How high can David Braun ELEVATE Northwestern Football? Competing in Big Ten vs Michigan, Ohio State

we're here with the reigning Big 10 Coach of the Year David Braun from nor Western the very different experience between last year and this year for sure for sure I just remember watching you up there on stage last year thinking they should not make this man do this but you not only dealt with that but an entire season where you know not a lot of known and then you end up winning eight games win a bowl game how satisfying was that that year for you yeah it it was uh just doing it with great people you know I mean at the end of the day uh the reason why I got into this the reason our family does it is because the the people and the relationships um what the what that group navigated what what they were able to accomplish the way we were able to celebrate with a bull Victory with a bunch of you know those young men a lot of which were going on to graduating on onto new things whether it be football or or life outside of football uh I told someone ear today uh that that that bowl went against Utah that that is a memory I will I will never forget standing in that locker room with that group of young men and celebrating uh uh you know an incredible culmination that well and you guys have been through so much because nobody nobody thought last year would be the way it was but and also Kyle Whittingham doesn't lose mini bowl games that was a hell of performance well I mean going to that bowl game it was it was one of those situations like Utah what they've established in their sustainability and and what Kyle's created I mean it's kind of going in that game you you you really admire what Utah is and what they've what they've built and what an incredible challenge for us uh that was that was a neat experience so this offseason go in you know you're you're given the full-time job you start to create the staff that maybe would would have been your vision what's it like now that is it is your program and and you've gotten to make all those big decisions over the last year yeah it's it's it's been it's been really exciting I mean that that transition was hard I mean the success we experienced last year was a was a credit to every one that was involved yeah you know you just realize as as a as a head coach it's your job to make decisions that you believe aren't the best interest in the long-term health of the program uh it it it's been exciting it's been challenging new landscape what's this going to look like uh you know I'm learning a lot about myself it's been a year first of what this looks like planning long term I think the ultimate challenge for us right now Andy is truly understanding that as much as it's I mean it's what we've been doing a lot today we've been talking about the success of last year well right what this new group of of of uh players coaches everybody has to understand is this collection there there're maybe a lot of guys coming back that were a part of it but this new collection of people hasn't accomplished a damn thing yet oh yeah you know and and and you don't know what chemistry is going to be until you get them out there together yeah there's got to be a certain hunger and urgency that we move with daily and just taking it one day at a time and um you know from from what I've seen in terms of our offseason and spring um you know I'm I'm excited about where this group's at we we ran a story recently on your new OC and I know you guys are are really excited about what was it about him that that made you say this is this is who I need yeah you know I I think there was a lot of factors but I mean the the thing I really challenged Zach on in our conversations were you know I don't want I don't want to see a Playbook or uh a system I want you to talk about your vision for creating you know utilizing and tapping into your system and your Concepts that you've created to be tailored towards the skill sets of the the young men in our on our team that you inherit yeah here's what we got what can you do with them absolutely I just highly intellectual super relatable adaptable and just has a certain level of understanding the game and leverage and how you can utilize leverage to your advantage as an offense creative with trade shift motion and uh not ego driven you know so many times we get tied up in well the best defense or the best offense or the most yardage at the end of the day it's our job to put our guys in situations to win games yeah Zack luhan's all about finding ways to win games actually I was having this conversation with with bush hamon who's the new OC at Kentucky the other day and so he's working for a defensive minded coach uh again where he'd been with an offensive minded coach as a guy who comes from the defensive side of the ball how do you handle the complimentary aspects of how do I practice to make sure the offense get gets what it needs but my defense is also getting what it needs yeah I think it really comes back to what we just talked about um you know being really intentional and doing my best to ensure that we are hiring low ego high output individuals like how does that happen as much as you direct that as the head coach and you can mandate that it's it's a lot easier when you hire a offensive coordinator and a defensive coordinator that just check their egos at the door and work well with one another in those aspects already I've seen that between Tim and Zach of like hey what do you need to see what what do you need to see hey what can we set up this fall Camp to make sure that we get some two back looks hey I you know we'd really love to see some Tempo out of the offense so we can prepare for some of the tempo operations and both are just so willing to service one another to at the end of they serve the program which is critical so in terms of you know putting your culture in the program in a different play like you've been to North at North Dakota state which obviously great winning program great tradition and and they know how to win but is it you know these past few months where you finally got to say okay here's how I feel like we should run this program I mean it feels like last season was just trying to deal with the next week no doubt when did you get to sit back back and say okay here's my vision for this thing yeah I think it's one of those things uh you know being someone Andy that uh you know when I'm at my best I'm taking time for myself and creating some quiet time staying you know I've said it before staying prayerful there there there there was moments throughout the season moments throughout the offseason where things just click where you go man I was kind of searching for that but also you take some time to really digest that write it down as we move forward the things that are critical to me how do we find a way to win a big 10 Championship the the only way we find a way to do that at Northwestern is by out developing people and out teaming people yeah well we have guys that go on the NFL first round draft picks of course but at the end of the day the way that we are collectively going to win we got out develop we got out team and then you know for us um it's it's looking at everything through a prism of in this new landscape what's unique about Northwestern and there's plenty that's unique about Northwestern but we need to leverage that uniqueness to our advantage in terms of everything that we do well I felt like when when Jim Harbaugh and then David Shaw were at Stanford they did that where they they didn't use Stanford's academics as an excuse they made it the primary selling point and all of a sudden all these great offensive linemen are coming because offensive lineman tend to be smart guys they they like the degree and they're like oh okay y but let me ask you this in this era how do you outd develop when the second people realize you've got something good going and that you've got this person kind of ready to go they're swooping in uh that that that is a great question I think on the front end of recruiting and prioritizing High School recruiting you're making sure that you first identify young men that love football passion this isn't as much as I respect the ivy league and what that conference stands for and the quality football players that come out of the Ivy at the end of the day the th this is the highest level of college football along with Northwestern academics you better love football step one step two is identifying young men and families that truly value a Northwestern degree as much as we want to talk about nil and revenue share one of the greatest selling points we have to retain our student athletes is making sure that they really value what a Northwestern degree will do for you show lifetime earnings and okay absolutely and then you know in terms of the development piece of it how do we out devel out team it's by by development in in transfers you're going to EB and flow it's going to stunt your growth creating a system that guys really want to be there for four years they want to fully develop they want to develop holistically and then ensuring we got our work cut out for us in this area but we got people that are hard at work at it ensuring that our our uh you know nil landcape and how we navigate this Revenue share and things that are on the horizon everything is geared towards the retention of student athletes so at the end of the day they earn their Northwestern degree and they play their best college football at Northwestern not at another institution I feel like as the revenue share era starts it's it's going to help schools like yours I would agree we're we're the Gap isn't you don't have to go raise it all some of it's there 100% you know I'm not going to share strict numbers but the the nil Gap right now between us and others in the Big 10 is incredibly dramatic that's not to understate the work that uh trenu has done and others have done to fundraise and people that have supported but uh I again just like I said earlier today with challenges in this new landscape there's also opportunity I'm really excited to go attack those opportunities well good luck appreciate coach thank you Andy appreciate you thank you so much for watching just a reminder subscribe to this channel right here so you never miss an episode of Andy Staples on 3 and oh by the way watch all the other great videos on the Onre Sports YouTube channel