Jeff Brohm embracing the challenge he faces at Louisville

Jeff Brohm knows Louisville is a challenge, but he wouldn’t have it any other way as he returned to his alma mater ahead of the 2023 season.

The former Purdue coach made the Boilermakers quite respectable in the Big Ten up until his final year. They even made last year’s Big Ten Championship Game.

But now it’s full steam ahead with the Cardinals.

“Well, personally I like challenges,” Brohm said “I look forward to them. Even when I took the Purdue job, I remember asking a lot of colleagues of mine when I took it, what do you think? Should I take this job? Probably 95% said, heck no, don’t take that.

“To me I like building a winning football team. Without question, coming here to the University of Louisville is another challenge. It’s unique, but yes, we have some really good football players on our team, some guys that have had success.”

Brohm reflected on his final season at Purdue as he evaluated the challenges ahead at Louisville.

“We watched a team last year that got better as the year went on, that the last half of the season the defense played at a high level,” Brohm said. “Really you just take every team that you have, you try to figure out what are our strengths, what are some things we can get better at, how can we do that? Are there things we need to do to develop certain guys here? Do we need to add a few pieces to the puzzle to make things more competitive?

“In today’s age of college athletics it’s about winning now. It’s about doing it, in my opinion, with our current football team and any new pieces we’ve added, and we want to do that in year one, and it’s important that you do that.”

Brohm broke it down to brass tax and the basics to build a great program. It’s all about the environment.

“I just think if you build a competitive environment where our guys are working hard every day, where they understand if you put in the work, you’ll have a chance to do great things,” Brohm said. “They aren’t scared of a challenge or obstacles. They feel like we have a group of coaches that are going to work with them on a daily basis to help them improve and get better, that “anything can happen.

“We’re going to take this challenge head-on and look every opponent directly in the eye and go out there and compete on a weekly basis come game day. I think if you do that, and you are willing going into the season knowing that, you know what, yeah, we could lose a game or two, how are you going to handle those losses will determine how the season goes.”

Brohm kept it simple, regarding the recipe to success at Louisville.

“If we can find ways to improve, find ways to get better, find ways to win some close games, find ways to win on the road, it can definitely lead to success,” Brohm said.