EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern University has officially picked the person that will lead their program for the rest of the year after the firing of Pat Fitzgerald.

They won’t be looking outside the program for the person to take that job for the next five months.

Defensive coordinator David Braun will serve as the interim head coach for the 2023 season, which was made official on Friday afternoon. He is the newest member of the football coaching staff, joining the program in January after a successful run at FCS power North Dakota State.

He had served as the acting head coach after Fitzgerald was fired on Monday after 17 seasons in the wake of a hazing scandal within the program.

“The opportunity to lead this team at this crucial moment in its history is not something I take lightly, and I’m grateful for the trust placed in me by Dr. Gragg and Northwestern leadership,” said Braun in a statement released by Northwestern. “Our focus today and every day moving forward is on supporting these men, many of whom have only been on campus for several weeks, in their preparation for the 2023 football season and the 2023-24 academic year.”

Braun was the defensive coordinator for the last four seasons with the Bison winning national championships in two of those campaigns. In 2021, he was named the Football Scoop FCS Defensive Coordinator of the Year and his unit led FCS in scoring defense twice.

A graduate and former football player at Winona State, Braun began his coaching career there as a graduate assistant in 2008. He would get his first assistant coaching job at Culver-Stockton in 2010 as a defensive coordinator and have another stop at Winona State before going to UC Davis, Northern Iowa, and North Dakota State.