David Braun

David Braun (born April 2, 1985) is an American college football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach for Northwestern.

Coaching career Braun is from Wales, Wisconsin, where he attended Kettle Moraine High School. Braun began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Winona State University, his alma mater, in 2008. In 2010 he was made the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Culver-Stockton. In 2011 he returned to Winona State where he worked as the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach until the end of the 2014 season. In 2015 he became the defensive line coach at UC Davis where he stayed until the end of the 2016 season. In 2017 he was made the defensive line coach and run game coordinator at Northern Iowa. In 2018 he was made the outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator. He was named the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at North Dakota State University in January 2019.

Northwestern 2023 Season

Braun was hired by head coach Pat Fitzgerald as defensive coordinator at Northwestern in January 2023. After Fitzgerald was fired amid allegations of widespread hazing within the football program, Braun was named Northwestern's interim head coach. The week after Northwestern broke its 14-game road losing streak by defeating Wisconsin, Braun was made Northwestern's permanent head coach. Northwestern finished the regular season with a 7–5 record—the most wins for any first-year Northwestern football coach since 1903—and qualified for a Bowl game for the first time since 2020. Braun was named the 2023 Big Ten Coach of the Year for his turnaround of the program. He led his team to a victory with the Wildcats at the Las Vegas Bowl—against the Utah Utes—on December 23, 2023. Braun is the first Northwestern head coach to lead a team to a bowl in his opening season.

2024 Season

Braun and the Wildcats struggled in his first full season as Head Coach, finishing 4-8.

2025 Season

After dropping the season opener at Tulane, Braun’s Wildcats won 5 of their following 6 contests.

On Sept. 27th, Northwestern beat UCLA for its first conference win of the season.

Braun’s Wildcats upset preseason Big Ten favorite Penn State 22-21 on Oct. 21st, marking the final game of James Franklin’s tenure at PSU.

Head coaching record

Personal life Braun and his wife, Kristin, have three children - Lucas, Andrew and Blake.