Report: Northwestern to retain assistant coaches and support staff for 2023 season

Pat Fitzgerald is out at Northwestern, leaving them without a head coach just under two months before the season opener. Hazing allegations have rocked the program, leading to Fitzgerald’s firing after originally being punished with a two-week suspension. There are plenty of long-term questions in Evanston but a decision had to be made about the rest of the coaching staff as well.

Northwestern plans on keeping those people on board according to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg. All assistant coaches and support staff will remain with the Wildcats for the 2023 season. Rittenberg says AD Derrick Gragg informed them of the decision on Tuesday.

“Northwestern is retaining its assistant coaches and support staff for the 2023 season, the school tells ESPN,” Rittenberg said. “The coaches and staff were informed of their status in a meeting with athletic director Derrick Gragg earlier today.”

For the time being, David Braun is expected to be running the Northwestern program on a “day-to-day” basis. This was reported by Matt Fortuna of The Athletic on Tuesday shortly after the news of Fitzgerald’s firing was released.

Braun is in his first season with the Wildcats, previously being the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at North Dakota State. He got the acting head coach role over offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Bajakian, who has been in Evanston since the 2019 season.

Now, according to Rittenberg, no matter who steps in to serve as head coach for the 2023 season, both Bajakian and Braun will retain their jobs. Maybe one of them will be coaching to be the permanent guy moving forward.

Northwestern entering 2023 season without head coach

There are a ton of moving parts happening for Northwestern at the moment. There is not too much time to figure things out either. First up will be Big Ten Media Days, where somebody will have to travel to Indianapolis the last week of July to represent the program. Whoever is tasked with that honor will have a difficult day ahead of them.

And then there is actually playing football, with fall camp set to begin in early August. Northwestern will open the 2023 season with a conference game, traveling to Rutgers on Sept. 3 for a noon ET kickoff time. There will be no opportunity for the Wildcats to ease into the schedule.

Retaining the assistant coaches and support staff was another step in the right direction to make sure the 2023 season is not a total disaster, at least from the beginning. A few more big decisions are on the way from Gragg, though.