How critical, though, is his efficiency in your offensive system and to your success offensively?

It's, it's so critical.

You know, I, I just...

I'm so happy for Aidan.

I'm so happy for us.

The, the partnership between Aidan, Chip, and Jerry Neuheisel, like, that, that partnership is just something that's, that's really special.

And, and I, I think, uh, a, you know, a testament to Aidan's maturity is he just wants to win, you know? It, it required against Indiana the week previously to try and put us in situations to play winning football that, that we threw it more.

How did you and Chip originally connect, and then what were you looking for from him specifically?

How critical, though, is his efficiency in your offensive system and to your success offensively?

It's, it's so critical.

You know, I, I, I just, I'm so happy for Aidan.

I'm so happy for us.

The, the partnership between Aidan, Chip, and Gerry Neuheisel, like, that, that partnership is just something that's, that's really special.

And, and I, I think, uh, uh, you know, a testament to Aidan's maturity is he just wants to win, you know? It, it required against Indiana the week previously to try and put us in situations to play winning football that, that we threw it more, and, and his stat line was pretty impressive throwing the football.

And, and his stat line against Penn State, um, you know, d- isn't, isn't eye-catching, but the, the run game was working and never once is he over there saying, "We need to throw it more." He, he just wants to win.

How did you and Chip originally connect, and then what were you looking for from him specifically?

What was your experience like with him this weekend?

It was, it was great.

You know, uh, myself and coach Sanders have not had a chance to meet prior to the game, but had a chance to, to visit pregame and, you know, everything that you see from the outside in terms of just being someone that, you know, is in it for all the right reasons, you know, wants to help develop young men through the game of football, you know, rings true when you had a chance to spend time with them.

And, I even told him, I said, you know, he's not in a situation where he has to be doing this.

This is his passion.

Coaching the game of football, but really coaching life and pouring into young people in a crazy time in college football at such a critical age.

You know, Toby Ianni, one of their defensive ends, is someone that I actually recruited and coached.

How's it working out with Coach Kelly for you

That's next here on The Score.

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We'll do that next in the score.

David Braun, the head coach of the Northwestern Wildcats, joins us here on the score.

Guys, thanks for having me.

Hey, if you want to come to South Dakota State or Colorado for the lakefront, tickets are on me.

Just let me know and certainly look forward to having you back over for an experience at New Ryan Field.

How did this marriage happen, and what can we expect from him as Northwestern OC?

Yeah, you, you know, it, it's, it's, it's one of those things.

You know, making change i- is hard.

And, uh, that, that, that decision for me did not come lightly, but, but when, when I made that decision that, that we were gonna, gonna make a change at offensive coordinator, I had some pretty frank conversations with Mark Jackson and others of, like, "Guys, we can't just be making change just to say that we made a change.

Like, this needs to be transformative change." The truth around, you know, Northwestern offense over the last 10 years is that it ranks 121st in FBS football.

I was responsible for being at the helm for that for three seasons.

You know, like, I'm, I'm, I'm taking ownership in that, but we needed transformative change and, you know, we needed to be aggressive on who, who we went out and pursued.

As a defensive coach these days, what keeps you up at night when you start looking at the way offenses have evolved?

How did this marriage happen, and what can we expect from him as Northwestern OC?

Yeah, y- you know, it, it's, it's, it's one of those things, you know.

Making change i- is hard.

And, uh, that, that, that decision for me did not come lightly, but, but when, when I made that decision that, that we were gonna, gonna make a change at offensive coordinator, I had- Some pretty frank conversations with Mark Jackson and others of like, "Guys, we can't just be making change just to say that we made a change." Like, this needs to be transformative change.

The truth around, you know, Northwestern offense over the last 10 years is that it ranks 121st in FBS football.

I was responsible for being at the helm for that for three seasons.

You know, like I'm, I'm, I'm taking ownership in that.

As a defensive coach these days, what keeps you up at night when you start looking at the way offenses have evolved?

So as we jump in, I'd like to do, you know, share with the audience, how did you end up doing what you do? I'm assuming as 12 years old, you're not thinking, you know what, I'm going to be diving into carbon partitioning.

No, you're absolutely correct.

I kind of came at it a little bit out of left field.

I grew up in Los Angeles in a very urban area with almost no exposure to agriculture really other than the gardens in my grandparents' house and fruits and vegetables they would grow.

And I knew from an early age I loved science, but there's no scientist in my family.

I'm the only one.

So everyone was a lawyer or an accountant or a teacher.

What are you working on?

Oh, 100%.

Yes.

I mean, I was pinching myself.

Our family was pinching ourselves.

Had a chance to be around Fitz in camps and observe him from afar.

It was one of those things where it was like, gosh, if I ever could have an opportunity to work at Northwestern, I mean... hire me as a GA.

Like, you know what, if I, if I could work for Fitz and work in Northwestern and, uh, to be hired as the defensive coordinator, absolute dream come true, you know, shoot, whatever it was six months later, that dream turns into a nightmare for, for a lot of people.

What's the message to your team before they go out there and play Penn State?

Yes.

I mean, you know, I was pinching myself.

Our family was pinching ourselves, you know.

Had a chance to be around Fitz in camps and observe him from afar.

You know, it was one of those things where it was like, gosh, if I ever could have an opportunity to work at Northwestern, I mean, hire me as a GA.

Like, you know, if I could work for Fitz and work at Northwestern and to be hired as the defensive coordinator, absolute dream come true.

You know, shoot, whatever it was, six months later, that dream turns into a nightmare for a lot of people.

What's the message to your team before they go out there and play Penn State?