Northwestern will remove the “interim” tag from David Braun’s title, officially making him the school’s next football coach, according to an ESPN report.
Speculation about this has grown throughout an unlikely season for the Wildcats in which they’ve won three Big Ten games and gone 5-5 overall, now with two chances remaining to win a sixth game and secure a bowl berth. After going a combined 4-20 in 2021 and 2022 under longtime coach Pat Fitzgerald, the Wildcats were expected to struggle this season under even the best of circumstances. But after Fitzgerald was fired in July — a football hazing scandal having erupted — things looked as bleak as ever in Evanston.
Braun, hired in January to be defensive coordinator, had never coached above the FCS level nor been a head coach anywhere. From his first public comments, he has been confident and even bold in his insistence that the Wildcats would band together and win a good share of games in 2023. They have done just that.
And in their last game on Saturday, a lopsided win at Wisconsin in which they scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, they looked like — legitimately — a pretty good team. For many observers, this has been hard to believe. And Braun’s readiness for the challenge of a career has been a revelation.
