Hire Braun

[PURPLE Book Cat]

As poorly as the administration (#fireschill) handled the situation with PF, Coach Braun seems to have been a great get this year. It is time to remove the interim tag and see what he can do on the recruiting trail.

Though these guys are probably out regardless, I think Bajakian and Anderson would be good to retain if possible. If that is the case, I’d love to see Braun find some FCS talent and play scrappy

 

[Catdude]

Yes, and tomorrow. Braun has more than earned the job and making it official ASAP allows him TO immediately work on his staff and to more fully recruit. I imagine it it extremely difficult (and understandably so) to recruit as an interim coach.

 

[freewillie07]

As poorly as the administration (#fireschill) handled the situation with PF, Coach Braun seems to have been a great get this year. It is time to remove the interim tag and see what he can do on the recruiting trail.

Though these guys are probably out regardless, I think Bajakian and Anderson would be good to retain if possible. If that is the case, I’d love to see Braun find some FCS talent and play scrappy

Curious: why do you want to retain Bajakian? He has done nothing to merit keeping his job. Anderson’s lines have been… mediocre at best… but at least the guy can recruit and can claim two first-rounders.

 

[FanatiCat]

As poorly as the administration (#fireschill) handled the situation with PF, Coach Braun seems to have been a great get this year. It is time to remove the interim tag and see what he can do on the recruiting trail.

Though these guys are probably out regardless, I think Bajakian and Anderson would be good to retain if possible. If that is the case, I’d love to see Braun find some FCS talent and play scrappy

You had me until “retain Bajakian and Anderson.” We’ve had about 6-8 quarters of really good offense in 8 Power 5 games. Not enough with their track record.

 

[Catdude]

Under Bajakian, the offense has ranged from below average (2020 and parts of this season) to awful (2021, 2022 and most of this season). I think his only hope of being retained is to have strong performances vs Purdue and Illinois (and possibly a bowl game) and argue that the offense is finally trending in a positive direction.

 

[stpaulcat]

Curious: why do you want to retain Bajakian? He has done nothing to merit keeping his job. Anderson’s lines have been… mediocre at best… but at least the guy can recruit and can claim two first-rounders.

Yoo-hoo--did you watch the first half today? If he's capable of calling that, I say keep him. Maybe he's going to be good now that he's not being controlled by Fitz. But leave that up to Braun (if he's the HC). Anderson, I don't know.

What concerns me is second half play when they get a lead--this is no different than Fitzball. Get a decent lead and then go to sleep. That is why we lost to Iowa. Wisconsin in the fourth quarter was playing like the walking dead, and NU looked like the offense of 1-11.

 

[zbag51]

Keep Braun 100%. Bajakian? Not so much. Let Braun fully reimagine the staff as he sees fit.

 

[PURPLE Book Cat]

My take on Bajakian is that he was hamstrung by Fitz's philosophy to bottle the offense to try to protect the defense. In the grand scheme, he is probably an above average coordinator with the reins taken off (in stark contrast to say, McCall).

Re: Anderson, again I am more optimistic. I think that he is an above average offensive line coach and probably a better recruiter. The first round picks mean something. If he can bring in a few draft picks at the same time, NU will be in pretty good shape.

I think that it is healthy to stay realistic about the talent that NU is able to attract relative to most of the rest of the B1G. It has been better, but still bottom half of the B1G. NU won't be able to take the top off the defense realistically. So even if you bring in a Lane Kiffin or whoever the next wunderkind OC is, they're going to be fighting with one hand behind their back.

Regardless, those two are probably gone after this year. So I'm hoping that Braun has some guys in mind from the FCS that can mix things up.

 

[EvanstonCat]

As poorly as the administration (#fireschill) handled the situation with PF, Coach Braun seems to have been a great get this year. It is time to remove the interim tag and see what he can do on the recruiting trail.

Though these guys are probably out regardless, I think Bajakian and Anderson would be good to retain if possible. If that is the case, I’d love to see Braun find some FCS talent and play scrappy

Well I still think our best outcome would be for Stoops to come in and keep Braun as a DC and train him a bit before retiring and handing over the reigns, but honestly the guy has probably earned it. Assuming we play to potential and beat Purdue and Illinois and hopefully the bowl game. If he loses the next two, which I can’t see given how hard this team plays and given I haven’t really seen them underachieve (unlike teams we have seen under Fitz) then all bets are off.

Hope he can recruit and hope he will can Bajakian.

 

[UpsetAlert]

No thanks

 

[WaveJumper]

Why does this have to be brought into this discussion?!?

Because it's the least important consideration to make, yet may be the most important consideration for Gragg and Schill. Hire the best qualified candidate regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background. If they don't do that, they are not fulfilling their responsibility to the university. THAT's why!

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

My fear is that Schill and Gragg will fire Braun because Pat Fitzgerald hired him.

You know, a history of pathetic, self-serving decisions.

They did worse than I thought possible in handling a complaint about hazing.

I think they're going to outdo themselves with Braun, now that everybody supports him, other than a handful of sky-screamers.

 

[Sheffielder]

I really believe Fitz's last two seasons and the rhetoric of this team being neutered heading into this season created irrationally low expectations that Braun has more than exceeded. The acquisition of Bryant, Henning, and quality coaches on defense put us in a good spot with or without Fitz, who I think most of us agree was an atrocious gameday coach.

I stand by what I've said for a while now: I needed to see a win at Wrigley *or* Camp Randall (check), and one vs. Purdue or Illinois in order to be all in on Braun for head coach - otherwise let's lock him down as DC before another top-shelf program comes knocking. He is very close and I am rooting for him, but yes if you want to be the permanent head coach of a Big Ten program with no prior head coaching or FBS experience, you have to prove you're worth it.

The wins against Howard and UTEP mean nothing. I'm sorry, but Fitz-led losses to teams like these do not change the fact that they should always be wins.

The wins against UMD and Minny...okay, we can beat C-level B1G programs. I have always believed and continue to believe these two programs are beneath Northwestern.

Losses to Neb and Iowa...at least one of those is a win with Bryant starting, and both showcased Braun's talent as a DC (if not as a head coach).

Today: Our 1st year head coach beat their 1st year head coach in their house, decisively, with a QB that Fickelll knew very well. To me, this is the game that opens the Braun conversation for real.

I consider Purdue and Illinois to be on equal footing with Northwestern - scrappy teams that punch up regularly to the chagrin of other B1G programs...oh, and "official" rivals, one of which is also sporting a first-year head coach.

So...signature win at Camp Randall, at least one win over a "rival" along with two other B1G wins and a couple of close losses without our starting QB...that's the work of a solid head coach. But nothing less than this.

 

[WaveJumper]

How does this, "Hire the best qualified candidate regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background", translate to this, "some people instead choose to imply that this goodwill will be ruined by some nefarious plot to hire a (perhaps unqualified) minority into the position"?

Nowhere did I imply that a minority candidate was unqualified - you assumed that all by yourself. What I did say, is that it's the least important consideration to make.

During my business career as a corporate officer, I hired the best qualified candidate regardless of race, sex, religion, or ethnic background. Guess what? Some were black, some were white, some were female, some were male, and I suppose I had most religions covered too. I simply didn't care about any of that. When I played ball, I knew those potential qualifiers were not important. You know why? Because the only question that anybody ever asked was, "Can he play"?

If that's a difficult concept to understand, I wouldn't want you to be responsible for hiring anybody in my organization/team.

 

[FLCatEng]

Watching the team's execution of today was awesome. I'm trying to understand the impacts that Bryant had on the drastic reduction in Offensive penalties that marred the Nebraska and Iowa games. I will give the coaches credit for cleaning that up today and hopefully those issues are mostly resolved for the remainder of the season.

The administration would stupid to not give to give the job to Braun right now. He's young, cheap, the players like him, he doesn't have a not a big-ego, and has EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS. If NU had stones, they should remove the tag this week.

Unlike most, I really thought it was possible that a Fitz-led team would have a similar record right now because this team has better offensive capabilities than the previous two years and JON-less Defense. I'm sure those who watched the game on FS1 saw that NU has the biggest year-over-year change in turnovers in NCAA. I give tons of credit to Braun and the other Defensive coaches. It also indicates how bad we were last year. After watching Bryant (and Bajakian) carve up Badgers I feel like it was not impossible to believe Bryant could've won against Nebbie or Iowa or both. With that in mind, Braun is exceeding my 2023 expectations.

As for Bajakian, I have mixed feelings. He has demonstrated genius at times. I feel like the roster has huge impacts on the playbook and frankly the rosters have been bad in the previous years. That said I wish he wouldn't have turtled the offense in the second half of the game - I was unfortunately worried about the Badgers coming to life. Andersen is more of problem. Other than today, the O-line has been a liability for years and was big part of Bryant's injury.

I hope this team has turned a corner. I still think we will have upcoming rooster shortages to address in the coming years but I'm now more optimistic that we can overcome those issues with minimal impacts as long as the administration doesn't f*ck it up.

 

[Catdude]

I really believe Fitz's last two seasons and the rhetoric of this team being neutered heading into this season created irrationally low expectations that Braun has more than exceeded. The acquisition of Bryant, Henning, and quality coaches on defense put us in a good spot with or without Fitz, who I think most of us agree was an atrocious gameday coach.

I stand by what I've said for a while now: I needed to see a win at Wrigley *or* Camp Randall (check), and one vs. Purdue or Illinois in order to be all in on Braun for head coach - otherwise let's lock him down as DC before another top-shelf program comes knocking. He is very close and I am rooting for him, but yes if you want to be the permanent head coach of a Big Ten program with no prior head coaching or FBS experience, you have to prove you're worth it.

The wins against Howard and UTEP mean nothing. I'm sorry, but Fitz-led losses to teams like these do not change the fact that they should always be wins.

The wins against UMD and Minny...okay, we can beat C-level B1G programs. I have always believed and continue to believe these two programs are beneath Northwestern.

Losses to Neb and Iowa...at least one of those is a win with Bryant starting, and both showcased Braun's talent as a DC (if not as a head coach).

Today: Our 1st year head coach beat their 1st year head coach in their house, decisively, with a QB that Fickelll knew very well. To me, this is the game that opens the Braun conversation for real.

I consider Purdue and Illinois to be on equal footing with Northwestern - scrappy teams that punch up regularly to the chagrin of other B1G programs...oh, and "official" rivals, one of which is also sporting a first-year head coach.

So...signature win at Camp Randall, at least one win over a "rival" along with two other B1G wins and a couple of close losses without our starting QB...that's the work of a solid head coach. But nothing less than this.

I think our expectations were rightfully extremely low: we were 1-11 last season (and most of those losses were blowouts) and lost almost all of our best players.

 

[Eurocat]

As for Bajakian, I have mixed feelings. He has demonstrated genius at times. I feel like the roster has huge impacts on the playbook and frankly the rosters have been bad in the previous years. That said I wish he wouldn't have turtled the offense in the second half of the game - I was unfortunately worried about the Badgers coming to life.

We don't know if Braun didn't go up to Bajakian and half time and say "Okay, let's slow it down a bit now, play that clock...no need to rush down the field anymore" and that disturbed the rhythm. I am not saying that happened, it's possible nothing like that happened, but it might have, and that might explain some of the "foot off the pedal" playcalling in the second half. Pure speculation.

 

[NJCat]

Today: Our 1st year head coach beat their 1st year head coach in their house, decisively, with a QB that Fickelll knew very well. To me, this is the game that opens the Braun conversation for real.

Luke Fickell isn't a "first year" head coach. This is his third head coaching job, after a year at dOSU and an extremely successful run at Cincy. With his experience there is no way he should lose at home to a team coached by a guy who has never had a job in FBS before, let alone a head coaching job.

 

[SimpsonElmwood]

How does this, "Hire the best qualified candidate regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background", translate to this, "some people instead choose to imply that this goodwill will be ruined by some nefarious plot to hire a (perhaps unqualified) minority into the position"?

Nowhere did I imply that a minority candidate was unqualified - you assumed that all by yourself. What I did say, is that it's the least important consideration to make.

During my business career as a corporate officer, I hired the best qualified candidate regardless of race, sex, religion, or ethnic background. Guess what? Some were black, some were white, some were female, some were male, and I suppose I had most religions covered too. I simply didn't care about any of that. When I played ball, I knew those potential qualifiers were not important. You know why? Because the only question that anybody ever asked was, "Can he play"?

If that's a difficult concept to understand, I wouldn't want you to be responsible for hiring anybody in my organization/team.

I said “some.” Didn’t direct it at you.

I’ll say it differently:

Let’s keep DEI out of it.
Let’s try to keep Schill and Gragg out of it.
Let’s try to keep it positive as long as the results on the field dictate so.

I’m proud of my 30 year career. Helped dozens of companies and hundreds if not thousands of people. I’ll leave it at that.

 

[Rebel II]

As poorly as the administration (#fireschill) handled the situation with PF, Coach Braun seems to have been a great get this year. It is time to remove the interim tag and see what he can do on the recruiting trail.

Though these guys are probably out regardless, I think Bajakian and Anderson would be good to retain if possible. If that is the case, I’d love to see Braun find some FCS talent and play scrappy

Scrappy Coach, scrappy recruits, scrappy attitude equals scrappy wins. Let's go full "us (have nots) vs the world (elites)". It's a great platform upon which to build.

 

[NUCat320]

People, Bajakian should have been out of a job 11 months ago! And he can’t convince a quarterback to play for him.

Offense needs a full refresh (except Binns, he can stay. I have no opinion on the RB coach).

My apologies for detracting from the main point of the thread. As for the main purpose of the thread, #removethetag feels great, but I’d love to see if there’s an offensive mind around, who’ll let Braun take the D and be a named successor.

Jimbo Fisher is pushing 60 and is very, very rich. 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[catfans5]

We don't know if Braun didn't go up to Bajakian and half time and say "Okay, let's slow it down a bit now, play that clock...no need to rush down the field anymore" and that disturbed the rhythm. I am not saying that happened, it's possible nothing like that happened, but it might have, and that might explain some of the "foot off the pedal" playcalling in the second half. Pure speculation.

You make a good point. It could equally be plausible that Wiscy made adjustments to their defensive scheme. Fickell is not an idiot. My thought was that Bryant at qb shocked the heck out of Wiscy. Wiscy had the same problem with Illannoy and was behind. Illannoy allowed Wiscy to come back and win. Yesterday, our defense was up to the challenge. Looking forward to next Saturday.

 

[Gatabowl]

My fear is that Schill and Gragg will fire Braun because Pat Fitzgerald hired him.

You know, a history of pathetic, self-serving decisions.

They did worse than I thought possible in handling a complaint about hazing.

I think they're going to outdo themselves with Braun, now that everybody supports him, other than a handful of sky-screamers.

Gragg and Schill may have botched the Fitz situation (again, read the report and fire him if that’s what’s warranted; don’t go soft and then go back and change), but I think it’s foolish to assume they’re flat out stupid. You have to be a political animal to make it to president of multiple universities (runner up for NU or not) especially for a first generation college student who needs to prove himself among literal academic elite. Gragg has made some very poor choices and absolutely has to go, and with the stadium final vote coming up I don’t think he’s going to stick around, but I don’t think he’s an actual idiot — he needs the football program to win.

Both Schill and Gragg are getting crushed by fans and the alumni network, including donors. A poor coaching hire would be disastrous. Schill isn’t a sports guy but comes from a place where he worked closely major donors including the only donor bigger than Ryan in Knight at Oregon and he knows the value. There is no way he doesn’t do everything possible to hire the best possible candidate, Braun or otherwise, and I’d imagine that after he didn’t read the full report, he will be engaged with the search firm and donor base on the next coach.

 

[Figrating]

Until yesterday, I was in favor of a new HC and starting over because I didn't think there was anything to save. But Coach Braun has shown me that he can coach up average talent to compete in the conference. THAT is a rare skill that NU can not be without and if NU looks elsewhere, they may not get it back. So I now want Braun to become HC. He's earned it.

I don't think anybody here has a clue wtf is happening with the NU O. They looked competitive yesterday. For once the OL didn't get pushed all over the field. For next season, I would let Braun decide how to move. I've disliked Coach Jake for the YEARS of futility and poor recruiting. NU should help Braun in the search for a new OC and let HIM make the selection.

I must award Coach Braun the coveted "Huevitos de Ferro" medal. Took a dumpster fire and made it into a football team. Handed NU back its pride. Maybe he will heal the sick and raise the dead next.

 

[SimpsonElmwood]

Until yesterday, I was in favor of a new HC and starting over because I didn't think there was anything to save. But Coach Braun has shown me that he can coach up average talent to compete in the conference. THAT is a rare skill that NU can not be without and if NU looks elsewhere, they may not get it back. So I now want Braun to become HC. He's earned it.

I don't think anybody here has a clue wtf is happening with the NU O. They looked competitive yesterday. For once the OL didn't get pushed all over the field. For next season, I would let Braun decide how to move. I've disliked Coach Jake for the YEARS of futility and poor recruiting. NU should help Braun in the search for a new OC and let HIM make the selection.

I must award Coach Braun the coveted "Huevitos de Ferro" medal. Took a dumpster fire and made it into a football team. Handed NU back its pride. Maybe he will heal the sick and raise the dead next.

He deserves this medal!

 

[jne381]

Coach Braun deserves the HC job at this point. Let him make the choice as what to do with the OC position. He has seen what Jake has been able to do for a season, and is best to make the determination of how to move forward.

As far a Braun goes, he is probably a lot cheaper than a lot of other options, but the admin should not be stingy. The admin needs to help him by paying good money to any coordinators and assistants he wants to hire.

 

[WaveJumper]

We don't know if Braun didn't go up to Bajakian and half time and say "Okay, let's slow it down a bit now, play that clock...no need to rush down the field anymore" and that disturbed the rhythm.

Euro: You're a friend. We met at the first Alamo Bowl and shared lies with CatJaws.

In my wildest nightmare, I can't imagine any coach in FBS saying that to his OC (and therefore team) after they are up 24 to 3 at halftime, and totally dominating their opponent for the first half, and scoring the first three times they had the ball. Any coach who said take your foot off of the gas when he had his opponent so badly on his heels would have to be wacko to say that. Most of all, I can't imagine coach Braun saying anything close to that. You don't crawl into a shell when you have your foot on their throat. We've seen that type of football- it aint pretty

 

[NUCat320]

@WaveJumper The offense is delegated to Bajakian, so…

 

[Eurocat]

Euro: You're a friend. We met at the first Alamo Bowl and shared lies with CatJaws.

In my wildest nightmare, I can't imagine any coach in FBS saying that to his OC (and therefore team) after they are up 24 to 3 at halftime, and totally dominating their opponent for the first half, and scoring the first three times they had the ball. Any coach who said take your foot off of the gas when he had his opponent so badly on his heels would have to be wacko to say that. Most of all, I can't imagine coach Braun saying anything close to that. You don't crawl into a shell when you have your foot on their throat. We've seen that type of football- it aint pretty

Of course Wave I remember you and CatJaws (and your walkie talkie with Schweigherts uncle at FEW's railroad station tailgate). I am not saying this is what happened, but it sure seemed like it, even though it would make absolutely no sense.

Maybe Wisconsin adjusted and we didn't adjust to their adjust. I dunno.

Go Cats!

 

[EvanstonCat]

Euro: You're a friend. We met at the first Alamo Bowl and shared lies with CatJaws.

In my wildest nightmare, I can't imagine any coach in FBS saying that to his OC (and therefore team) after they are up 24 to 3 at halftime, and totally dominating their opponent for the first half, and scoring the first three times they had the ball. Any coach who said take your foot off of the gas when he had his opponent so badly on his heels would have to be wacko to say that. Most of all, I can't imagine coach Braun saying anything close to that. You don't crawl into a shell when you have your foot on their throat. We've seen that type of football- it aint pretty

Don’t need to imagine. That’s Fitzball 101.

And maybe Jake is damaged goods. Spent too long under Fitz he didn’t need Braun to tell him to go into a shell.

 

[cattul]

Don’t need to imagine. That’s Fitzball 101.

And maybe Jake is damaged goods. Spent too long under Fitz he didn’t need Braun to tell him to go into a shell.

I thought all of those decisions were made far in advance of the season’s beginning.

Don‘t the coaches sit down over the summer and plan which sections of the playbook they will choose from in various situations, based on down and distance, field position, game time remaining and score differential?

I’m not saying that the plays are scripted, just that they want a finite number of plays to choose from, and not a wide open playbook.

We fans are simply unaccustomed to seeing the plays found in the lightly used “When we have a huge lead” section of the plan.

Perhaps I’m wrong, but that was my understanding.

 

[jimmyNU]

Coach Braun needs a contract and all of the assistant coaches with ties to Fitz need to go.
Bajakian should have been fired by Fitz at least twice. I trust Braun to hire good coaches.

Anyone who believes that Bajakian should stay might want to pivot from football to pickelball.

 

[phatcat]

I really believe Fitz's last two seasons and the rhetoric of this team being neutered heading into this season created irrationally low expectations that Braun has more than exceeded. The acquisition of Bryant, Henning, and quality coaches on defense put us in a good spot with or without Fitz, who I think most of us agree was an atrocious gameday coach.

I stand by what I've said for a while now: I needed to see a win at Wrigley *or* Camp Randall (check), and one vs. Purdue or Illinois in order to be all in on Braun for head coach - otherwise let's lock him down as DC before another top-shelf program comes knocking. He is very close and I am rooting for him, but yes if you want to be the permanent head coach of a Big Ten program with no prior head coaching or FBS experience, you have to prove you're worth it.

The wins against Howard and UTEP mean nothing. I'm sorry, but Fitz-led losses to teams like these do not change the fact that they should always be wins.

The wins against UMD and Minny...okay, we can beat C-level B1G programs. I have always believed and continue to believe these two programs are beneath Northwestern.

Losses to Neb and Iowa...at least one of those is a win with Bryant starting, and both showcased Braun's talent as a DC (if not as a head coach).

Today: Our 1st year head coach beat their 1st year head coach in their house, decisively, with a QB that Fickelll knew very well. To me, this is the game that opens the Braun conversation for real.

I consider Purdue and Illinois to be on equal footing with Northwestern - scrappy teams that punch up regularly to the chagrin of other B1G programs...oh, and "official" rivals, one of which is also sporting a first-year head coach.

So...signature win at Camp Randall, at least one win over a "rival" along with two other B1G wins and a couple of close losses without our starting QB...that's the work of a solid head coach. But nothing less than this.

I don't understand why a win against MN or MD is somehow less impressive than IL or PU. It's like you don't respect them BECAUSE we beat them. Both teams are arguably better than PU ILL, although they both beat MN recently (who also beat Iowa). Heck, you could say the WI win was diluted because they are reeling.

Let's not get into the mode of "we beat them, they must suck"

 

[freewillie07]

I don't understand why a win against MN or MD is somehow less impressive than IL or PU. It's like you don't respect them BECAUSE we beat them. Both teams are arguably better than PU ILL, although they both beat MN recently (who also beat Iowa). Heck, you could say the WI win was diluted because they are reeling.

Let's not get into the mode of "we beat them, they must suck"

Yeah I have to agree with this. If we’re talking tiers of Big Ten teams, Minny and Maryland are very similar to Purdue and Illinois. Of course Illinois means a little bit more due to the rivalry and ability to be the preferred destination for top local recruits.

 

[epicbret]

Keep Braun 100%. Bajakian? Not so much. Let Braun fully reimagine the staff as he sees fit.

This.

 

[Sheffielder]

Yeah I have to agree with this. If we’re talking tiers of Big Ten teams, Minny and Maryland are very similar to Purdue and Illinois. Of course Illinois means a little bit more due to the rivalry and ability to be the preferred destination for top local recruits.

My points of differentiation, which of course I acknowledge are subject to scrutiny:

1. Illinois and Purdue have been to a Rose Bowl in my adult life. UMD and Minny have not.
2. Purdue has beaten Ohio State and Michigan more recently than we have - multiple times, actually. We haven't beaten either in 15 years.
3. As I noted in my earlier remarks, I also consider Illinois and Purdue "official" rivals, whereas I think of Minny and UMD as more like a couple of non-descript conference teams on the schedule. This is also why I put higher value on Wisco and Iowa, but also acknowledge they are a peg above the other four aforementioned teams.

Bottom Line: three wins against middling teams (right now we're at two) and one stretch win over Wisco/Iowa (done) - to me, that's the difference between "pretty good" and "very good" this season. Saying Braun should get the head coaching position right now with two games left is like saying you're happy with three good quarters of football and you don't care what happens in the fourth.

And to be clear, I like Braun a lot, and would love it if he puts the job on ice. But this is too prototypical of a situation where players, fans, and lazy admins all get swept up in the moment and want to go for the hire that is emotional and convenient (depending on your perspective). I don't want us regretting a hire that we feel stupid making in hindsight if the dude goes 5-7. OTOH, Braun either wins out or splits the next two and wins a bowl game, gets Coach of the Year accolades (or that level of praise) and it's a no-brainer.

 

[PURPLE Book Cat]

Well I still think our best outcome would be for Stoops to come in and keep Braun as a DC and train him a bit before retiring and handing over the reigns, but honestly the guy has probably earned it. Assuming we play to potential and beat Purdue and Illinois and hopefully the bowl game. If he loses the next two, which I can’t see given how hard this team plays and given I haven’t really seen them underachieve (unlike teams we have seen under Fitz) then all bets are off.

Hope he can recruit and hope he will can Bajakian.

Has there been any clarity about the level of Stoops' involvement?

 

[PURPLE Book Cat]

Coach Braun needs a contract and all of the assistant coaches with ties to Fitz need to go.
Bajakian should have been fired by Fitz at least twice. I trust Braun to hire good coaches.

Anyone who believes that Bajakian should stay might want to pivot from football to pickelball.

Yeah I think that is a bit reductionist

 

[PURPLE Book Cat]

My points of differentiation, which of course I acknowledge are subject to scrutiny:

1. Illinois and Purdue have been to a Rose Bowl in my adult life. UMD and Minny have not.
2. Purdue has beaten Ohio State and Michigan more recently than we have - multiple times, actually. We haven't beaten either in 15 years.
3. As I noted in my earlier remarks, I also consider Illinois and Purdue "official" rivals, whereas I think of Minny and UMD as more like a couple of non-descript conference teams on the schedule. This is also why I put higher value on Wisco and Iowa, but also acknowledge they are a peg above the other four aforementioned teams.

Bottom Line: three wins against middling teams (right now we're at two) and one stretch win over Wisco/Iowa (done) - to me, that's the difference between "pretty good" and "very good" this season. Saying Braun should get the head coaching position right now with two games left is like saying you're happy with three good quarters of football and you don't care what happens in the fourth.

And to be clear, I like Braun a lot, and would love it if he puts the job on ice. But this is too prototypical of a situation where players, fans, and lazy admins all get swept up in the moment and want to go for the hire that is emotional and convenient (depending on your perspective). I don't want us regretting a hire that we feel stupid making in hindsight if the dude goes 5-7. OTOH, Braun either wins out or splits the next two and wins a bowl game, gets Coach of the Year accolades (or that level of praise) and it's a no-brainer.

Honestly the most impressive NU football this year was the first half against Penn State.

 

[1830sherman]

Wondering, among other things, why this comes out of a Wisconsin daily.

Paul Chryst among potential candidates Northwestern officials are studying to lead football team