INDIANAPOLIS — Mere hours separated David Braun from the moment that would push him farther outside of his comfort zone than he’d ever been before.
It was the night before Big Ten media day, and Braun would be the only person representing Northwestern, a program he hadn’t even joined until after the university launched an external investigation into the hazing allegations that have now torn it apart. And the full weight of that responsibility hit the Wildcats’ interim head coach all at once. He knew it was critical that he show up and stare this thing down, but what could he possibly say about landing his dream job under these conditions? What could he say to help a broken locker room begin to heal?
He turned to his wife Kristin for advice, and she told him: Go be you.
So on Wednesday afternoon, when Braun, who spent last season as the defensive coordinator at FCS North Dakota State, sat in front of a standing room-only crowd of reporters, he paused. His eyes got red and teary as he recounted the previous night and last couple of weeks.
“I’m very thankful for — I’ve got a lot of people praying for me right now,” he said. “… This is something that, over the course of the last 24 hours that I just wanted to make sure that you know my words were certainly…
