From hazing scandal to temporary stadium, Northwestern football program fights through it all

CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s never easy at Northwestern, and it certainly hasn’t been in David Braun’s two seasons as head football coach.

Braun took over the program last summer on an interim basis after Pat Fitzgerald was fired in a player hazing scandal that engulfed the school.

Somehow he kept everyone together enough to have the Wildcats go 7-5 in the regular season and qualify for a bowl game. Northwestern beat Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Braun, brought in from FCS North Dakota State as defensive coordinator by Fitzgerald in January 2023, was named the Big Ten Conference’s Coach of the Year. As he should have been.

He also earned the permanent head coach position last November.

“I am truly honored for the opportunity to continue leading Northwestern's football program,” Braun said when he was publicly announced as the school’s 30th head football coach. “Over the past five months, having the chance to lead this group has been the opportunity of a lifetime. Moving forward, my mission is to build on this positive momentum, aiming to create one of the best experiences in college football for our student-athletes.”

Move forward into the 2024 season.

Northwestern is renovating its antiquated stadium, Ryan Field, basically tearing it down to the studs and starting over from scratch. As such, the Wildcats have been playing home games in a temporary 12,000-seat facility that borders Lake Michigan and also is home for Northwestern soccer and lacrosse.

“We came in with a lot of excitement,” Braun said at Northwestern’s media day in August. “I think the only hesitation from our players’ standpoint was just not having a vision of what it was going to look like. It was ‘Excuse me, Coach. Where are we going to play our games?’ when nothing had started.

“But over the course of the summer, even during summer workouts, for our players to be out here during their runs, having the opportunity to see this project really come to life, you can tell the excitement is really building. The opportunity we have here at such a unique venue to create a home-field advantage is something I know all of us are really excited about.”

Northwestern ended up going 2-3 at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium this season. It has two remaining “home” games at Wrigley Field in Chicago, against Ohio State and Illinois.

The Wildcats will play the 2025 season at their temporary stadium as well.

“I think it’s cool, and it’s really unique,” said Northwestern running back Cam Porter. “Obviously you can see Lake Michigan right here. What other stadium in the country has that? It’s very tight and close knit, but it still has a good amount of seats so it feels like a college stadium, which is good. I hope (the opponents) are worried about the stadium and not about the game. That works in our favor ... I’m sure they are going to be amazed as we are on a day-to-day basis.”

Northwestern goes into Saturday’s game against Iowa at Kinnick Stadium (2:30 p.m. kickoff, Big Ten Network) with a 3-4 overall record, including 1-3 in the Big Ten. The Wildcats lost at home last week to Wisconsin, 23-3.

This group has been good defensively, allowing 19.6 points per game and actually one point less overall (137 to 138) than Iowa. Linebackers Mac Uihlein and Xander Mueller rank top 15 in the Big Ten in tackles.

A redshirt junior, Uihlein was a four-star recruit out of Lake Forest High School in suburban Chicago, considered the top prep player in Illinois as a senior. Mueller was injured against Wisconsin and is uncertain to play against Iowa.

Northwestern has struggled mightily on offense, however, averaging just 19 points a game. That’s second to last in the conference behind only UCLA (17.4). Quarterbacks Jack Lausch and Mike Wright have combined to complete just 52 percent of their passes with four TDs (all from Lausch) and three interceptions.

It’s never easy at Northwestern.

“Frustrating performance on Saturday,” Braun said this week. “Did not play our brand of football. There is a lot to work on. At the end of the day, Sunday provided us the opportunity to identify areas that we need to get fixed.

“At the end of the day, it’s an opportunity for us to look it square in the eye, get back to work and know that we need to improve as we approach going into a hostile environment against a very good Iowa team.”

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