Jeff Brohm Should Be An Outstanding Hire For Purdue
By Ty Duffy
Purdue has hired Western Kentucky’s Jeff Brohm as its next football coach. Per Pat Forde, Brohm was in the mix for both Cincinnati and Baylor. Considering Purdue’s range of possibilities, this should be an excellent hire.
The Boilermakers have to go against the grain in the Big Ten. They aren’t going to recruit to the point where they can line up against the major programs, play a straightforward power game between the tackles, and win. Those same schools will have the pick of defensive athletes in the region.
Purdue’s last success came through developing quarterbacks and playing an off-brand passing spread under Joe Tiller. Jeff Brohm should bring that back. His Western Kentucky offenses have ranked in the top five for yards/play and top six for scoring each of his three seasons. If you remove SEC paycheck games, Brohm is 21-2 over the past two seasons and 15-1 in conference play.
While this has been a moribund program of late, there is an opportunity for the right coach at Purdue. The B1G West is the far weaker than the East. It won’t take that much improvement to get back into the bowl mix. Challenging for the division is reasonable. These have not been world-beating Badger teams.
Per Pat Forde, Purdue made a “major commitment” to bring in Brohm. A major commitment to football is what the program has been lacking.
How does it feel to be a Purdue fan? Far better than it did yesterday, far better than if they hired a MAC coach or a B1G assistant, and far better than if they owed Lovie Smith $19.3 million.