Braun wants NU to be the 'ultimate developmental team in the country'

EVANSTON-On a Thursday afternoon, on the shores of Lake Michigan, with fanfare from the marching band, Northwestern officially named David Braun the 30th head coach in program history.

Northwestern president Michael Schill and athletic director Derrick Gragg made opening remarks, and then it was time for the man of the hour, who, in his opening statement and responses to the media, laid out his vision and plan for the program over the next five years.

"The Big Ten is evolving, college football is evolving," Braun said. "So you had better know who you are as a university and an athletic department...

"We're going to root into, and double down on, being a developmental program. We don't care how many stars a young man has next to his name. We want to find out does he value a Northwestern degree... What's his character? What's his competitive spirit?"

Braun's comments seemed to signal Northwestern's modern NIL approach. The Wildcats won't go out to find pay-for-play recruits, but they'll work to bring in talented players and use their NIL resources to maintain and defend their roster when other programs try to poach them away.

"I feel very confident that there's alignment within the Northwestern community, within our athletic department and with the stakeholders involved that we can recruit high-quality student-athletes that are great fits for Northwestern," he said. "We do a phenomenal job of helping them develop and then we have things in place to ensure that we retain those young men to be a part of our program and play their best football while earning their degree at Northwestern."

Braun spoke more about that mentality earlier in his remarks.

"I think what we need to continue to look at is becoming the ultimate developmental program in the country," he said. "Then we need to do a great job of retaining our student-athletes.

"Why do you come to Northwestern? For an opportunity to earn a world-class degree that will change the rest of your life. In the world of NIL and the transfer portal, we need to do a great job of recruiting young men that fit our profile, that want to compete and want to play their best football at Northwestern."

It's clear that while Braun will use the NIL and portal tools at his disposal, he thinks what can separate Northwestern from the pack will be continuity and development they create by getting and keeping their players at Northwestern for their whole careers.

"In a changing college football landscape, we have the opportunity to root right back into that and out team everybody in the country," he said. "You can see it tangibly right now with what's going on with this team and I can't wait for that process to continue."

Gragg and Schill gave Braun a heavy endorsement: Schill and Gragg both made statements to open the press conference in support of Braun.

"I have been lucky enough to spend some time getting to know David personally over the past few months since he took over under an incredibly challenging situation," Schill said. "I walk away from each of our conversations incredibly impressed with his poise, thoughtfulness, passion and, most importantly, his deep commitment to the student-athletes he coaches."

Schill raised some eyebrows when he said he knew Braun had "lit a spark" in this team after traveling to the Rutgers game, a 24-7 season-opening loss that had many fans and pundits fearing the worst. Regardless of Schill's thoughts of the past, he was sure to laud the place Northwestern finds themselves in the present.

"A coach's job is to bring out the best in players and Dave has gone above and beyond in that respect," he said. "We sit here today at 5-5, demonstrating to our conference and the entire football world, and really the entire world, that Wildcats don't back down from a challenge."

Before turning the mic over to Gragg, Schill made sure to compliment him on his role in bringing Braun to Northwestern as an assistant in the first place, and in the decision to remove his interim tag.

Gragg praised the team, Braun and his staff's ability to work through adversity this season.

"I lost my coach going into my senior year and I told them that pales in comparison to what they've gone through," Gragg said. "I want to thank the football coaches and the staff in particular, even with all the uncertainty of the past few months.

"They locked in with our student-athletes when they could have thrown in the towel very easily."

Mid-week celebrations were a quiet, family affair: With Purdue on the horizon this Saturday, any elaborate or boisterous celebrations were off the table for the Braun family. The most exciting moment for David came back at home when he told his sons, Lucas and Andrew, the news.

"Honestly wasn't much celebration other than getting ready for Purdue," he said. "There were certainly moments back at home with Kristin and the boys.

"I think the biggest celebration honestly came from Lucas and Andrew. They said 'Dad, this means we're not moving!' We're not moving. Our family loves it here and we're honored to be a part of this community."

Kristin, Lucas and Andrew were joined in the front row by four-month old Blake, Braun's youngest daughter, who, in characteristically Braun fashion, was very disciplined and did not cry throughout the half-hour long affair.

Braun made sure to thank and recognize his wife for all they'd been through together since the first promotion to interim head coach in July.

"When this transition occurred over the summer months, I'm looking at my wife who is eight months pregnant with our little girl," he said, his voice cracking with emotion. "We talk as a team all the time about not flinching.

"Kristin Braun never flinched. She continued to the be the rock that I've known her to be the entire time I've known her, and there's no way that we do this as a family without you. So thank you."

Braun talked start and finish of interim run: Alongside the president and athletic director who have promoted him twice now in the past five months, Braun described both times he's taken the helm of the program.

"There was so much going on back in July," he said. "There were conversations with administration, and it started off with, 'Would you have interest, Dave?' and I said, "Absolutely.'

"An opportunity to lead this group would be something that I'd be honored to do. I don't know if I was excited, there was a lot of emotions going on but honored to have an opportunity to be with these guys."

Then, five months later on the timeline, he talked about his thought process and when he expected to earn the permanent position and realize his career-long dream to become a Big Ten head coach.

"When there's talk of potentially having an opportunity to become a long-term coach, it can be really easy to allow yourself to go into this space of 'What decisions do I need to make to get this job?'," he said. "That's something that I think my wife and I were very intentional about making sure that we didn't let our mind go to that place.

"So call me crazy, call me stubborn, but it was waking up each morning and what do I need to do today to help this team get ready for the next game. It honestly didn't become a reality until mid-week this week when all of a sudden the conversations I was having started to become real."