N’western’s Braun chosen for school’s ‘wellbeing’

• Adam Rittenberg, ESPN

  • Senior WriterNov 16, 2023, 03:25 PM ET Close College football reporter.
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2008.
  • Graduate of Northwestern University.EVANSTON, Ill.– Northwestern promoted David Braun to its irreversible football head coach in big part since of how he supported players after a turbulent summertime that put the team’s culture under intense scrutiny.Braun, 38, was presented as coach Thursday at the school’s indoor practice field, before lots of existing players who praised the man who has helped them to a 5-5 record as interim coach. Northwestern chose Braun, who joined the staff as protective planner under previous coach Pat Fitzgerald in January, and was called interim coach July 14, four days after the school fired Fitzgerald in the wake of hazing accusations within the program.”I have actually been extremely clear that at Northwestern the well-being of our students precedes,”university

  president Michael Schill said.” It is only by prioritizing our trainees ‘health, security and wellness that we can make it possible for excellence on the field, excellence in the classroom, that we can motivate the individual and intellectual growth that is basic to our objective as one of the greatest universities in the world. Anyone who has heard or talked with Coach Braun understands that he embodies these concepts in simply a short time given that coming to Northwestern.” Editor’s Picks Schill said he consulted with Braun several times during the previous few months and left impressed with the coach’s commitment to the professional athletes. Northwestern

is facing claims from more than a dozen previous football players, declaring hazing and other mistreatment while in the program. The university commissioned previous U.S Attorney General Loretta Lynch to conduct reviews of the athletic department’s culture and its responsibility systems, which likely won’t be total till 2024. After shooting Fitzgerald, Schill stated the football program’s culture,”while unbelievable in some ways, was broken in others”by hazing activities. No present or former players have been identified in any of the claims filed.Braun had rapidly gained appeal among the players, a lot of whom took to social media after recently’s win at Wisconsin and utilized the hashtag #removethetag, describing the interim tag. Northwestern has more victories this season than in the previous two integrated, and requires to win one of its last two games to get bowl-eligible for the first time since finishing No. 10 nationally in 2020. After connecting well with North Dakota State’s players as defensive coordinator from 2019 to 2022, Braun stated he didn’t know what type of locker room he would go into at Northwestern.” I instantly was blown away with the quality of young men that make up this program,” Braun said.”The relationships that you know you’ve enabled us to build is something that I absolutely treasure. I’ll be extremely clear: The chance that exists for our household only exists because of you guys.

Your determination to buy in and galvanize and come together in actually embody what this football program is all about.”Braun, who had actually never ever operated at a power conference program before Northwestern, thanked those who led the school’s training search for their”desire to see beyond maybe what a résumé states. “He desires Northwestern to” double-down”on turning into one of the country’s leading developmental programs, and emphasized the need to keep players, amidst a landscape where the transfer website and name, image and likeness bring increased importance.Although Braun was eager to resume his preparation for Saturday’s game versus Purdue, he addressed his vision for Northwestern’s future. “The Huge 10 is evolving, college football is developing, so you much better know who you are,”Braun said.”You better understand who you are as a university, you better know who you are as an athletic department, you better understand who we are as a football

program. We will prioritize the student-athlete experience. In every choice we make, the question will be asked: How does this affect the boys

that belong to our program?”