John Brannen was announced as Northern Kentucky University’s fifth men’s basketball head coach in program history by Director of Athletics Ken Bothof on April 6, 2015. And, in just three years as head coach has turned NKU into one of the nation's premier mid-major programs.

Northern Kentucky has seen unprecedented success during the last two years under Brannen's guidance. No other Division I program has won a regular-season league title (2018), league tournament title (2017), played in the NCAA tournament (2017) and either NIT (2018), or NCAA tournament again, in each of their first two years with active Division I membership.

Brannen engineered one of the fastest and best turnarounds in the country, leading the Norse to a 24-11 overall record and 12-6 mark in the Horizon League that resulted in a share of third-place during the 2016-17 regular-season. The Norse were plus-15 in the win column from the previous season, which was the third-best turnaround in the nation, trailing just UCLA and Minnesota.

NKU then won three games in as many days to claim the Horizon League Tournament crown. Lavone Holland II, one of Brannen’s first recruits as head coach of the Norse, was named the Horizon League Tournament Most Valuable Player. Holland was joined on the all-tourney team by Drew McDonald, who Brannen molded into a first-team all-Horizon League player as just a sophomore.

The Horizon League Tournament Championship provided Northern Kentucky with its first berth in the NCAA Division I Tournament, a remarkable feat considering it was the first season the Norse were eligible to compete in NCAA postseason competition following a four-year reclassification period.