Content warning: This article mentions sexual assault.
David Braun won’t tell it to you this way, but Northwestern’s third-year head coach is on top of the world.
Braun’s Wildcats (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) waltzed into Happy Valley on Saturday and earned a season-defining 22-21 victory over Penn State, coming back from behind on three separate occasions to stun a team that reached the College Football Playoff semifinal last season and entered its 2025 campaign ranked No. 2.
For a coach with something to prove after a rocky four-win season last year set off a few alarm bells in Evanston, it was a statement of epic proportions.
On the field postgame, Athletic Director Mark Jackson shared a lengthy embrace with Braun, leaping off the ground into his arms and pinching his cheeks.
There was no doubt about it. Braun was his man.
On the other sideline, the contrast could not have been more stark. Nittany Lion (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) coach James Franklin looked a shell of a man as he gathered his troops to face the home faithful and sing the school alma mater. Peering up at a thinned-out crowd that had once numbered over 108,000, Franklin must have known his time was up.
Just two weeks prior, Franklin had his team on the precipice of an overtime win over then-No. 6 Oregon, in a game with seemingly enormous postseason implications. A game-ending interception and two unfathomable upsets later, Franklin was dismissed Sunday after over 11 seasons at the helm.
It would be easy to look at this turn of events, and, as many have done, declare a moral victory for Braun.
The last time these squads met in 2023, Franklin refused to turn up the music to its usual volume at practice to help his team prepare for a muted atmosphere at the old Ryan Field, according to The Athletic. The Nittany Lions stormed into Evanston and mauled the ’Cats 41-13 that day and capped it off with a fake-quarterback-dive, play-action touchdown pass with under three minutes remaining that piled on the misery.
“I look forward to inviting Coach Franklin and Penn State back into Ryan Field and seeing what type of environment we can create for him next time he’s here,” Braun said after the game, diplomatic as ever.
That NU rang the final death knell for Franklin’s tenure, denying him the chance to visit the new Ryan Field donning navy-and-white, carries a sweet irony.
Yet, Franklin’s ouster is also a cautionary tale. After all, it was not long ago that James Franklin was David Braun, tasked with taking over a scandal-ridden program and restoring pride to a fractured fanbase.
Franklin arrived in State College in 2014, just two years after the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal led to the firing of legendary 46-year coach Joe Paterno. Penn State had been postseason-ineligible in the intervening two seasons due to NCAA sanctions and previous coach Bill O’Brien had bailed for the NFL’s Houston Texans.
The initial goal was not a national title. It was to lead the Nittany Lions out of the darkness, to heal, to develop a group of young men that fans could be proud of, to restore national relevance to the program.
And Franklin did just that — maxim by maxim, cliche by cliche. The 2016 Big Ten title and 2023 Rose Bowl may have been his crowning achievements, but the tributes from current and former players alike following his firing Sunday spoke volumes about Franklin’s biggest impact.
“S–t heartbreaking and don’t even feel real,” linebacker Tony Rojas wrote in a Sunday X post. “Wasn’t just a great coach but someone who cared about us players and wanted to develop us as men off the field too.”
“Like you always say, it starts with I love you and always ends with I love you,” former quarterback Trace McSorley added on X, echoing one of Franklin’s mantras. “Love you Coach!”
It starts with I love you and ends with I love you. All the well-documented reasons for Franklin’s sacking — 4-21 against top-10 opponents, 1-18 against top-10 opponents in Big Ten play, 1-10 against arch-rivals Ohio State — do not erase the power of those words.
Close your eyes, and it’s not hard to imagine that same refrain echoing out as Braun stands behind a podium.
The NU coach has applied the same character-focused approach since unexpectedly taking the reins after former coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired as a hazing scandal rocked the program in the summer of 2023.
His first year in charge was nothing short of a miracle. Instilling values of grit and accountability into the locker room, Braun guided a team that had finished 1-11 the previous season to an 8-5 record and a bowl game win.
One might think that such an instantaneous and remarkable turnaround would buy a coach time, but as the magic wore off in a sloppy sophomore season, it didn’t take long for doubts to creep in.
Some worried that Braun’s highest-level experience came as a defensive coordinator at the FCS level. Others criticized the conservative play-calling and stagnant offense under rookie offensive coordinator Zach Lujan. More still clung onto memories of Fitzgerald, aggrieved at what they viewed as a miscarriage of justice against the program’s longtime poster boy.
All those doubts were put to rest Saturday in a signature win defined by near-perfect execution on both sides of the ball — controlled aggression in offensive play-calling; big late-down stops on defense; a bruising run game punctuated by redshirt sophomore running back Caleb Komolafe’s game-winning 9-yard touchdown with under five minutes remaining.
But, as Franklin’s case shows, a lot can change in football in a very short time.
“It’s heavy. I mean, to be honest with you, if you start to process through it, it bums you out,” Braun said Monday of Franklin’s axing. “The success that he found, that he put his heart and soul and spirit into that place for over a decade, did an incredible job. And you know, to see the news yesterday was tough.”
There will come a time, perhaps in the not-so-distant future, when Braun’s doubters will have good cause to re-emerge from the woodwork. There may even come a time when he will have taken this team as far as he possibly can.
But, if and when those moments come, ’Cats fans should remember how they felt on Saturday.
Out of a toxic mess, David Braun has established a culture of heart, responsibility and winning football that every single person affiliated with this University can be proud of.
Don’t take that for granted.
Email: [email protected]
Related Stories:
— Football: Northwestern prevails in 22-21 upset win at Penn State
— Rapid Recap: Northwestern 22, Penn State 21
— Final steel structural beam installed at Ryan Field ‘topping out ceremony’
