I remember a bit more than 3 years ago as (more than justified) worries over a 2nd Dark Age descended upon us; it felt like there was a legit chance that everything we had been building here would fall apart at the worst possible time with CFB in massive upheaval nationally: 1) the University might pull back on a rebuild of RF (Ryan Jr. revealed that the family offered to help University settle accounts if it decided to change course), 2) mass season ticket cancellations in the wake of Covid only being amplified by the Fitz debacle, 3) coming off a 1-11 season, and another two 3 win seasons in the prior 3 years, etc. Things were pretty bleak.
But instead of the program collapsing, Braun and the coaches and players that stuck with the program managed to turn it around in the first year and go 8-5 with a good bowl win over Utah (and that included sending out old RF with a win against Purdue). The second year was a struggle of sorts with a 4-8 finish but it never felt as bleak as the 1-11 or 3-9 seasons a few years prior (especially those two years with JON as DC); it felt like Braun would have a chance to build something and that the program had committed to the full RF rebuild, so things were still looking up. At the very least with Braun and McGarigle, the defense had improved fast and it was more trying to find a workable offense was a fixable problem.
By last year, we were 7-6 with a second bowl win in 3 years and the defense had kept us in most of the games including a near upset of Michigan as well as Illinois and Nebraska.
And then Braun and Mark Jackson go and bring in Chip Kelly, Neuheisel, Drevno, etc.; basically an all-star offensive staff, and this season has started off as strongly as anybody could have imagined.
We blew out Prime's Colorado to close out our run in the lakeside field and blew out Penn State to open new Ryan Field. Sandwiched between was an inspired effort against the defending national champion on a 20+ game win streak. It was also a nice touch last year to finally win a game in Wrigley as we likely closed out our run there for the foreseeable future. Braun and the staff and players kept the program "up" when it could have collapsed; they won a majority of their games to this point including a bunch of important ones and a pair of bowls.
It's hard to describe just how bright the future is for Northwestern football right now. We have one of the best coaching staffs in CFB right now (of course it's never certain how long you can keep guys who will be in high demand), we have the best facilities across the board without question, we're seeing NIL start to come together here to the point where I think we can be a top half Big Ten team in NIL spending, etc.
There's still a lot of work to be done; it will take a few years of winning (and knock on wood that Braun sticks around and keeps winning here) to get the season ticket sales to back where they were before the double whammies of Covid/2023 mess. But the program's future is incredibly bright and that's worth reflecting on... we can take a look at cautionary tales like Stanford's rut since 2018 where I think Stanford is basically well behind us as a program now and I never thought that before.
Also final note, the stadium is spectacular. Every detail came together and it feels like it will be the best CFB stadium for the next several decades. I hope we eventually get to the point where it's full of purple most weeks of every year.
But instead of the program collapsing, Braun and the coaches and players that stuck with the program managed to turn it around in the first year and go 8-5 with a good bowl win over Utah (and that included sending out old RF with a win against Purdue). The second year was a struggle of sorts with a 4-8 finish but it never felt as bleak as the 1-11 or 3-9 seasons a few years prior (especially those two years with JON as DC); it felt like Braun would have a chance to build something and that the program had committed to the full RF rebuild, so things were still looking up. At the very least with Braun and McGarigle, the defense had improved fast and it was more trying to find a workable offense was a fixable problem.
By last year, we were 7-6 with a second bowl win in 3 years and the defense had kept us in most of the games including a near upset of Michigan as well as Illinois and Nebraska.
And then Braun and Mark Jackson go and bring in Chip Kelly, Neuheisel, Drevno, etc.; basically an all-star offensive staff, and this season has started off as strongly as anybody could have imagined.
We blew out Prime's Colorado to close out our run in the lakeside field and blew out Penn State to open new Ryan Field. Sandwiched between was an inspired effort against the defending national champion on a 20+ game win streak. It was also a nice touch last year to finally win a game in Wrigley as we likely closed out our run there for the foreseeable future. Braun and the staff and players kept the program "up" when it could have collapsed; they won a majority of their games to this point including a bunch of important ones and a pair of bowls.
It's hard to describe just how bright the future is for Northwestern football right now. We have one of the best coaching staffs in CFB right now (of course it's never certain how long you can keep guys who will be in high demand), we have the best facilities across the board without question, we're seeing NIL start to come together here to the point where I think we can be a top half Big Ten team in NIL spending, etc.
There's still a lot of work to be done; it will take a few years of winning (and knock on wood that Braun sticks around and keeps winning here) to get the season ticket sales to back where they were before the double whammies of Covid/2023 mess. But the program's future is incredibly bright and that's worth reflecting on... we can take a look at cautionary tales like Stanford's rut since 2018 where I think Stanford is basically well behind us as a program now and I never thought that before.
Also final note, the stadium is spectacular. Every detail came together and it feels like it will be the best CFB stadium for the next several decades. I hope we eventually get to the point where it's full of purple most weeks of every year.
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