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Northwestern Bets Long on David Braun: Extension Through 2031 for the Coach Who Rebuilt the Wildcats

Published

1 month ago

September 17, 2026

Northwestern is done wondering who its football coach is. The school announced on Thursday, September 17, 2026, that head coach David Braun had agreed to a contract extension through the 2031 season. Braun’s previous deal ran through the 2028 season; Reuters reported that the new contract includes a “significant” salary increase, citing ESPN, though Northwestern did not release financial terms. The announcement came with Braun, 41, in his fourth season and fresh off a 34-18 season-opening win over San Diego State on September 5, giving him a 20-19 career record at the school.

Braun’s rise was unplanned: hired as defensive coordinator in January 2023, he took over as interim head coach that July when Pat Fitzgerald was fired during a hazing investigation, and the interim tag came off in November 2023. His 19 wins through his first three seasons are the most by a Northwestern head coach in 120 years, he is the first coach in program history to secure bowl bids in two of his first three seasons, and he was the 2023 consensus Big Ten Coach of the Year and the inaugural winner of the Paul “Bear” Bryant Newcomer Coach of the Year Award. The 2023 team went 8-5 with a school-record five Big Ten wins for a first-year coach, a seven-win improvement that was the largest in the FBS, and a Las Vegas Bowl win over Utah.

The program’s foundation under Braun is retention and the classroom: the 2026 roster returned 88% of its eligible snaps, including 27 of 30 players who logged 100 or more snaps in 2025, and Northwestern tied for the highest Graduation Success Rate among FBS programs at 99%. In 2025 the Wildcats went 7-6 with a road win at Penn State, a top-25 defense that allowed 19.8 points per game and a 34-7 GameAbove Sports Bowl win over Central Michigan — the program’s sixth straight bowl victory and its largest postseason margin ever.

Athletic director Mark Jackson called Braun “the right leader today for Northwestern Football and for the years to come,” pointing to New Ryan Field’s opening weeks later, and President Mung Chiang praised a program aligned with the university’s values. Before Northwestern, Braun was a two-time FCS national champion defensive coordinator at North Dakota State.

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Kevin Cash Steers the Low-Payroll Rays Back to the World Series

Published

4 days ago

October 21, 2026

We Speak Media

The Tampa Bay Rays are going back to the World Series, and they got there the way Kevin Cash teams always seem to get there: underpaid, underrated and better coached than the payroll says they should be. Cash and the Rays clinched the franchise’s third American League pennant on October 19, 2026, beating the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6 of the ALCS at Tropicana Field, with two-run homers by trade acquisitions Junior Caminero and Yandy Díaz sealing the win.

Tampa Bay finished the regular season 98-64 with the American League’s best record, and now faces the Milwaukee Brewers for the franchise’s first World Series title. The Associated Press describes the club Cash steered there as a roster built the Rays’ way: Tampa Bay opened the season with a $90.5 million payroll that ranked 26th in the majors, only three players on its 26-man ALCS roster were drafted by the team, 16 arrived in trades and four were free-agent signings.

Cash has managed the Rays since 2015 and is a two-time AL Manager of the Year over the course of his career. The AP describes the former backup catcher — a.183 career hitter over nearly a decade — as a steady presence who blends analytics with gut instinct and leans heavily on his coaching staff’s input before and during games.

That staff’s touch showed most clearly on the mound. ALCS MVP Freddy Peralta, acquired from the Mets on August 2 after going 5-9 with a 4.99 ERA in New York, went 5-2 with a 3.25 ERA for Tampa Bay, was named AL Pitcher of the Month for September and went 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA in the ALCS; Peralta publicly credited pitching coach Kyle Snyder, bullpen coach Jorge Moncada and bullpen catcher Charlie Valerio for his turnaround. Closer Bryan Baker, who had three career saves in four seasons when the Rays traded for him in July 2025, was developed by Snyder’s staff into a 41-save closer who added five more saves in seven scoreless postseason appearances.