It's official: Jeff Brohm is the new Louisville football head coach

Jeff Brohm held his shaking hand together Thursday as Louisville athletic director Josh Heird spoke.

"I've been in the AD role now for 366 days. Jeff, you've made my life harder for 365," Heird said to Brohm. "All kidding aside, this is an exciting day for the University of Louisville and our city. Today we welcome home coach Jeff Brohm to lead our football program."

Brohm's knee bounced up and down as he sat on a bar stool in front of a crowd of hundreds, that included his parents Donna and Oscar Brohm, siblings Greg and Kim, father-in-law Phil and Dennis Lampley, his Trinity High School coach.

A graphic on a screen inside Angel's Envy Bourbon Club at Cardinal Stadium that was shown well before anyone took the stage made official what everyone wanted: BROHM IS BACK.

After spending the last six years with Purdue, Brohm was approved by the school's Board of Trustees to take over as the Cardinals' head football coach.

The week started early Monday morning with news that Scott Satterfield would leave to take the head coaching job at Cincinnati. Less than 48 hours later, reports began to circle about Brohm returning to Louisville to fill the recent vacancy.

Those rumors became official Thursday afternoon.

"This decision had nothing to do with bringing back the hometown hero," Heird said. "Simply put, Jeff gives this program the best chance to succeed. Jeff is a proven winner."

Following Heird, it was Brohm's time to speak, and he was ready.

He's been ready.

"From my days watching games at the fairgrounds to playing for my mentor, Howard Schnellenberger, to serving as an assistant coach, I believe I understand the decades-long mission that this community has had and been built upon: to maintain a championship program," Brohm said. "I know where this program began, the passion that has driven it, what it has overcome and accomplished, and where it wants to go.

"Our style will be aggressive and occasionally risk-taking because that is how I learned the game here. We will coach our players to play tougher, harder and smarter than our opponents while developing them to be the very best they can be, maximizing their potential on the field in the classroom and the community and as young men of character."

While it was a seemingly quick process once it actually happened, Brohm had been preparing for the opportunity for basically his whole life. Having played for Louisville in the early 1990s and been on the coaching staff in the 2000s, his heart never left his hometown. The Brohm family even kept a home in Louisville. His wife, Jennifer and daughter, Brooke, moved back briefly last year while Jennifer cared for her mother, who fell ill and died in May.

Brohm could've come back four years ago after Bobby Petrino was fired midseason, but the timing wasn't right. As someone who values loyalty, he didn't want to leave Purdue because he had just got there. He went to West Lafayette, Indiana, in 2016 to take on the challenge of building up a program that he said 90% of his colleagues told him not to take.

"But, that intrigued me even more," he said. "So as I took that on, I said, 'You know what? I'm going to try to help this program, get over the hump and achieve its goal.'"

Brohm felt he accomplished that goal after leading the Boilermakers to an 8-5 this season that included a spot in the Big Ten Conference championship game and an invitation to play LSU in the Citrus Bowl.

"I'm very proud of what we all accomplished together," Brohm said. "Purdue will always be my home away from home, but this is home. This is not a job to me. This has been a way of life for my family since I was born."

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As a senior at Trinity with Lampley at the helm, Brohm won a state championship. He followed that up four years later by, as a college senior in 1993, helping Louisville to a 9-3 season and 18-7 Liberty Bowl win over Michigan State under the late Howard Schnellenberger. That winning tradition is something he wants to instill at Louisville, which went 7-5 in Satterfield's this year, with a Fenway Bowl game against Cincinnati looming.

Prior to Schnellenberger's death last year, he and Brohm had conversations about Brohm running the football program at Louisville. Schnellenberger's instructions to his former player were to "come home and take it." While he's not here to see it happen, Brohm eventually heeded his coach's instructions.

"He loved the game of football, he loved to compete, he loved to win," Brohm said of Schnellenberger. "He wasn't scared to tell people what was getting ready to happen. I'm a little more hesitant to just outwardly tell it behind closed doors but he was not. But you know what? He had the ability to get his players to believe that they could achieve anything."

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Brohm won't be the only one coming back to Louisville. Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski said during a press conference that Boilermakers co-defensive coordinator Ron English, wide receivers coach Garrick McGee and running backs coach Chris Barclay will all be coming to Louisville with Brohm. All have ties to either the city or university: English and McGee both had previous assistant coaching stints at Louisville, while Barclay graduated from Male High School.

Brohm's brothers, Brian and Greg, were also part of the staff at Purdue and are expected to return home as well. It'll take Brian a little longer to arrive as he's the Boilermakers' interim head coach and will lead the team in the Citrus Bowl.

Brohm's six-year contract includes a base salary of $5 million that increases by $100,000 annually. He will also receive annual year-end bonuses that start at $500,000 for his first two years escalating to $1 million in years five and six. Hitting specific win totals, bowl game appearances, making the College Football Playoffs, coach of the year accolades and higher team GPAs could add another million or more to his total.

Brohm closed out his remarks saying three words he's become known for as both a player and coach:

"Let's play football."

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: He's home: Jeff Brohm introduced as Louisville head football coach