Report: Jeff Brohm hired as Louisville's next head football coach

Louisville fans have been clamoring for Jeff Brohm for years.

And now, it appears they’ve got him.

The University of Louisville has hired Brohm away from Purdue to be the program’s next head football coach, according to a report from ESPN's Chris Low. His reported contract will be for six years and around $35 million. If accurate, that would immediately put Brohm among the highest-paid coaches in the ACC.

According to the USA TODAY coaching salary database, former Cardinals head coach Scott Satterfield was only making $3,250,000 a year upon his departure for Cincinnati.

It apparently didn’t take long for the two parties to come to an agreement as Satterfield only left for Bearcats on Monday.

This is the second time Louisville has tried to get Brohm. The first was when the Cardinals hired Satterfield in 2019. At the time, Brohm had only been with the Boilermakers for two years and turned the job down.

"While going home was very appealing and meaningful to me, the timing was not ideal," he wrote in a 2018 statement provided by Purdue to the Courier Journal after then-head coach Bobby Petrino was fired. "I believe that remaining at Purdue is the right thing to do, and I am excited for the challenges ahead."

Now having six years in Indiana under his belt, and a successful record of 36-34, the timing seems to have worked out better.

"It's deep in his blood," said Gary Nord, who recruited Brohm out of Trinity and was Louisville's offensive coordinator while the former quarterback was at the university. "I know that he's always missed the city and the university and he's kept a home here the whole time. So knowing that he was going to end up back there one way or the other. I feel very fortunate for our alumni base and our fans that he's coming back there to lead our football team."

The news was also well-received by current Louisville players.

"Let's get it," Cardinals wide receiver Braden Smith tweeted along with a lightning bolt emoji.

"AIR Raidddd I hear," fellow receiver Ahmari Huggins-Bruce wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night.

Get to know Jeff Brohm:5 things you may not have known about Louisville native Jeff Brohm

Brohm’s journey began as a quarterback at Trinity High School where he led the squad to an undefeated state championship in 1988 and was named Kentucky's Mr. Football.

The Louisville native stayed in town for college and was Cardinals quarterback Browning Nagle’s backup in 1990. The next year, he took over but suffered a season-ending injury in the second game of the season – a 28-11 loss to Tennessee. That year, the Cardinals went 2-9. Brohm was back as the starter for the next two seasons and by the time his college career was over, he etched his name in the program’s record books as 10^th in career completion percentage (56.2%), 10^th in career passing yards (5,451) and T-8^th in career TD passes (38).

Brohm, who was inducted in the Louisville Ring of Honor in 2006, had a professional career that included stints with the San Diego Chargers (1994), Washington Redskins (1995-96), San Francisco 49ers (1997-98), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1998), Denver Broncos (1999) and Cleveland Browns. He played for the XFL's Orlando Rage in 2001.

When his playing career was over, Brohm entered coaching, first as head coach of the Louisville Fire, an arena football team in 2002. He moved to U of L the following year to work with the quarterbacks eventually becoming offensive coordinator in 2008. He also held assistant positions stints included Florida Atlantic, Illinois and the University of Alabama at Birmingham before joining Western Kentucky, being named head coach ahead of the 2014 season.

Brohm was hired as Purdue’s head coach on Dec. 5, 2016, and was the first former quarterback to lead the squad since Bob DeMoss in 1970. In his debut season, the Boilermakers went 7-6, which included a season-opening 35-28 loss to Louisville. The success eventually hit a peak with Brohm leading the Boilermakers to the program's first Big 10 championship game appearance this season. Purdue turned around a 1-2 start to the season and ended 6-3 in conference play, 8-5 overall, before falling to Michigan in the league's title game, 43-22.

On Sunday, Purdue accepted an invite to the Jan. 2 Citrus Bowl against LSU, the program's fourth bowl appearance under Brohm. During the presser about the bowl game Monday, Brohm was asked about the Cardinals' vacant head coaching job. At the time, he said there had been no contact between he and Louisville. The extent of his knowledge at the time was hearing about Satterfield's departure via social media.

"I was in some meetings this morning. I got some texts about Twitter," he said on Monday. "I found out on Twitter what was going on in the college world. Other than that I know no more information."

Brohm was filled in quickly, and now, it looks like he's coming home.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Jeff Brohm hired as Louisville's next football coach, sources say