LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jeff Brohm talked about the moment Urban Meyer did not shake his hand after Purdue punished Meyer’s second-ranked Ohio State football team by 29 points in 2018.
He joked about the Xs and Os advice he gets from his father (Oscar), brothers (Greg & Brian), son (Brady), mother (Donna), wife (Jennifer) and daughter (Brooke) while coaching the Boilermakers. He even read an X-rated motivational text that his Uncle Ronnie sent prior to Purdue’s victory over Tennessee in the 2021 Music City Bowl.
But as long as Jeff Brohm is working a college football sideline there will always be one question Brohm will get, especially when he is speaking in his hometown.
And Wednesday, when Brohm spoke to more than 100 members of the Louisville Flaget High School alumni association at Elks Lodge #8 on Klondike Lane, Brohm got The Question less than five minutes after he invited the crowd to raise their hands and fire away.
How much pressure did you feel when the Louisville job opened (in 2018)?
“OK, those are all good questions on the Louisville job,” Brohm said. “You know what ... after being at Purdue two years when it came open, that was a tough call. Tough call.
“To be quite honest, through my schooling and how I was raised, I believe in at least trying to do the right thing and having morals and values. It just was too early to leave (Purdue for U of L then). It just wasn’t right.
“You build relationships. People treat you right. The people there have treated me great. You talk to recruits and they asked me things. Just a lot of things went into it.
“But, obviously, now we’re on year six. I love this town, this area. I’m an alumnus of Louisville. So anything can happen in the future.”
Let’s be honest: There is a long line of Louisville fans who would do back flips if U of L made a move with its football program similar to the move interim athletic director Josh Heird made with the basketball program when he hired Kenny Payne in March.
There is nobody who could energize the Louisville fan base the way a return of the Brohms could do it.
Scott Satterfield was voted ACC coach of the year during his debut season in 2019. But the mojo has sagged the last two seasons. Not only have the Cards lost 14 of their last 24 games, they played in a home stadium that was less than half full for multiple home games last season.
Satterfield needs to start fast and deliver a solid winning season in 2022 — or the talk about bringing Jeff (head coach), Greg (chief of staff) and Brian (offensive coordinator) Brohm back to the program where all three were terrific players will get louder and louder and LOUDER. And for the record, all three brothers still own homes in their hometown.
Is that unfair to Satterfield? Maybe.
Purdue football coach Jeff Brohm (second from left) appeared with his brother Greg, friend Chick DeSensi and his father Oscar at the Flaget High School alumni association luncheon Wednesday. WDRB Photo/Rick Bozich
But fairness disappeared from the conversation long ago. The Cards have 60,000 seats to fill at Cardinal Stadium and need to prove they can shake up the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.
The Brohms are The First Family of Football in this town, winners at Flaget (Oscar) and Trinity (the three brothers) in high school.
Greg, Jeff and Brian all could have played college football elsewhere. Greg had several Ivy League opportunities. Jeff and Brian turned down Notre Dame and other high-octane programs.
Greg and Jeff believed in Howard Schnellenberger’s bold vision for U of L, becoming major contributors to the program’s ascent.
During the Wednesday luncheon, Brohm said one reason he took the Purdue job over other opportunities after his 2016 season at Western Kentucky University was that several people told him winning in the Big Ten at Purdue would be difficult.
“That’s kind of how I was brought up by Coach Schnellenberger,” Brohm said. “You know, he liked to build programs. He liked to take programs from nothing and make them into something.
“To me, that’s hard coaching. That’s real coaching. That’s having to do something that others haven’t been able to do as much and that some people don’t think can get done.”
The Brohms have proven they can win. Jeff won 30 of 40 games and two Conference USA titles in three seasons at WKU. He’s taken Purdue to three bowl games in five seasons.
After wobbling to a combined 6-12 record in 2019 and 2020, Brohm rallied Purdue to a 9-4 finish last season. That included two wins over top-five opponents (Michigan State and Iowa), a former walk-on quarterback (Aidan O’Connell) who threw for over 3,700 yards and a spectacular, 48-45, overtime bowl victory over Tennessee.
His teams play an entertaining style. Two of his former quarterbacks are playing in the NFL. Three of his Purdue players were selected in the 2022 NFL Draft.
And here is one more interesting twist: Louisville will open its 2022 season at Syracuse on Sept. 3. Purdue will welcome Penn State for a national TV game Sept. 1. Then the Boilermakers will host Indiana State before Purdue also visits Syracuse on Sept. 17.
The comparative score game will begin by the third weekend of the season. The Flaget High School alumni won’t be the last people to ask Brohm about the Louisville job this year.
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