David Braun (American football)

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

2023 Season
Braun was hired by head coach Pat Fitzgerald as defensive coordinator at Northwestern in January 2023. After head coach Pat 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.