Category: Northwestern Wildcats

David Braun named interim head coach at Northwestern

We know who will lead the Northwestern program for the 2023 season.

After the firing of [autotag]Northwestern Wildcats[/autotag] head coach Pat Fitzgerald, the school has made a move to address who will lead the program, at least for now.

According to a report from Jordan Mendoza, defensive coordinator David Braun will now run the Northwestern program for the 2023 college football season. He came over from North Dakota State where he coached the defense and safeties from 2019 to 2022. Braun never coached at the Power Five level and is now tasked with running the Northwestern program.

Braun started his coaching career at Winona State, where he played from 2004 to 2007. He would eventually move to Northern Iowa before joining the Bisons’ staff, where he helped win two national championships.

Braun and offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian, who has been with Northwestern since 2019, could both be auditioning for the permanent head coaching gig beyond this upcoming season.

Given where we are at in the offseason, this seems like the only logical move for 2023. Keeping the staff in place will help ensure that most of the team remains together. How it plays out in 2023 remains to be seen but it can’t be much worse than the 1-11 campaign from last season.

Northwestern fires head football coach Pat Fitzgerald

Pat Fitzgerald’s run at Northwestern came to an end on Monday following reports of hazing within the program.

On Monday a major move was made by Northwestern University. Following the suspension announcement on Friday, the school fired their long-time head coach Pat Fitzgerald amid a hazing scandal.

A former player opened up about the hazing that was called “running”.

“It’s a shocking experience as a freshman to see your fellow freshman teammates get ran, but then you see everybody bystanding in the locker room,” the unidentified former player told The Daily Northwestern via USA TODAY Sports. “It’s just a really abrasive and barbaric culture that has permeated throughout that program for years on end now.”

The former standout Northwestern linebacker that won two Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik Awards took over as head coach in 2006. He came back to his alma mater in 2001 as the defensive backs coach and worked his way up to head coach by that 2006 season.

During his tenure, Fitzgerald became the all-time winningest coach in Northwestern history. He finishes his NU career with a record 110-101 and 65-76 in Big Ten play. His last win came against Nebraska in Ireland last season to open the season. Fitzgerald won just four games over the last two seasons.

The next step will be to name a new head coach for the football program. With a scandal like this, it might be best for the Northwestern brass to clean house and start anew.

REPORT: Arizona State, Northwestern set for late-December matchup in Phoenix

Northwestern and Arizona State are set to matchup for the first time since 2004 next December.

According to a new report from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports and College Hoops Today, the Arizona State Sun Devils and Northwestern Wildcats will face off in a late-December matchup at the Footprint Center in Phoenix.

The matchup is expected to be part of a double-header at the Footprint Center on December 20 with Alabama vs Arizona to follow suit. Arizona State and Northwestern will also meet in 2024-25 at the United Center in Chicago.

Arizona State is coming off a 23-13 season and its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since the 2018-19 season.  The Sun Devils would defeat No. 11 Nevada in the First Four before falling to No. 6 TCU in the Round of 64.

The Sun Devils received good news earlier this week when point guard Frankie Collins announced his return to Tempe. Collins was the Sun Devils’ No. 4 scorer this past season, averaging 9.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game. They did, however, lose their leading scorer in Desmond Cambridge to the transfer portal. Cambridge elected to stay in the Pac-12 and will play for Oregon next season.

Northwestern themselves made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2016-17 season, collecting a 22-12 overall record. The Wildcats won their first-round matchup against No. 10 Boise State and would end up losing to No. 2 UCLA in the Round of 32. The Wildcats will welcome back guard Boo Buie next season after the All-Big Ten selection averaged 17.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.5 assists this season.

Arizona State and Northwestern have met six times in their history, the last coming in 2004, a 90-55 win for Arizona State in Tempe.

Northwestern star guard Boo Buie announces return to Wildcats

The Northwestern Men’s Basketball team got a big boost to their 2023-24 roster on Monday.

Northwestern star guard Boo Buie has withdrawn his name from the NBA Draft and is returning to Evanston. The Albany, New York, native announced his decision Monday on Twitter.

Buie, a First-Team All-Big Ten selection this past season averaged 17.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.5 assists for the Wildcats while shooting 40.6% from the floor. With his phenomenal season, the Wildcats were able to go 22-12 including 12-8 in conference play, leading to the Wildcats second ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

Next season will be Buie’s fifth with Northwestern. After signing with the Wildcats originally as part of their 2019 recruiting class out of Gould Academy School in Bethel, Maine. In each of his four seasons thus far, Buie has averaged 10+ points including 14.1 in 2021-22 and his career-high 17.3 this past season.

Not only has he been a force offensively but he’s also been a quality player defensively for the Wildcats, improving his defensive efforts each season. This past season, Buie averaged 1.1 steals per game while posting a defensive rating of 101.2, the best of his career.

Buie returning will mean the Wildcats return at least one of their two top scorers from last season. Fellow guard Chase Audige also declared for the NBA Draft this offseason. Audige averaged 14.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.9 assists over this past season. He’ll have until June 1 to withdraw from the draft.

Cincinnati QB transfer Ben Bryant reveals transfer destination

The Northwestern Wildcats picked up a big commitment out of the transfer portal on Tuesday from a former AAC quarterback.

University of Cincinnati quarterback transfer Ben Bryant won’t be moving all too far this summer. The redshirt senior quarterback out of Lagrance, Illinois, will be heading close to home for his final season of eligibility in 2023. He committed to the Northwestern Wildcats on Wednesday.

Bryant was Cincinnati’s starting quarterback this past season, completing 213-of-348 passing attempts for 2,732 yards and 21 touchdowns with just seven interceptions. In the process, the Bearcats went 9-4 on the season including 6-2 in AAC play before losing 24-7 in the Fenway Bowl.

For Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern, the commitment from Bryant is a major one. Last season, three quarterbacks had 40 or more passing attempts for the Wildcats Ryan Hillinski, Brenden Sullivan, and Cole Freeman.

All three quarterbacks had some struggles in the process. Hillinski completed 55.8% of his passes for 1,644 yards and six touchdowns while throwing seven interceptions, Sullivan completed a strong 74% of his passes but had three interceptions to just four touchdowns in the process. Finally, Cole Freeman struggled the most with just a 48.9% completion percentage while throwing five interceptions.

With the poor quarterback play, the Wildcats struggled mightily, averaging just 13.8 points on offense which ranked 128 out of 131 teams nationally, leading to a 1-11 overall record. Their only win on the season came in Ireland, in their season opener against Nebraska 31-28. The Wildcats have not won on American soil since October 16, 2021 against Rutgers 21-7.

Bryant should bring consistency and all-around strong play to the Wildcats next season.

Coming out of high school in the 2018 recruiting cycle, Bryant was a consensus three-star recruit who committed to Cincinnati over offers from Georgia, Ole Miss, and West Virginia as well as other Group of Five programs.

Northwestern picks up big transfer portal commitment from Princeton guard Ryan Langborg

Northwestern picked up a strong transfer portal commitment on Sunday.

The [autotag]Northwestern Wildcats[/autotag] men’s basketball team picked up a transfer portal commitment from Princeton guard Ryan Lanborg on Sunday.

Langborg, a graduate transfer averaged 12.7 points per game this past season and was a huge part of the Tigers’ NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 run in which he put up 22 points against Missouri and 26 points against Creighton.

On the season for Princeton, Langborg had 24 double-digit scoring efforts in 32 games. He shot 42.3% from the floor for the season including 33.2% from deep. Langborg is also a considerably strong free-throw shooter at 82.3%.

Langborg will join a Northwestern squad that made the NCAA Tournament this season for just the second time in school history. After making the tournament in 2017 as a No. 8 seed for the first time, the Wildcats returned to the Big Dance this past March as a No. 7 seed. They would take down No. 10 Boise State in the first round before falling to No. 2 UCLA 68-63 in the second round.

Under head coach Chris Collins, Northwestern has amassed three winning seasons, their 2022-23 season being their first since 2016-17. They also won 20 games in the 2015-16 season as well.

Lamborg will join Ty Berry in the Wildcats’ backcourt as they are currently set to lose guards Boo Buie and Chase Audige after both declared for the NBA Draft. That being said, both Buie and Audige are maintaining their eligibility. This past season Buie averaged 17.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.5 assists a game while Audige averaged a strong 14.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.9 assists of his own.

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