I'm fine with this. Cunningham and the administration spent time investigating the claims of the players regarding culture. Apparently it involved multiple staff as well and possibly some players still on the team. At some point, Cunningham and the admins (and quite possibly even the University president) decided they wanted him gone.
But, creating a toxic culture while bad for the team and the university is not a fireable offense and they didn't have the money to fire Brannen. So they went digging. They found CARA violations, a technicality - a rule that many coaches violate - but it is a technicality that gives cause.
If it wasn't for the toxic culture Brannen created, they wouldn't have looked for the CARA violations. If it wasn't for the violations, they wouldn't have found cause and would have been forced to keep Brannen around a couple more years (and they would have issued a statement of support).
But now they have toxic culture as why they want to fire him and CARA violations as cause. The independent fact finder is dotting the I's and crossing the T's. They know cause will be found, but they have to go through the formal process.
Brannen is gone. Good riddance. In two years he burned the program down and made over half his players and some of his staff hate him. He's a great X's and O's guy, but in coaching relationships matter more and he was a failure at relationship building and maintenance.
Let's get a coach who knows his X's and O's, but who also knows off court relationships matter as much as on court coaching.
