David Braun is having a rough day.
Tuesday morning, CBS Sports’ Cody Nagel ranked the Northwestern head football coach worst in the Big Ten Conference and 64th of 68 Power 4 coaches. Two hours later, a verbally committed linebacker in the Wildcats’ very average 2026 recruiting class (ranked No. 62 nationally) received an attractive competing offer from Oklahoma and the SEC.
Braun’s No. 18 ranking is a far cry from 2023, when he was the consensus Big Ten Coach of the Year as the Wildcats’ interim head coach.
“Only four Power Four coaches rank lower than Braun, who wrapped up his first full year as Northwestern’s coach in 2024 after serving as interim in 2023,” Nagel wrote. “That surprise eight-win campaign in his interim year set the bar high, but the Wildcats took a clear step back in 2024, winning just half as many games while playing in a temporary stadium next to their practice facility. It was a fitting backdrop for a team searching for stability in the post-Pat Fitzgerald era.”
Northwestern is projected to finish one spot lower than last season at 17th in the conference, per Cleveland.com’s Stephen Means. The Wildcats posted a 4-8 (2-7) record last year, only beating Maryland (37-10) and Purdue (26-20 OT) in the Big Ten.
The addition of transfer quarterback Preston Stone from SMU in December was a beacon of hope for Wildcat football fans, although Stone didn’t make college football analyst Andy Staples’ preseason top-10 Big Ten quarterback list.
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Braun and Stone will lead Northwestern through a difficult conference schedule this season. The Wildcats are set to host Oregon and Michigan, and will face road challenges from Penn State and Illinois.
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Publish date : 2025-07-22 22:20:00
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