Jeff Brohm explains challenges of coaching at alma mater, what lessons he learned under Howard Schnellenberger

Jeff Brohm isn’t under pressure while also being under a lot of pressure at the same time at Louisville. As a former Cardinal quarterback, the fanbase is happy to welcome him back into the program as their head coach. However, he also understands the weight of the responsibility to give them a winning program in the near future.

Brohm discussed that dynamic at his alma matter while appearing at the 2023 ACC Football Kickoff today. After succeeding as a player back in the late 80s and early 90s, he said that the last thing that he wants to do is disappoint as a coach in the 2020s. In order to avoid that, he plans on taking his job seriously week in and week out in order to rebuild the team in his image.

“The last thing that you want to do when you come back to your alma mater is to disappoint your fanbase and to do things that don’t make them happy. For me, that’s what motivates me and drives me to put in the work. You better put in the time,” said Brohm. “There’s a lot of things that you’ve got to do to get your team ready to play. I’m going to go above and beyond to try and do that.

“That doesn’t mean it’s always going to work or we’re going to win every game. But it is going to be important to me, it’s going to mean something special to me. And I’m going to take it seriously.”

In order to do that, he went on to say that he is going to take notes from how Howard Schnellenberger coached him back in the day. Schnellenberger coached 112 games over 10 years with the Cardinals. Of all the things that came in that tenure, Brohm said the number one thing that he’s taking from Schnellenberger is his ability to make the program, and the people that are a part of it, feel like a contender every time they stepped on the field.

“I learned a lot from him,” said Brohm. “To me, one of the best qualities that he had is he was able to motivate his team and to get them to believe that they were better than they really were. Every time you stepped on the field, you thought you had a chance to win. I just think he had that confidence in him, he had that ability and swagger to take on anything head-on. I think we all learned a lot from him.”

Brohm won’t have to take too many tips and tricks considering what he already accomplished at Purdue. Still, returning to his former stomping grounds comes with its own challenges. That’s why, at this point, Brohm is just ready to get the season started and to begin his journey toward taking Louisville in the direction of titles.

“I’m looking forward to getting the season underway. There’s going to be some ups and downs. But you’ve got to be able to handle that adversity and move forward,” Brohm said. “In the end, I want to try and bring a championship to Louisville.”