Advice for those comparing Louisville’s Jeff Brohm to Kentucky’s Mark Stoops: Don’t

When it comes to college football in this state these days, it’s easy to slip into the trap of comparing Louisville coach Jeff Brohm and Kentucky coach Mark Stoops. My advice: Don’t.

Yeah, I know, Brohm’s Cardinals are fresh off a huge 33-20 win over No. 10 Notre Dame on Saturday night at L&N Stadium while Stoops’ Wildcats are fresh off a humbling 51-13 loss to No. 1 Georgia at Sanford Stadium in Athens.

Before we label Brohm a rousing success and Stoops an abject failure, timeout for some context.

To be sure, Brohm has been a perfect fit at Louisville. He’s a former star U of L quarterback from a legendary family within the city and the university. While Brohm was going 30-13 as the head coach at Western Kentucky and 36-34 at Purdue, Louisville fans wanted nothing more than for the prodigal son to return home.

And to this point, the homecoming has been storybook. The Cards are unbeaten at 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the ACC. After their win over the Irish, they rose from 25th to 14th in the latest AP poll. They boast an explosive offense led by veteran quarterback Jack Plummer, running back Jawhar Jordan and standout receiver Jamari Thrash. The Cards’ defense has been tough and aggressive.

Not that any of this is a surprise. When Brohm finally took the Louisville job in December, we asked Stoops for his reaction. “I hate it,” joked the UK coach, saying he knew Jeff, liked Jeff and considered Jeff a terrific coach.

Louisville fans’ displeasure with Brohm’s predecessor, Scott Satterfield, gave the impression the program was a brush fire. It wasn’t. The Cards were 8-5 last season. They were 2-1 against ranked teams, including a 48-21 thumping of then No. 10 Wake Forest.

Brohm has fortified his inherited roster with gems from the transfer portal. Plummer previously played for Brohm at Purdue before spending last season at California. Thrash arrived at U of L from Georgia State. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior from Lagrange, Georgia, has the hands and moves of an NFL receiver.

Contrast all that with the roster Stoops inherited at Kentucky 11 years ago. The Cats were coming off a 2-10 record for Joker Phillips, who was fired before the end of the season. UK went 2-10 in Stoops’ debut, then 5-7 each of the next two before breaking through to earn a bowl bid in 2016.

Stoops did so in the unforgiving SEC. You know, the conference responsible for the last four national champions (LSU in 2019, Alabama in 2020, Georgia in 2021 and 2022) and six of the last eight. In 2018, Stoops became the first coach since Fran Curci in 1977 to lead Kentucky to a winning record in the SEC.

What about signature wins? Brohm got his first at Louisville on Saturday. It took Stoops a bit longer, but the 27-16 victory over host Florida in 2018 qualifies. It snapped a 31-game UK losing streak to the Gators.

As a friend remarked — and I’ve repeated numerous times — you have to be a longtime Kentucky football fan to appreciate the job Stoops has done. Has it been frustrating that the Cats have yet to take that next step? Sure. It’s frustrating for Stoops, too, as evident in his “pony up” the NIL money comment to a fan on his Monday call-in show, saying that Georgia legally “bought” players and Kentucky needs to do the same.

Bottom line: We have two really good football coaches at the state’s two biggest football programs. I expect Brohm to do great things at Louisville. I expect Stoops to keep Kentucky competitive in an SEC that will only grow stronger when Texas and Oklahoma on board next season.

Besides, we can compare the coaches in person come Nov. 25. This year’s Governor’s Cup game is at U of L, which has lost four straight to Kentucky. Louisville would love nothing better than to snap that streak. Kentucky would love nothing better than to spoil the Cards’ party. Should be fun.

One more thing: Comparison is the thief of joy.

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