Northwestern’s first-year defensive coordinator David Braun, who has no head coaching experience and is new to the FBS level, will serve as interim head coach for the 2023 season, ESPN reported Thursday night.
Braun has been filling in as a “liaison” since Monday, when Northwestern announced the firing of longtime head coach Pat Fitzgerald amid allegations of hazing in the program.
Braun was hired in January after working as the defensive coordinator at FCS powerhouse North Dakota State from 2019-22. The Bison won two FCS national championships (2019, 2021) and two Missouri Valley Football Conference crowns in his first three seasons, and they boasted the country’s No. 1 scoring defense both title years.
Stabilizing the program is an immediate issue for Braun as players have nearly four more weeks to transfer without penalty. Players had said in a team meeting earlier this week with university president Michael Schill and athletic director Derrick Gragg that tabbing Braun as interim coach would help provide some clarity and continuity to the program’s future, ESPN reported.
Braun came to NDSU from Northern Iowa, where he was the defensive line coach and run game coordinator in 2017, and outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator in 2018.
The Winona State graduate and former defensive lineman also was an assistant coach at NAIA program Culver-Stockton (2010), Division II Winona State (2011-14) and FCS program UC Davis (2015-16).
Fitzgerald, head coach at Northwestern since 2006, was fired on Monday with $42 million remaining on his contract. That decision came three days after the original discipline for Fitzgerald was a two-week suspension without pay, all stemming from an independent investigation that found hazing allegations were “largely supported by evidence.”
A player came forward to the student newspaper, the Daily Northwestern, and revealed that the hazing allegedly included coerced sexual acts. Fitzgerald was also accused of presiding over a “culture of enabling racism.”
–Field Level Media