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sedziobs said:
The most interesting part for me was "despite written reprimand." That makes it clear that both Brannen and Cunningham knew what was going on and were at odds during the season.

The payment for special benefits to a player was new to me also. The singular "a student athlete" invites speculation on which player they are referencing.
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The interesting thing is that per other forums (not sure of the source of the original report), the written reprimand was given on November 9th, before the season even started. So all season there must have been conflict both within the team and possibly between Brannen and Cunningham.

My guess is the big things that got Brannen are the failure to comply with rules despite written reprimand and the intimidation/attempted intimidation of players. Everything else is likely just little things that UC found that normally get ignored, but they figured they might as well throw it on there.
 
skyblade said:
For those who want to stay updated on the Brannen saga. The notice of termination has been posted on twitter (by Keith Jenkins). The list of accusations is fairly long (pretty much everything from Justin Williams articles and then some. https://twitter.com/MrKeithJenkins/status/1389327506294071309
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Cunningham just sounds like a prick. I’m really happy about the new hire and glad we are done with Brannen, but he absolutely got railroaded. I’d be pissed if I was him too.
 
From Paul Daugherty column:

Brannen’s lawyer, Tom Mars, texted me Tuesday that the coach “paid $135 out of his own pocket for a player to see a mental health professional. No good deed goes unpunished.’’
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Man wtf. 20yrs ago the team would’ve been sent home not the coach for this. Biggest negative nobody talks about and y’all know(y’all know I love aau) is that they BARELY practice as a team if at all. Most players AAU teams would destroy their high school teams so I think the problem is how AAU is run. Too much just showing up to tournament and playing without putting in real work
 
Brannen going behind the backs of medical staff and the administration. Ignoring medical professionals because he thinks he can do better. And your take away is that players are soft.
 
skyblade said:
https://andywittry.substack.com/p/u...aign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=twitter

The most detail yet. Does not paint Brannen in a good light.
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To me the running till you pass out isn’t that big of a deal. If you played basketball even in high school, I’m sure you seen people almost pass out from running. If you work out hard enough this happens. That’s how you get in great shape. You don’t go out there and run 1 sprint, you have to push your self.

Having said that, you can do this and still care about your players and have them like you. Brannen doesn’t seem like he was able to do that
 
skyblade said:
Brannen going behind the backs of medical staff and the administration. Ignoring medical professionals because he thinks he can do better. And your take away is that players are soft.
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My biggest take away from that is Brannen blatantly going behind the backs of the medical staff knowing what he was doing was wrong by saying don't put it in email because I don't want a paper trail, he likes to work in the "gray area". Having coaches spy on players, Brannen didn't care at all about the wellbeing of his players, players passing out is not them being soft. I played baseball for UC and we did a lot of those running drills mentioned, they are extremely difficult, the big difference between what we did and what Brannen did is he gave no recovery time and was continuously stacking them with no break to the point there bodies were giving out. Majority of the people calling them "soft" don't understand how training works and have never trained the way they train. The expert couch potatoes sitting at home eating pizza are calling them soft because they are transferring away from the school they cheer for. Brannen called the heart monitors they were wearing BS and essentially saying he knew more than they did. Those same heart monitors and trainer Bob Mangine saved Prince Toyombis life in 2019 when Brannen ran him almost to death.
 
The problem or difference here is Covid and how no medical professionals were certain what kind of long term impacts it could have. I believe the training staff was being more cautious about players’ conditioning in light of Covid protocols. Brannen thought he could do better than the trained medical staff. The staff acted properly by documenting everything Brannen told them and instructed them to do. In a normal year, this may not be as big a deal. But with Covid protocols, the uncertainty of side effects and how they may or may not impact the student athletes, it was certainly wrong for Brannen to conduct practices while ignoring the medical advice.
 
The problems with that story come from what happened the year before to Prince while he was here. Then add in Mangine's grandson died during soccer conditioning months before this season started.


What brannen did with the medical staff and then way he came out against them and medical devices, its horrifying.

Had a player almost die the year before. Has a medical staff member that's been through it with his own family warn him. And he kept going on. That's a monster.
 
cincrulz11 said:
The problems with that story come from what happened the year before to Prince while he was here. Then add in Mangine's grandson died during soccer conditioning months before this season started.


What brannen did with the medical staff and then way he came out against them and medical devices, its horrifying.

Had a player almost die the year before. Has a medical staff member that's been through it with his own family warn him. And he kept going on. That's a monster.
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Not caring is the main issue. Like I said, if you want to get in great shape, you have to push yourself to the limits but you also have to read the room. If players can’t stand or are passing out, let’s take a break.
 
cincyguy13 said:
Not caring is the main issue. Like I said, if you want to get in great shape, you have to push yourself to the limits but you also have to read the room. If players can’t stand or are passing out, let’s take a break.
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You're putting kids lives in danger. That's not caring about human life. It doesn't get lower than that.
 
Lol man stop it. UC medical staff gave all players passes to practice. We want get back to tough brand of basketball with quitters? Nobody likes the parent that makes them clean up or yell at them. And it’s not being a spy, it’s called having leadership. This shit is below middle school and unprofessional on players behalf
 
TheRealMick said:
Lol man stop it. UC medical staff gave all players passes to practice. We want get back to tough brand of basketball with quitters? Nobody likes the parent that makes them clean up or yell at them. And it’s not being a spy, it’s called having leadership. This shit is below middle school and unprofessional on players behalf
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Nope. You can push guys in practice, nobody is saying you can't. But to push to the max while denying water? To have guys pass out in practice and then imply they are quitters? To say heart monitors are stupid (paraphrasing) when one saved a players life last year? In a Covid year when we know Covid can cause heart issues in athletes.

That is way too far.
 

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