Jeff Brohm Needs To Take The Louisville Job

Jeff Brohm should go home.

The 47-year-old coach met with Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra on Tuesday to discuss the school’s vacant head football job. While Brohm has done good things at Purdue, he should absolutely bolt West Lafayette to return to his hometown and his alma mater.

Brohm is currently making $3.8 million a year at Purdue, but it’s a safe bet Tyra and Louisville would open the checkbook for him. And the ceiling on the program at Purdue is far lower than it is at Louisville. He’s the Cardinals’ clear No. 1 choice and — given his history with the program as a player and an assistant — this move should be a no-brainer.

The Boilermakers are situated in the Big Ten West, which means Brohm will have to compete with Wisconsin and (theoretically) Scott Frost’s Nebraska team on a yearly basis. That road doesn’t seem too demanding, but when you look at the rest of the Big Ten things get daunting. Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State are all better programs than Purdue. The Boilermakers are, at best, a mid-tier program in their conference.

In the ACC, Louisville obviously sits behind Clemson and traditional powers like Florida State and Miami. Other than that, none of the other schools have demonstrably better programs than Louisville. Or higher ceilings.

If Brohm’s goal is to compete for conference championships and eventually a national title, Louisville offers him a far better chance than Purdue does.

Brohm has a 13-12 record in two seasons in West Lafayette, but the Boilermakers are certainly headed in the right direction. That record comes after three years at Western Kentucky, where Brohm went 30-10 and 22-5 in his final two seasons. It’s the perfect time to return to his alma mater and the city of his birth and be welcomed like a hero.

It’s hard to leave a job, especially when you’ve just started building something. But a chance to return home doesn’t come around often. Brohm needs to take it.