Report: Northwestern to hire NDSU's David Braun as defensive coordinator
Northwestern has filled another one of its coaching vacancies.
On Monday, ESPN's Adam Rittenberg tweeted that head coach Pat Fitzgerald will tap North Dakota State defensive coordinator David Braun as the new DC in Evanston.
Braun is an out-of-the-box hire who has never worked at the FBS level and has no obvious connections to the Northwestern coaching staff. That could be seen as a positive as the Wildcats try to rebound from posting a 4-20 record over the last two years and losing 11 straight game to close the 2022 season. He also owns two FCS national championship rings.
Braun has been the Bison's defensive coordinator since 2019. Before that, he spent two years at Northern Iowa, where he held a myriad of roles: defensive line coach, outside linebackers coach, run-game coordinator and special teams coach.
Prior to Northern Iowa he spent two seasons coaching the defensive line at UC Davis, and six seasons at his alma mater, Division II Winona State, two as a graduate assistant and four as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. He also spent a season as the defensive coordinator at NAIA Culver-Stockton.
Now, Braun's upward trajectory will take a big leap into the Big Ten.
One thing that's clear about Braun is that he knows how to win. North Dakota State has a winning tradition that would make even Alabama blush. The Bison have won nine national titles since 2011. Braun was a part of two of those as defensive coordinator, in 2019 and 2021.
The Bison went 12-3 in 2022, losing the FCS national championship game, 45-21, to South Dakota State on Sunday.
In 2019, Braun's defense allowed 12.3 points per game. In 2021, things got even better as Braun was named the FCS coordinator of the year after his unit allowed a stingy 11.1 points per game. The Bison allowed just a 26.8% conversion rate on third down and 87.6 rushing yards per game.
Braun replaces Jim O'Neil, whose two-year tenure in Evanston was an abject disaster. The Wildcats' defense that was the backbone of the team's success during Mike Hankwitz's tenure as coordinator backslid badly under O'Neil, as the points allowed per game ballooned from 15.9 in 2020, to 29.0 and 28.3 over the last two seasons.
Braun is Fitzgerald's second hire this offseason from an FCS school, joining new wide receivers coach Armon Binns from Youngstown State. The only remaining opening on Northwestern's staff is the defensive line coach position.