Phil Thompson: Interim coach David Braun — and not Northwestern administrators — needs to lead the football program’s reform
INDIANAPOLIS — Northwestern interim football coach David Braun tried to portray the job description for the kind of defensive assistant he wants to hire, someone who won’t be cowed by recent hazing allegations and related lawsuits that currently dog the program.
“We’re in a difficult situation,” Braun said Wednesday during a session with reporters at Big Ten media days. “It’s going to take a special person to say, ‘I’m going to leave my job and I’m going to run to the fire.’ ”
Braun didn’t realize at the time, but he could’ve been describing himself.
He was named defensive coordinator in January, and what was already a “whirlwind” process of adjusting to the move from North Dakota State has since become a hurricane.
In the last three weeks, an investigation of hazing allegations within the football program has exploded into a full-blown scandal that also has enveloped the baseball and volleyball teams, fueled at least five lawsuits by former players and cost baseball
