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Northwestern's David Braun: 'I could argue we've got the best offensive staff in all of college football'

Danby: Daniel Hager02/04/26DanielHagerOn3

Northwestern head coach David Braun made a bold proclamation for the 2026 season during a press conference on Wednesday.

Braun, alongside newly hired Northwestern offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, proclaimed that he could argue that the program has the ‘best offensive staff in all of college football’.

Kelly was hired as Northwestern‘s new offensive coordinator this offseason after the program averaged just 346.1 yards (12th in Big Ten) and 23.4 points (14th in Big Ten) per game last season. Northwestern marks Kelly’s second Big Ten program in the past three seasons.

He served as Ohio State‘s offensive coordinator in 2024 (won National Championship) before being hired as the Las Vegas Raiders’ OC for the 2025 season. The Raiders went just 3-14, leading to Kelly’s firing and arrival at Northwestern.

Braun has surpassed expectations over his three seasons at Northwestern after succeeding program legend Pat Fitzgerald. He took over as interim head coach following Fitzgerald’s shocking fire due to hazing allegations and was promoted to full-time head coach following their 24-10 road victory over Wisconsin on Nov. 11, 2023.

Braun led the program to an 8-5 record with a Las Vegas Bowl win over Utah in 2023, struggled a bit with a 4-8 record in 2024, but bounced back with a 7-6 record and a dominant win over Central Michigan in the GameAbove Sports Bowl in 2025.

Chip Kelly leads talented offensive staff at Northwestern

Chip Kelly will serve as the third different offensive coordinator in four seasons under Braun. Mike Bajakian, a holdover from the Fitzgerald era, remained in 2023 before departing for Utah following the season. Zach Lujan took over for the past two seasons, but his contract was not renewed for 2026. This led to Kelly’s arrival, which serves as a slam dunk hire for the program.

Along with Kelly, Northwestern retained wide receivers coach Armon Binns, running backs coach Aristotle Thompson, and hauled in former UCLA interim offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel as its quarterbacks coach. Neuheisel gained notoriety following UCLA‘s shocking win over Penn State last season, which resulted in head coach James Franklin‘s firing.

Braun’s claim is extremely bold, especially as Northwestern plays in the nation’s best college football conference. “I’ll first acknowledge that the Big Ten is the best football conference in the country, clearly,” he said on Wednesday. “And I’ll secondly say we all know what we signed up for.”

With what Braun believes is one of the best offensive staffs in college football, Northwestern is seeking a return to the Big Ten Championship Game for the first time since 2020.