coach who wants to prove himself as a head coach. They are not likely to attract too many candidates with head coaching experience at the D1 level. Someone mentioned Erik Martin that might be a good first call.
 
Termite2 said:
What did he do?
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They released text messages between Brannen and Fickell where Fickell is telling Brannen that it's BS how this is all going down. It's childish nonsense and pretty clear what they are trying to do. No wonder everyone hated to play for Brannen if that's the type of moves he makes.
 
PantherVOR said:
They are not likely to attract too many candidates with head coaching experience at the D1 level.
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Plenty of coaches who have D1 experience will be interested. Archie seems to be the front runner at the moment, with guys like Bryce Drew and Dennis Gates not far behind.
 
There will be some good candidates. As someone who had closely followed Gates, if gets an interview I guarantee he will impress the UC brass. He’s a program culture guy that will look especially attractive to an AD trying to clean up a crap storm.
 
FIRE Cunningham! Would love to know what Brannen “did wrong.” Think the way this AD has handled this shows he is an obviously inexperienced AD during the day and Circus Clown at night!
 
Archie is going to be the most expensive coach IMO they can get since Indiana is still paying him. For the next four years he has a salary floor of $2.5 million at any job with the Hoosiers paying the difference between his new salary and that amount with his buyout. That's one reason I could see him being a serious candidate here.

Martin and Gates are going to standout if the goal is to get someone who's the opposite of Brannen in terms of likeability and building a positive culture.
 
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ronnie mund said:
They released text messages between Brannen and Fickell where Fickell is telling Brannen that it's BS how this is all going down. It's childish nonsense and pretty clear what they are trying to do. No wonder everyone hated to play for Brannen if that's the type of moves he makes.
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It is BS on how all of this going down; that isn't exactly news and the administration is making it easier for Fickell to leave if this is an example of how they operate.
 
Termite2 said:
It is BS on how all of this going down; that isn't exactly news and the administration is making it easier for Fickell to leave if this is an example of how they operate.
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Yeah, I can see this being the last season for Luke at UC. A P5 job he might not have jumped at before, such as the MSU job, might look better to him this Dec.
 
Termite2 said:
It is BS on how all of this going down; that isn't exactly news and the administration is making it easier for Fickell to leave if this is an example of how they operate.
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What is BS about it? Brannen completely nuked the program because he's an unlikable pr1ck. Glad he's gone, especially now that he is showing his true colors publicly. This year made it clear that he was in way over his head at a program like UC.
 
ronnie mund said:
What is BS about it? Brannen completely nuked the program because he's an unlikable pr1ck. Glad he's gone, especially now that he is showing his true colors publicly. This year made it clear that he was in way over his head at a program like UC.
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again, what did he do? I haven't seen any info on what happened.
"now that he is showing his true colors publicly" is there some place that shows what the ell your talking about?
 
Termite2 said:
again, what did he do? I haven't seen any info on what happened.
"now that he is showing his true colors publicly" is there some place that shows what the ell your talking about?
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We don't know exactly yet because details haven't been released and UC has been pretty mum. The Athletic article about his practices and players constantly needing IV's and the medical staff having to intervene is pretty damning though. That's about the most we've gotten so far. On top of his entire freshman class leaving, Cumberland hating his guts, multiple upperclassmen leaving, some without even notifying the staff, and the strength coach leaving because of Brannen.

And now him and his attorney are trying to drop these little tid bits through the media to try and sow division, dragging Fickell and the football program into a situation they have no involvement in. There were rumors early on that a big catalyst to all of this was Brannen and the staff accidentally sending texts to current players that were meant for recruits. The texts were sht-talking Harvey after he decided to sit out the year. So Brannen releasing private texts with Fickell as he's headed out is no surprise. That's what I mean by showing his true colors publicly.

Sayonara John, ya scumbag.
 
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Somebody tell me if I'm off-base with this, but I don't see an established HC like Miller taking this job after how this whole fiasco went down between Brannen and the AD.

I think UC either settles for an assistant like Martin or another Horizon League coach.
 
the "text messages leaked" is a bunch of BS twitter fodder. it's totally false. someone tweeted and acted like Fickell texted this out and he didn't. total joke, just like this whole process has been.
 
I don't know if this fiasco will have any appreciable effect on their coaching search. Will the exception of someone that's recently become available like Archie, this hire was probably always going to be someone with a UC connection (Martin, Savino) or a stock riser (Gates). As bad as the athletic department is, all of those guys are taking this job if offered due to either getting to be a head coach or due to getting a big pay raise. The job is going to be greater than the red flags of the employer.
 
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UC is in a tough spot. With budget constraints due to the AAC, etc. the best UC can do is get a proven DI coach from a league like the Horizon and that is exactly what they did when they hired Brannen. Brannen would have been okay long term but the AD got woke and now the program is in a tail spin. Hire Martin who has been hiding behind Huggins is a gamble too.
 
Bballer05 said:
the "text messages leaked" is a bunch of BS twitter fodder. it's totally false. someone tweeted and acted like Fickell texted this out and he didn't. total joke, just like this whole process has been.
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Twitter fodder huh? Lol you're a moron.
 
Anyway, there's rumor that UC is in contract negotiations with Erik Martin. If it ends up being him I can't say I'm all that excited about it but I can see the potential so I'll give him a chance.

Wonder if he will bring Van Exel on as an assistant. The AD spoke to both this past weekend.
 
ronnie mund said:
We don't know exactly yet because details haven't been released and UC has been pretty mum. The Athletic article about his practices and players constantly needing IV's and the medical staff having to intervene is pretty damning though. That's about the most we've gotten so far. On top of his entire freshman class leaving, Cumberland hating his guts, multiple upperclassmen leaving, some without even notifying the staff, and the strength coach leaving because of Brannen.

And now him and his attorney are trying to drop these little tid bits through the media to try and sow division, dragging Fickell and the football program into a situation they have no involvement in. There were rumors early on that a big catalyst to all of this was Brannen and the staff accidentally sending texts to current players that were meant for recruits. The texts were sht-talking Harvey after he decided to sit out the year. So Brannen releasing private texts with Fickell as he's headed out is no surprise. That's what I mean by showing his true colors publicly.

Sayonara John, ya scumbag.
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If Athletes were being “mistreated” during practice per medical staff, why didn’t Cunningham step in right then and there? Cunningham needs to be dismissed without pay next. He supposedly allowed a Coach and Staff to repeatedly “mistreat” players. Why is this alleged behavior alright for Cunningham but not Brannen?
 
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