Great win considering the situation. I would not discount him to get this program back on track.
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Braun may be the guy.
- Thread starter stpaulcat
- Start date
Whatever Braun's future is, we're fortunate that he was hired and on the staff to take over the position of HC when we needed it.
I do not want to imagine the alternative choices in that spot right now; Braun clearly rose to the moment and has handled the pressure of taking over the HC job in extremely difficult circumstances.
The fact that this team fought like hell down 21 when everybody outside that locker room expected them to lose handily is just incredible.
I'm excited to watch this team play the rest of the games this year (though next week may be brutal going up against a legitimate national championship contender).
I do not want to imagine the alternative choices in that spot right now; Braun clearly rose to the moment and has handled the pressure of taking over the HC job in extremely difficult circumstances.
The fact that this team fought like hell down 21 when everybody outside that locker room expected them to lose handily is just incredible.
I'm excited to watch this team play the rest of the games this year (though next week may be brutal going up against a legitimate national championship contender).
He’s getting the team to believe they can win. The changes to recruiting like the portal and NIL could potentially help us make a quicker comeback to the program than anticipated if we are able to utilize those changes to our advantage. I think we have already picked up some key players from the portal.
If he wins 2-4more games I think it's a no brainier. The claim he has no Power 5 experience is ridiculous since at the end of the season he will have completed a year as a Power 5 HC,hopefully a successful one. The claim that he hasn't recruiting chops may have some merit but In truth most recruiting is done by coordinators and position coaches with the HC acting as a closer. In this role Braun should excel. I think parents will love him.
I don’t think “parents will love him” goes as far these days, at least with NIL caliber players. Will he be able to still get the same caliber players as Fitz, maybe. Especially on defense since he’s so accomplished and well respected on D. If Bajakian has been unchained and can develop a QB, and if Binns can help bring in better WR recruits than Springer, we may be able to at least maintain our recruiting.
I know this won’t be the popular view, but I’ll say it anyways. I like Braun a lot but I really am skeptical that he is the guy. He could be and I think is probably is an incredible coach but he lacks a lot experience needed for this rebuild, particularly in recruiting at a level that needs to be way better than Fitz (if we bring in someone who can only get the same caliber of players as Fitz, then we will not advance the program to the next level nor our full potential). Not that he cannot one day get there but he needs to build his network and figure out how to consistently beat Stanford, Notre Dame and Wisconsin, and preferably Ohio State, USC, and Alabama for recruits. I would love for the next coach to consider him for DC though, but we need someone who can upgrade our recruiting significantly from what it has been, someone who can tell recruits compellingly that he can get them into the League, who preferably has national championship rings to flash. The danger is that he does a good enough job this year to impress, and we end up retaining him arguably because he deserves it, but he doesn’t have what it takes for the entire job, and we get stuck and can’t take the program to its full potential.
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Pretty negative post in the face of what seems to be happening with this team and how Braun is growing rapidly into the job. He may very well be one of the most talented up and coming coaches and if so it would be a shame to see him go somewhere else.
I do not share your view that he cannot beat out other schools for the recruits we need. In fact, if we have a fairly successful season, which could happen based on what we saw today, then many recruits will be giving us serious consideration.
It's way too early for anyone to know how the season will turn out. So talk about replacing Braun is likewise very premature.
I do not share your view that he cannot beat out other schools for the recruits we need. In fact, if we have a fairly successful season, which could happen based on what we saw today, then many recruits will be giving us serious consideration.
It's way too early for anyone to know how the season will turn out. So talk about replacing Braun is likewise very premature.
Agreed and for those who keep harping about this being Fitz's team, Congratulations to Coach Fitzgerald as well for a brilliant hire as well as for a win today.
Not negative at all. I’m super happy and super impressed with what Braun has done and if you look at the early posts when everyone was talking about the sky falling, I held out that Braun might actually be more successful than any of us would have any reason to believe. I still think he can help us win more games than most of us think is possible. That doesn’t mean I think he would be best guy for the full time role especially if the goal isn’t just to be competitive but to truly take us to the next level and win the B1G in a league that is only getting tougher. Not a knock on him, I just think we can get somebody who is more complete than he is today, especially with the recruiting and the Power5 rings. Someone who as good as he may be, isn’t learning on the job and who has all the boxes checked.
Remember, we are talking about a guy who has never been a head coach and has never coached at a D1 much less P5 or B1G level. I think he has the intrinsic to one day be that guy, but I don’t think is today. Not taking away anything from him - like I said I like him a lot and would be thrilled if the next coach kept him on as DC even if we lost the rest of our games (except Howard). Just don’t think he has all the qualifications needed to rebuild the program regardless of how we do on the field this year.
This all said, what do I know? He could end up being the next Urban Meyer for all I know.
Braun has really impressed me so far. If Northwestern doesn’t keep him on staff, someone else will scoop him up. Perhaps another Big Ten team as their defensive coordinator? How would that make folks feel?
If he leads this team to 5-6 wins and a bowl eligibility, then Gragg would be insane not to want to extend him.
And if Gragg hires a new head coach… that person should be smart enough to try and keep Braun and as many assistants as they can on staff. If not, woof.
Gragg will have nothing to do with who is the next Coach.
It just seems like common sense, but maybe it is the scuttlebutt that is floating around that I am choosing (hoping) to believe.
I hope this is from a legit source and by "having nothing to do with the new coach" means he is no longer the AD as that is kinda like part of your job.
It’s really tough. Say NU wins 5 games this year. Do you extend a full-time offer to Braun for this year’s team arguably overachieving, but falling short of what most fans would consider a “good” season, and not coming close to being a Big Ten contender?
The most annoying thing is I think he would be a great DC for the next several years. But I don’t see how he shifts back to that role in any scenario.
The most annoying thing is I think he would be a great DC for the next several years. But I don’t see how he shifts back to that role in any scenario.
No idea how legit, but it is more than one camp saying this .
That's the part of this that sucks, Braun seems like he's growing as a coach in front of our eyes, but he probably would have been a solid DC taking us back to the Hank days if he was DC for a while here.
It's just an impossible situation now that he's the interim HC; hard to go back to being DC unless we hire some huge name as HC and he keeps Braun (obviously may make sense for both parties if so).
For what it's worth, I do think he gets the job at 5 wins; the players are playing hard for him; hard not to take note of that.
Given we're also going into a stadium rebuild; 2 more years of Braun would be fine for the players and fans if he gets there.
Another honest question I’m not sure how to phrase but very directly: what exactly do you think it takes to recruit “at a level that needs to be way better than Fitz?”
The one thing I will say about Braun, is that he is playing the game the right way. His decision to kick the field goal when they were down 24-7 was the difference in the game. I was thinking how Fitz would give up those points because of his stubbornness, often costing us games. At the time I didn't realize how important it was, but I appreciated having a coach who understands that you need points to win games, and you take them when you can get them! I honestly like this guy, as a man, and as a coach, and he has my full support.
The roller coaster that is this Board continues. Can't wait to see the comments after next week's Penn State game.
There are times when “taking the points” makes sense and others when it doesn’t. It depends on the scenario presented (down and distance, quality of opponent, available personnel, etc).
Fitz wasn’t stubborn when it came to 4th down decision making. In fact, he evolved to be quite analytically driven…a massive departure from the early part of his tenure and a facet of his coaching that I found quite refreshing.
There are areas of PF’s philosophy that warrant critique (one in particular comes to mind…), but this isn’t one of them.
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I don't know. I believe almost no one thinks we will win that game. Except maybe Braun and the team.
Naw, Penn State is the best team we play this year by a mile. They're a legitimate national championship contender that's loaded across the board.
That game and the Duke game are the 2 that I don't think offer much of a look at where we are.
Nebraska, Purdue, Illinois are the 3 big ones other than Howard that are good measuring sticks for the program.
Maryland, Wisconsin, and Iowa are going to be difficult games like the Duke game so I think we'd just want to look competitive. A win against any of those 3 would be unexpected.
If Braun can find 3 more wins and take this team to a bowl game, it would be a terrific result far above pre-season expectations.
Look, I am very happy for the players and the coaches. They deserve to be rewarded for sticking it out and not giving up under the most difficult situation I’ve seen a college football program be put in in recent memory. Having said that, no one should be under any illusions based on yesterday’s game. The decisions made by Schill and Gragg have decimated this program and the outlook both in the near term and medium term is very dire. I see very little chance that there is not a complete house cleaning of the program after this offseason. I think the entire coaching/support staff will be replaced and I also think it’s likely that a significant amount of the more promising players will choose to enter the transfer portal. Combine that with decimated recruiting classes for 2023/2024 and the outlook for this program is very poor for the next 3-4 seasons, even if somehow the administration manages to get the next coaching hire right.
Do whatever St. Gary did. It’s been done. If I knew I would put my hat in to the ring for the $5m or so that would be the just reward for somebody who can do it.
But just for fun, and speaking out of my ass as usual, I would offer way more 4 and 5 star players including any who are considering Stanford or Duke. I would poach the shit out of other schools if I thought they had kids who would be good for us and could be flipped and not consider anyone fully committed until they sign not would I stop recruiting them if they happened to start looking elsewhere. Would also hit Pat Ryan and Alan Smither for a couple hundred million or so, find a great fund manager to invest it and provide an annuity for NIL.
Why are people concluding that Braun would be a great DC for us? The defense has actually been pretty lousy so far. It's the offense that is the pleasant surprise.
All of that is fair; I have 0 faith in Gragg or Schill to make any good decisions on behalf of the AD. At this point, those 2 need to be in the past as quick as possible and I don't think anybody around here disagrees.
I just think in the here and now it's worth rooting for these guys to do the impossible. Most programs would go 1-11 in these circumstances.
Once again, Corbi is having difficulty admitting that there might be a small change he is wrong.
I’d be willing to give him a shot given that he was the FCS coordinator of the year recently, and he is also trying to do 2 jobs right now. And he had to spend much of the last 2 months doing PR, damage control, re-recruiting all his players, and probably counseling them as well.
LOL wrong? Really, you are prepared to make a definitive statement about that based on one half of football? .NU was down 21 points and on the verge of getting blown out at home by one of the worst teams in the Big Ten this year. We are all fans in the opinion sharing and projection business. Is there any doubt that any of us could be wrong? I’d love to be wrong because that would mean that the program I have been emotionally invested in for the last 40 years outperforms my very low expectations. We’ll see. Let’s see what the Wildcat Report roller coaster riding board posters say next week and at the end of the year. I think I have a pretty good guess.
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Recruiting is wildly different from 30+ years ago. Do I really have to walk you through this again?
My point is that recruiting is all about relationship-building, even at Bama/OSU/UGA/etc. That and being willing to actually take some risks in recruiting (which I think Fitz was too unwilling to do, usually taking the easy way out).
Braun has clearly shown the ability to build relationships quickly, plus seems very honest and believeable. That’s a pretty solid “tool kit” for recruiting successfully.
I don’t think we are really disagreeing, just that it seems you ascribe a lot more value to name recognition. Even your guy St Gary only had a year of coordinator experience when he came to NU, albeit as a national title-winning coordinator… but where have I heard that before?
Yeah.. and they see an NU D that gives up a lot of points and a lot of yards. Hence, my question. I'm not saying he can't be a solid DC, but I don't see it as so obvious as others do.
If you can’t see that our defense has a plan, plays hard, and is 1000% better coached than the last few seasons, then… I don’t think I’m gonna be able to convince of you much. Also don’t think you know much at all about football.
I can see why you're so well liked around here.
Second half defense has been decent, if not very good. Would not have won without that yesterday..
Not sure Schill and Gragg are up to a total house cleaning. If Braun has a decent rest of the season, and wants to stay on, he should, whether that be HC or DC. He's obviously a very good motivator. A decent season would be a bowl game or very close to one. It appears Braun would be a supurb pick up for another school. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater? Has that ever actually happened?
