Jeff Brohm breaks down his investment in Louisville's program, the progress that's been made

First-year coach Jeff Brohm understands in a way few people can how important it is to bring success to the Louisville football program. Born and raised in Louisville, Brohm played quarterback for the Cardinals from 1989-93, including the last three seasons of his career as starter.

Following a seven-year career in the NFL, he returned to Louisville as a quarterbacks coach in 2003, later moving up to the role of assistant head coach and offensive coordinator in 2008. Although Brohm left the following season and later became the head coach at Western Kentucky (2014-16) and Purdue (2017-22), the opportunity presented itself for him to go back to his roots this past December.

Brohm accepted without hesitation, eager for the challenge. Now seven months after his hiring, a shift in culture is already evident.

“I think it’s important that just in general, whether you are changing culture or not, that are you invested in the program and that you are doing your part to not only help your team achieve success and get better, but also opening the doors to many people that want to be a part of it,” the coach said at ACC Media Days. “Like everything, your fan base is important. I feel like Louisville we have a tremendous passionate fan base that wants to see their team succeed and do well, that wants to feel a part of it, and we want to make them feel a part of it.

“You have your immediate family, you have your team family, but then you have your extended family of anybody that wants to help and experience a great time and help building a program and having success. So we’re excited to get things underway. We’ve got a good nucleus of ball players that work really hard and want to achieve great things.”

So far, Brohm has found success in his past coaching stops with a 66-44 overall record. This past season, he led Purdue to a Big Ten West division title and an 8-5 finish and will aim to keep rolling as he takes over at his alma mater.

Brohm steps in to lead a Louisville finished this past season 8-5 after putting up losing records the two years prior. However, the roster will look much different in 2023 thanks to the work Brohm put in through the transfer portal.

The Cardinals have 27 transfer additions from this offseason to rank as the No. 1 class according to On3’s Transfer Portal Team Rankings. That includes California quarterback Jack Plummer and Georgia State receiver Jamari Thrash, the No. 56 overall player in On3’s Transfer Portal Player Rankings. Those players and many more will help to bolster a Louisville passing game that ranked just 12th in the ACC this past season.

Not all of the contributors from this past season are gone, however. The Cardinals also bring back leading rusher Jawhar Jordan, who recorded 815 yards and four touchdowns in 2022. As Brohm figures out how those new and old pieces will fit together, his focus remains on establishing a new identity for the team moving forward.

“Myself as a head coach, I have to do my part and put in the work to help us have answers to problems, to be able to fix things immediately throughout the season, and our assistants have to do the same thing,” he said. “Then it trickles down to our team, but I think we all put in the work and we all are invested in our community and fan base feels that investment that in the end good things can happen.”

Louisville will kick off the Jeff Brohm era on Sept. 1 with a conference matchup against Georgia Tech.