Can Northwestern football be respectable in 2023?

What will Northwestern football look like amid the offseason scandal?

The Northwestern football program has been amid the worst scandal since the Baylor scandal rocked college football. As a result of the controversy at the university, head football coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired. David Braun hired as defensive coordinator in January, was named interim head coach.

The hazing scandal around the campus — not just the football program — begins what could be a bleak season of Wildcat football. Without the scandal, there might not have been much hope for the football program.

If you take out the COVID season (2020), Wildcats football is 3-24 in the Big Ten and 7-29 overall. Even with the 2020 year included, Northwestern is 14-31 over the past four seasons.

The transfer portal and NIL have not been kind to Northwestern football. It’s difficult for them to sign transfers at the rate players transfer out. That means the Wildcats have to hit on players out of high school, but they are a developmental program. Few true freshmen come in ready to play on day one.

Where does that leave Northwestern? First, can it keep its recruiting class together? Second, how many players are going into the transfer portal? Coach Braun has the impossible task of keeping the program together.

Good luck, coach.