Monmouth head coach Chad Braun believes that building a physical football identity starts with toughness. For his team, it comes down to one factor: the rushing battle.
“Every game we lost last year, we lost the rushing battle,” Braun said. “Every game we outrushed our opponent, we won.”
That lesson set the tone for 2025. If Monmouth controls the line of scrimmage, it controls the outcome.0
Pancakes Up Front
Braun’s staff reshaped responsibilities to keep the offense moving forward. Former offensive line coach Joe Frytag, a longtime assistant, shifted to quarterbacks. Derek Brown, a former player, took over the line. The results showed quickly.
“We were pancaking people,” Braun said. “We were moving people up front.”
That physical dominance fuels the identity. When the offensive line sets the tone, the rest of the team follows.
Pick-Sixes and Pursuit
Defense carries the same edge. Braun pointed to the way his players “flew around and hit people” in an early-season test against Wartburg. Monmouth fell short on the scoreboard, but the film revealed a team opponents wouldn’t want to face.
“If I’m watching us on film, I’m not sure I’d want to play us,” Braun admitted.
The defense thrives on energy, pursuit, and finishing plays. Its toughness is measured not just by big hits but by how consistently players compete.
Practice Built for Toughness
Braun knows toughness doesn’t appear on game day by accident. It comes from the way the team trains.
Tuesday’s focus on first down situations, always with a segment of good-on-good. Wednesday’s shift to red zone and third down, again with the starters facing each other in competitive reps. Each drill has a winner and a loser. No ties.
“If the offense scores, they win that segment. If the defense holds them out, they win,” Braun said. “Somebody’s got to win, somebody’s got to lose.”
The structure creates intensity without unnecessary risk. During the season, Monmouth practices in shells, teaching players to stay grounded and compete hard while remaining on the ground.
Protect the Team
Braun teaches his players one phrase that covers every situation: protect the team.
In practice, that means knowing when to hold up on a teammate after proving you were in position to make a play. Off the field, it means holding teammates accountable when they step out of line.
“We want our guys to compete like heck,” Braun said. “But at the end of the day, that’s your teammate out there. You’ve got to respect him. It’s not about you, it’s about the team.”
Building Identity Every Day
Monmouth doesn’t call bye weeks “bye weeks.” They’re work weeks. The goal isn’t short-term. It’s a season-long pursuit of toughness in every phase of the game.
From pancakes on the offensive line to defensive pursuit and pick-sixes, Monmouth’s physical identity runs through the entire program. Braun’s approach makes one thing clear: toughness still matters.
Related:
Why ‘Toughness’ Is Task-Specific: Rethinking Conditioning in High School Football
More on Coach Chad Braun
Track and improve your athletes progress with Tully!
Schedule a meeting to learn more about Tully today!
Podcast transcript
John Snell (00:00)
We’re here with Monmouth head coach, Braun, the Hanson ratings head coach of the week presented by Tully for week three. Coach, congratulations on a big win. And we know about that, that big win and an outstanding performance for you, your staff and your players.
Chad Braun (00:19)
Yeah, thanks John. Really appreciate it. You know, I just wanna you know give hats off to you know first off our offense coordinator Joe Fry tag. He’s you know been with me the whole time that I’ve been here as the head coach since 2015 and does a great job preparing our our offense offense week in week out through throughout the year and getting those guys ready to play. ⁓ Very fortunate to have great coaches on our staff, you know. ⁓
You know, Cooper gosh, our defensive line coach does a terrific job. Nate Graham, our wide receiver coach, ⁓ will Hampton, our linebackers coach. ⁓ you know, our running back coach, Andy Davis, he’s, he’s a volunteer assistant, does a great job. ⁓ and then, ⁓ and, and Derek Brown is a new offensive line coach for us. played here for us in his first year as the offensive line coach. And we moved coach Friday tag who had been the old line coach.
here for several years to ⁓ coaching quarterbacks this year and he’s rejuvenated doing that. And then ⁓ Philip Pullen is another guy that volunteers, helps our special teams and just really, ⁓ you know, it’s, ⁓ you know, all their hard work preparation going into the game week, weekend, week out, they do a lot for our football program.
John Snell (01:42)
Well, we appreciate and we know you appreciate your staff as well. ⁓ As a head coach, Chad, ⁓ obviously you’ve had great success and as a head coach, you typically have your hands in all areas of the program. You mentioned that toughness still matters is a topic ⁓ that you like to talk about. How about sharing that with our coaches out there and listeners?
Chad Braun (02:08)
Yeah. ⁓ you know, I mean, kind of looking back at, at last year, all three games that, that we lost, ⁓ we lost the rushing battle, you know, and, ⁓ you know, the team that runs for more yards is physical upfront, usually wins a football game. And, ⁓ I know it’s not always the case, but in our, in our case last year, we had, you know, three really close, tough losses last year. and, ⁓
every game we outrushed our opponent, won, you know? So, ⁓ so that was, you know, kind of a theme going into this year, ⁓ with our football program is that, you know, we generally, when we’re the more physical football team upfront, we’re a tough football team. ⁓ we usually win football games and, so, ⁓ you know, in today’s day and age, you know, with, with all the contact rules and, all that, how do you, how do you still, ⁓ coach toughness?
and keep your players healthy and do those things. you we try and, ⁓ you know, especially in camp, you we’re, you know, you have a few days where you can go full contact and, you know, we’re still gonna tackle to the ground on those days and not the whole practice, but we’re gonna have some particular segments where you wanna be a great tackling football team, you have to tackle, you have to practice it. ⁓
You know, I don’t care how much you practice it with, without going to the ground. If you don’t eventually go to the ground, you’re not going to be very good at it. um, so we do, um, some situations with our football team to try and create toughness. Um, and you know, like we’ll do a first and, uh, first and goal from the eight yard line and either the offense, if they score touchdown, they win that segment. Um, the defense holds them out. They win that segment. So, um,
You know, and so I think we put our guys in game like situations and create tough situations for them. And then, you we want to see what our guys are made of. You know, we play a ⁓ tough schedule. You know, we played Warburg to start the year. We’re not going to shy away from good competition. We want to play tough, physical football teams that get us ready to play our conference schedule. ⁓ And, you know, coming away from that game.
You know, we, we lost the game, obviously 21 to seven. was a good football game. were seven, seven in the third quarter and, uh, we threw a pick and they kind of pulled away late on us. but I, I felt like coming away from that football game, I watched our team play and I watched the physicality in which we played that game. And I was, and I was like, I’m not sure I want to play us, you know, like if, if I’m watching us on film.
I mean, we were getting after people up front in the old line. We’re pancaking people. We’re, moving people up front defensively. We’re flying around hitting people. ⁓ you know, so I knew we had a pretty good ball club at that point. and, and, you know, so we’re going to put our guys in situations where we create toughness. ⁓ you know, kind of our practice schedule throughout, throughout the week, ⁓ on Tuesdays, ⁓ we’re going to practice first down.
⁓ first and 10 second medium situations. ⁓ and we always include a good on goods session there. We always put our good players. Versus our good players, at least for a five minute, ⁓ segment, ⁓ because, and I take a ton of stock and what we do good versus good, right? Like, yeah, obviously we’re going to, watch film and evaluate what we do versus our scout teams, but I really want to see the speed of the game.
⁓ and put our really good players against our really good players so they can get a, a good look and put those guys in competitive situations. ⁓ and then, you know, moving into Wednesday, we’re going to do more, ⁓ red zone and goal line and then third down situations. And again, we’ll have a couple of segments where we go good on good. We’ll do a red zone throughout the year.
Now at that point, you we’re not full pads. We’re, we’re taking the ball at the 18 yard line, but it’s still good versus good. And if the offense, you know, scores the touchdown, they win that segment. If the defense holds them out, ⁓ they win that segment. And so it’s a competitive situation, you know, and, and our guys learn to be tough and competitive and compete in those situations. ⁓ and I think it gets them ready to play on Saturday. And then we’ll also.
⁓ on that Wednesday, do a third down segment where they’re competing and we do five place. Like if the offense wins three, they win that segment. You can’t tie it with five, right? Like either somebody’s got to win, somebody’s got to lose. And so we’re going to put our guys in just, you know, some competitive situations and, and, and see how they come out of that.
John Snell (06:58)
Yep.
on your Tuesday practice, I’m assuming your full pad on Tuesdays.
Chad Braun (07:14)
You know what? Once we get to the season, we don’t go full pads ⁓ at all. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday were in shells all three of those days. ⁓ You know before our first game, ⁓ you know we might be in full pads on Wednesday when we’re doing that red zone goal line situation. But ⁓ you know after that once we get where you know we’re staying up, but we’re you know we’re thudding thudding up in those periods were.
There’s no tagging off. You better have a kid thudded up in that period. And ⁓ if they tag off, the offense is scoring a touchdown. So our guys have done a great job learning how to fit up without going to the ground too at times throughout the season. Cuz we wanna keep our guys, we wanna create toughness, but we also wanna keep our guys healthy too.
John Snell (08:10)
Yeah, I was going to say I’m assuming that ⁓ those days where you’re just in helmets and shoulder pads that you’re not going full contact taking people to the ground and but you’re really trying to teach your players how to play still play hard and competitive in those situations. But be smart about not getting people hurt because that is important. mean, there’s you know, there’s that fine line between being competitive and keeping guys healthy. Right.
Chad Braun (08:32)
Oh yeah, for sure. Yep. Yeah, absolutely.
I think you, I think you have to toe that line, you know, um, and it is, it is a very fine line. Um, but yeah, we, you know, we want to teach our guys to, to, to play hard, compete. Um, but also, you know, we talk about protecting the team, right? You know, like, um, and, you’ll see our guys, um, you know, in some of those situations, they might have a shot to really light a guy up and they’re going to hold up and.
because it’s their teammate, you know, and we’re going to know as coaches, hey, you were there, you were going to make that play, you know, so you got to be smart about how you do it. You know, our guys are super competitive. They hate to lose any of those situations, you know, and they’re going to compete like heck, but yeah, they’re also going to be smart on their teammates and not cheap a teammate. Just, you know, do their job, do it as hard as they can and compete for that situation.
John Snell (09:27)
I love that concept, Chad, protect the team. And if the kids remember that in a competitive period, ⁓ they won’t cheap shot anybody, they won’t take somebody to the ground because the overall idea is be competitive, but protect the team. I love that. think that’s a great idea.
Chad Braun (09:46)
Yeah.
Yeah, I think, you know, protecting the team can apply to a lot of different situations. You know, I mean, it can apply to, you know, you see a teammate out doing what he’s not supposed to be doing on a Saturday night. And ⁓ I think it encompasses a lot of things. But yeah, especially on the field, you know, we want our guys to compete like heck and. ⁓
We want them to fight for situations and be competitive. But at the end of the day, that’s your teammate out there. You gotta respect them. And there’s times when we know you’re gonna make a play and it’s not about you, it’s about the team. And what’s best for your teammate in that situation. And our guys do a great job of doing that.
John Snell (10:32)
Well, coach, we really appreciate you taking the time to be with us. Again, we want to congratulate you, not only for being recognized, but I mean, a huge win for you and your program early in the season. And we wish you the best of luck the rest of the way. And again, just appreciate your time.
Chad Braun (10:51)
Thanks, John. Appreciate appreciate you having us on and and you know our mentality. Obviously you know our goal is not to be two in one, you know, so we that was that was a big hurdle we got on Saturday, but you know we’re on to the next one. You know our jobs not finished and and that’s the mentality of our players and and you know this week’s our bye week. We don’t call it a bye week. It’s a work week for us. We’re going to go back to work and we’re going to continue to get better this week, but I really appreciate the honor and.
Thanks for having me on, John.
John Snell (11:22)
Great having you, Chad. Thanks.