In his very first appearance as Northwestern’s interim head coach, David Braun did an impressive job of clock management.
He spoke slowly and ate up more than eight minutes with his opening statement. He fielded a minimal number of questions. He deftly deflected a question about hazing and lawsuits.
Then, perhaps most impressively, he entirely avoided the post-podium media crush that all other coaches had to endure. When he was done with his time allotment at the dais, instead of getting a semi-circle of cameras poked into his face in front of the Big Ten logo, he quietly ducked down a hallway and off of the Lucas Oil Stadium field. The media waited for him in the end zone, but he never re-emerged.
It was an impressive escape – though he will have to face the media again at the smaller podiums this afternoon, where he will have to field many more questions and he won’t be able to run an end-around.
The important thing is that Braun survived his first taste of being a Big Ten head coach. Since he was named the interim coach just two weeks ago, he’s been talking to his team, coaches and administrators in friendly surroundings.
Now, he was in a big room – and rooms don’t get much bigger than Lucas Oil Stadium – and addressing hundreds of media members who all want a piece of the newest guy on the block.
Braun came in with a good strategy, and he executed it to perfection. He stayed in the huddle as long as he could and snapped the ball with a second left on the play clock. If his team can do as well this fall, maybe they can win a couple more games than people expect.
Braun opened by talking about his family and his wife, who is expecting their fourth child “any day now.” That’s a good strategy for getting any audience on your side. He briefly touched on how he got the job.
“I never could have imagined, nor did I desire, to become a head coach under these types of circumstances,” he said. “That said, I'm honored to lead this group moving forward.”
Then he talked about his roots in the Midwest and growing up rooting for the Wildcats, as well as Wisconsin. He wisely invoked memories of watching the 1995 Rose Bowl team’s win over Notre Dame, and the 1996 Wildcats’ improbable win at Wisconsin after Ron Dayne’s fumble. That will curry favor with fans, even if one of the stars of that team was the man he is replacing.
“I dreamt of playing in the Big Ten,” he said. “That never became a reality, but an opportunity to work in the Big Ten, coach in the Big Ten, and coach and mentor these young men is something that I don't take lightly.”
Then he went into an in-depth summary of his team. Extremely in-depth. When he name checked third-string quarterback Jack Lausch and starting defensive back Garnett Hollis Jr., he tipped his hand on the stalling tactic.
Still, there was a lot of like about what Braun had to say. He stuck to his script, projecting sincerity and confidence in his team and players.
Braun did appear nervous during his time in the spotlight. Wouldn’t anyone? This is a guy who was hired to be Northwestern’s defensive coordinator seven months ago. He has never been at the FBS level before. He has never been a head coach before. He is taking over a program from a school icon. And he’s got a hazing scandal swirling around the program that has now implicated coaches on the staff he inherited from Fitzgerald.
When asked what the rollercoaster last few weeks have been like, he reverted to family and his players again.
“It's all been very emotional, highs and lows, but to know that our family has the full support of our players means everything to Kristin and I and our staff,” he said. “It's a special group of young men.”
When faced with a hard-hitting question about the involvement of assistant coach Matt MacPherson and strength coach Jay Hooten in the hazing of players, he smartly knocked it away and came back to the players.
“I won't speak to current allegations. I fully trust that our university is going through a process and will make decisions based on the facts,” he said. “What I can speak to is how proud I am of the way that our team has come together with all this stuff swirling around our football team. There's absolute resolve and confidence from our leadership within our team of how we're going to move forward.”
You could see the talking points he was prepped with in almost every answer.
I was there in 2006, when Fitzgerald was the belle of the ball at Big Ten Media Days after getting the head job at NU at age 31. Like Braun, he got the job under adverse circumstances: in his case, the sudden death of his predecessor and mentor, Randy Walker.
Fitzgerald was nervous and wide-eyed, too, and looked impossibly young. But at least he had the advantage of knowing the program and the league, and was a former All-American player. Braun, instead, gets a hazing scandal hanging over his head like a storm cloud.
Overall, Braun wasn’t bad. He even allowed himself to display a little bravado at one point.
“Let me be clear,” he said emphatically. “This football team will be ready to go. I look forward to coming together as a team, a staff, an athletic administration, a university, an alumni base, a fan base, to fully support these student-athletes as they go make us all proud moving forward.”
That would be a big step forward for a program that elicited anything but pride over the last few weeks.
