OFFICIAL: Jeff Brohm returns to Louisville
Purdue’s Jeff Brohm is officially headed home to be the new leader of the Louisville Cardinals’ program. Brohm, who started 23 games at QB for the Cards (1989-93), has been in West Lafayette for the last six years.
“We’re excited to welcome Head Coach Jeff Brohm and his family home to the University of Louisville,” AD Josh Heird said in a statement on Thursday. “The Brohms are synonymous with Louisville, and Jeff has made a lasting impact on our city as a high school star, college quarterback, professional athlete and coach. But beyond his ties to the city, what excites me most about Jeff is that he’s had success at the highest level of college football. To put it simply, Jeff is a proven winner. Along the way, he’s done it with an exciting brand of football that remains innovative and entertaining, and he’s done it by making the right decisions with the best interest of his student-athletes at the forefront. I knew we needed to identify a tremendous leader for our program who understood the history of Louisville Football, and who would be committed long-term to this school and this community. There’s not another coach in America who checks those boxes like Jeff Brohm.”
Brohm has completely revitalized a Boilers program that went 3-9 the year before arrived. Purdue has four bowl bids in Brohm’s six years, including the Citrus Bowl on 1/2 that follows the program’s first-ever trip to the Big Ten Championship Game. He leaves with a 36-34 record (17-9 over the last two seasons).
The hiring comes four years after the program first courted Brohm to come back home in December 2018. Louisville ultimately hired Scott Satterfield, who just left for the Cincinnati job after going 25-24 in four years with the Cards. Brohm was the top candidate, but had only been at Purdue for two seasons and at the time felt like he wanted to see things through (he said as much in press conferences at the time). The timing is right now, however, and Brohm has made the decision to return home.
“My family and I are honored to return home to the University of Louisville, a place we love, which has been so influential in shaping me as a player, a coach and a man,” Brohm said. “I am extremely grateful and humbled that Dr. Gonzalez, Dr. Schatzel, Josh Heird and the ULAA Board believe that I am the right person to lead this football program. I promise relentless energy, effort, and hard work every single day on behalf of all our coaches, staff and student-athletes. Our goal is to compete for championships while also developing our student-athletes into true leaders on and off the field. These young men will make our university, our community, and our fan base proud to be Louisville Cardinals. This city means a great deal to me and my family. Louisville is who we are. Thank you all for welcoming us back home.”
In addition to playing at Louisville, Brohm grew up in the city and graduated from Trinity HS (KY). He also spent six seasons on the UL staff earlier in his career, including two as Steve Kragthorpe’s assistant head coach and one as OC.
As for Purdue, the job should be even more enticing now then it was back in December 2016 when the hired Brohm away from Western Kentucky. Here’s our first look at potential candidates for the Boilers vacancy.
credit to Louisville Athletics for the image