Northwestern is set to promote interim football coach David Braun to the permanent head-coaching role, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.
Braun, hired in January as defensive coordinator by former coach Pat Fitzgerald, has led Northwestern to five wins, more than the team’s combined win total from the past two seasons (four). He is the first Northwestern coach to win five games in his first season since Walter McCornack in 1903.
Northwestern’s staff was informed Wednesday afternoon that Braun would be promoted, sources told ESPN. An official announcement is expected by Thursday, and a news conference to introduce Braun could happen that day, sources said.
The school named Braun as interim coach on July 14, four days after it fired Fitzgerald in the wake of hazing allegations against the program. Northwestern would be the first FBS school to hire a new head coach this season.
Sources told ESPN that the search committee for Fitzgerald’s successor, which included athletic director Derrick Gragg and several trustees, had been impressed not only with the team’s on-field performance amid adversity but also with Braun’s approach with the players and in news conferences.
Braun, who grew up near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, had never been a college head coach or worked at an FBS school before Fitzgerald hired him following four seasons as North Dakota State defensive coordinator. The Winona State defensive lineman made stops at his alma mater, UC Davis and Northern Iowa before joining the North Dakota State staff in 2019.
He has called defensive plays for Northwestern and seen the unit improve substantially, going from 82nd to 46th in points allowed and from 62nd to 29th in yards allowed. The Wildcats have allowed just 16.8 points per game in their past five games.
The Wildcats could become bowl eligible with a win over Purdue on Saturday or at Illinois on Nov. 25.
Northwestern considered external candidates, including some veteran FBS head coaches but focused on Braun in recent days. After Northwestern’s 24-10 upset win at Wisconsin on Saturday, a number of players went on social media and posted the hashtag #removethetag, referring to Braun and the interim head coach tag. Among those who posted was Jack Fitzgerald, a freshman tight end and the oldest son of Pat Fitzgerald, who has been working as a student assistant with the team this season.
More than a dozen former Northwestern players have filed lawsuits against the university, alleging that they were hazed and mistreated while in the program. Last month, Fitzgerald filed a $130 million wrongful termination lawsuit against Northwestern and university president Michael Schill, alleging that the school broke an oral agreement by firing him three days after agreeing to a two-week suspension following the university’s investigation into hazing allegations.
Northwestern is set to respond to Fitzgerald’s lawsuit in the next few weeks.
Oklahoma defensive tackle David Stone entered the NCAA transfer portal Friday, sources told ESPN.
Stone, a former five-star recruit and the No. 6 overall player in the ESPN 300 for the 2024 class, made the surprising decision to enter the portal after playing in all 13 games as a true freshman with the Sooners. The 6-foot-3 313-pounder saw limited playing time, playing 88 snaps and recording 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and 1 sack.
Stone was expected to compete for a more significant role as a sophomore, and Oklahoma coach Brent Venables recently praised him as the Sooners’ most improved defensive tackle this offseason.
The Oklahoma native finished his high school career at IMG Academy in Florida and was a significant recruiting victory for Venables and his coaching staff in August 2023. Stone chose the Sooners over Texas A&M, Oregon, Florida, Miami and Michigan State.
The SEC does not grant immediate eligibility to players who transfer within the conference during the spring transfer window, so Stone would need to sit out the 2025 season if he moves on to another SEC program.
Oklahoma returns its top three defensive tackles from 2024 in Damonic Williams, Gracen Halton and Jayden Jackson. It also added Trent Wilson, the No. 164 recruit in the ESPN 300 for 2025, as an early enrollee this spring.
Browne committed to rejoining the Boilermakers on Friday after entering his name in the NCAA transfer portal Wednesday.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound redshirt sophomore started two games for Purdue in 2024 but moved on amid the program’s head coaching change and went through spring practice under new Tar Heels coach Bill Belichick.
North Carolina landed a commitment from South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez on Thursday.
Browne and freshman Bryce Baker were North Carolina’s lone scholarship quarterbacks available for spring practice and were competing with three walk-ons while sixth-year senior Max Johnson recovers from a broken leg.
Browne threw for 636 yards, rushed for 240 yards and scored four touchdowns while appearing in nine games as Hudson Card’s backup over the past two seasons at Purdue, earning starts in losses to Illinois and Oregon.
Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood showed glimpses of the growing pains he will experience as a freshman and flashes of the promise that made him the nation’s top-rated high school football recruit in the Wolverines’ spring game Saturday.
Underwood was 12 of 26 for 187 yards with a scrimmage-ending, 88-yard pass to tight end Jalen Hoffman on a reverse flea-flicker in a 17-0 win for the Blue over the Maize.
He also recovered his fumble, had a pair of delay-of-game penalties, several errant throws – high and wide – and some dropped. Underwood lost 12 yards on two sacks and gained 17 yards on three runs.
“He did well,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “Made some really, good throws and had some things we need to clean up and get better at.”
As the Wolverines wrapped up spring football in front of about 40,000 fans at the Big House, all eyes were on Underwood and he has become comfortable with that.
“It’s just the pressure that came with my arm,” Underwood told The Detroit News earlier this spring. “I can’t stop that.”
Underwood was sacked on his first snap and his first completion went for a loss. He did throw some darts, usually in the flat, and was quick enough to escape collapsed pockets to pick up yardage with his feet.
Underwood is expected to compete with sophomore Jadyn Davis and Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene for playing time ahead of the season-opening game on Aug. 30 at home against Fresno State.
“It’s a battle,” Moore said. “It’s going to go all the way to fall camp.”
Underwood is motivated to start and kick off a legacy-building career with lofty goals.
“A couple of Heismans and at least one natty,” Underwood said last month in an interview on the Rich Eisen Show.
Underwood knows there will be people doubting he can live up to the hype.
‘He’s just a freshman. He won’t be good enough,'” Underwood said. “I might keep that chip my whole three years.”
He attended at Belleville High School, which is about 15 miles east of Ann Arbor, and flipped his commitment to Michigan after telling LSU coaches last year he intended to play there.
Tom Brady, a former Wolverine and seven-time Super Bowl winner, talked with Underwood during the school’s recruitment via FaceTime and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, also connected with him.
Jay Underwood told the Wall Street Journal that his son is expected to make more than $15 million at Michigan, but that doesn’t guarantee he will take the first snap next fall.
“He wants to earn everything,” Moore has said. “He doesn’t want to be given anything.”
Hoffman said Underwood has simply blended in with his teammates.
“He’s really humble, like not a big head, ego, nothing like that,” he said. “Comes into work and every day, he wants to get better every day. He’s not riding off his success in high school. He’s really trying to be one of those top players in college football.”
Underwood participated in practices with the team before it beat Alabama in a bowl game, enrolled in classes in January and gained a lot experience in 14 private practices before a public scrimmage.
“Football is football,” he told MLive.com. “School is a little bit more overwhelming now.”