Northwestern, coach David Braun rebuilding program from the ground up a year after Pat Fitzgerald’s ouster

EVANSTON, Ill. — From the edge of Lake Michigan, you can see forever. 

That would be a heck of a marketing slogan for Northwestern football this season. Perhaps the most impressive football facility in the country — those views! — now sits next to a cool pop-up temporary stadium meant to hold 15,000 fans this season, where you can almost hear waves washing up on the shore of this idyllic campus. 

But for a Wildcats program slightly more than a year removed from the revelation of a hazing scandal, that marketing slogan wouldn’t be conveying the entire story. While nearby Ryan Field undergoes what is essentially a from-the-studs-up renovation costing nine figures, Northwestern football is undergoing a rebuild of a different kind. 

At last count, 40 former Northwestern players have filed suit seeking damages from the fallout of the alleged hazing within the program revealed last year. Meanwhile, former coach Pat Fitzgerald has filed his own $130 million wrongful termination suit against the school.

The Northwestern program he left behind exists somewhat at an emotional, legal and, yes, perhaps even a football crossroads. It is riding the momentum of an eight-win season guided by Big Ten coach of the year David Braun. But as much as there is to celebrate here, there is still a dark chapter in the program’s history yet to be finalized. 

“I’ll paint a picture for you,” tailback Cam Porter told CBS Sports. “Two weeks before camp starts, your head coach that recruited you — kind of built Northwestern’s program — just gets fired out of nowhere.”

The school had its reasons for firing Fitzgerald. Meanwhile, Braun has emerged as perhaps the best success story out of the mess. The 39-year-old was put in charge of the program last July as a young defensive coordinator deemed best qualified — at least untainted by the scandal — to lead the program. 

He had no head coaching experience and no playbook (to lead a program) in becoming interim coach. “Deer in the headlights” doesn’t begin to explain Braun’s situation 13 months ago. 

“I’ll never forget the look on my wife’s face when she found out,” Braun said. “But at the end of the day, we all have a choice when we face intense adversity. Our natural reaction is to see it, turn and go the other direction. We have an opportunity to stand in, stare it down and come together and go do something special. Even the guys that chose to leave, I understood.”

There were those players who transferred and prospects who decommitted. That was going to be a given. Unexpected was Northwestern having its best season in five years amid the scandal.

The 8-5 effort included a four-game winning streak at the end of the year, capped by a 14-7 win over Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl. 

“There was a certain chip on our shoulder throughout the season but especially going into the bowl game. There was a tone from certain people outside the program, ‘Hey, congratulations on a great year. Enjoy your bowl experience,’” Braun recalled. “Like a sense of ‘Yeah, Utah is going to wipe the floor with you.’”

From the first team meeting, Braun found his way preaching steadiness. He was familiar with the defensive players, but he had to indoctrinate himself to the offensive players in one-on-one meetings with each player on the roster.

“I just remember a lot of emotion,” Poter said. “There were a lot of hurt young men that he gathered together in one room and basically said, ‘I obviously don’t have all the answers, but at the end of the day, we’re going to figure this thing out.’”

Figuring things out meant getting blasted by Rutgers in the opener. Same thing at Duke in Week 3. Porter sensed a turning point the next week against Minnesota with the Wildcats down 24-7 at halftime.

“It was kind of like 50-50,” Porter recalled. “Fifty percent of the guys are kind of like, ‘We might lose this game.’ The other 50% were like, ‘Let’s lock in it. Let’s get going.’

“Coach Braun came in and spoke to us … and got that 50% to the other side.”

Northwestern won 37-34 in overtime. 

It wasn’t until midway through the 2023 season that the interim coach found a rhythm. The administration noticed, and his interim tag was removed. At 5-5 and having been through hell, Braun became Northwestern’s 30th coach.  The last Wildcats coach to win five in his first season was Walter McCornack in 1901. 

In the offseason, Braun hired two new coordinators. Zach Lujan from South Dakota State now runs the offense. On defense, Braun gave up play-calling in handing the job to former Wildcat star linebacker Tim McGarigle. Now in his seventh season, McGarigle is the only Northwestern coach who was around prior to 2023. 

“I miss [calling plays] every day,” Braun said. “But what I would tell you, I don’t see there being any way I can be an effective head coach in the current landscape with some of the nuances of being at Northwestern. That would be a selfish decision that would not serve the program.”

Northwestern had always been the overachieving, cuddly underdog. Fitzpatrick infused his grit into the program as a former Wildcat and two-time Butkus Award winner. But there is a pluckiness gene that exists outside this steely group of players. The student journalists at the Daily Northwestern broke significant news regarding the scandal. And any recounting of the state of the program has to make the suffering of afflicted individuals paramount — the same human decency ground rules applied when writing about Penn State (2011) and Baylor (2016) following similar scandals. 

“I don’t envy our administration,” Braun said. “I don’t envy people in leadership roles navigating all that, and I look forward to the day that, as an institution, our sights are shifted. We’re not there yet.”

Braun is beginning to qualify as one of Fitzgerald’s lasting contributions to the program. Fitz hired him away from North Dakota State in January 2023. That month, the first hints of the hazing issue began to surface. Then-Bison coach Matt Entz even asked his defensive coordinator if Braun was sure he wanted to leave.

Entz recalled Brauns’s response: “No … this is a bump in the road and we’re going to move on.”

There is an added sense of responsibility amidst the increased visibility. Braun has become a sort of celebrity at an academic giant that produces governors, deans, college presidents, entertainers, federal justices, congressmen, activists and scores of noted journalists. 

It’s early, but Braun was asked the most famous Northwestern alum he’d met.

“This [might be bad] to say, but Pat Fitzgerald?” Braun replied. 

That depends on who you talk to. Braun pivoted quickly, giving shout-outs to ESPN’s Mike Greenberg and Mike Wilbon as well. But the current and former coach still talk. How can they not? Fitz gave Braun his shot. Porter says he still exchanges texts with the coach that recruited him.

“He’s a stand-up guy who has great morals,” the tailback said. “I truly feel he’s a great football coach and an even better man. You can do with that information what you want.”

Fitzgerald’s attitude as a player and coach is still endures here. His oldest son, Jack, is a student coach. The locker room is filled with his former players. So are the courts. Fitzgerald is both a plaintiff and defendant in cases going forward. That wrongful termination lawsuit is set to go to trial in November 2025. Until then, Fitzgerald can’t even think about restarting his career.

“You can tell … he’s hurting,” Braun said. “He loves this place.”

In the meantime, Northwestern football will continue to be unique in one way or another. According to the College Football Playoff, the stadium situation makes Northwestern one of two FBS teams that has a conflict to play an on-campus first-round game in the newly expanded CFP. Kansas is the other. The difference being the Jayhawks are considered good enough to win the Big 12.

The Wildcats … maybe not so much in the Big Ten. But perhaps football is not the first thing that should come to mind about Northwestern these days.

Or try buying a ticket this fall just for the scenery. There’s always that view.