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Northwestern decides on interim head coach for 2023 season, per reports
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Northwestern has reportedly settled on a head football coach for the 2023 season. David Braun will serve as the interim head coach, according to ESPN reporters.
Pete Thamel of ESPN reports, per sources, that Braun has been elevated to the interim head coach position. The news comes just 3 days after Braun was named the acting head coach following the firing of Pat Fitzgerald.
Adam Rittenberg, Thamel’s ESPN colleague, shared that Braun was managing the program in the role of acting head coach. Campus leaders, including athletic Derrick Gragg, decided to go ahead with making Braun the interim head coach.
Braun has been managing the program since Pat Fitzgerald’s firing Monday night. Has met individually with AD Derrick Gragg and other campus leaders in recent days, per sources. He was hired in January from North Dakota State, where he served as defensive coordinator. https://t.co/oCBBeWUAk0
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) July 13, 2023
Who is David Braun?
Braun was hired to Fitzgerald’s staff as Northwestern’s defensive coordinator in January. The 2023 season will be his first season coaching at the Power 5 level.
Prior to his arrival in Evanston, Braun was the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at North Dakota State from 2019-to-2022. Braun helped lead North Dakota State to FCS national championships in 2019 and 2021. In both of the championship seasons, the Bison finished as the top-ranked scoring defense in the FCS.
In 2021, Braun was recognized as the FCS Coordinator of the Year. That season, the Bison limited opponents to an MVFC record 11.1 points per game, ranked third nationally in total defense (264.7 yards per game) and 3rd-down conversion defense (26.8%), fifth in red zone defense (68%) and sixth in rushing defense (87.6 yards per game).
Braun has been in coaching as an assistant since 2008, getting his start at Winona State as a grad assistant. His other stops include Culver-Stockton, UC Davis and Northern Iowa.
Earlier this week, Northwestern announced that all assistant coaches are being retained.
A former Florida beat reporter, Andrew writes for the Saturday Tradition News Desk.