Jeff Brohm reveals how Louisville embraces its own expectations, the benefit of being overlooked

Jeff Brohm doesn’t mind being an underdog. At the 2023 ACC Football Kickoff, the Louisville head coach revealed his mindset ahead of the 2023 season.

“You want to be talked about to a certain degree, but you gotta be able to handle that pressure. You gotta be able to perform. At the same time, you always want everybody to overlook you so that you can sneak up on anybody. But, in the end, it’s about, can you compete against the best every week? Can you learn from your mistakes? Can you improve? Can you be competitive?

“Myself, our staff, we’ve been around the block a little bit. We’ve been able to win big football games. This team we have coming back, they’ve been able to do some special things here and there. You just got to piece it together, and you’ve got to put it all out there. You got to leave no stone unturned, and you got to compete your butt off,” Brohm said.

Brohm is no stranger to competition. The 52-year-old head coach is 66-44 overall, leading Western Kentucky and Purdue. Most recently, Brohm went 36-34 with the Boilermakers, leading them to the Big Ten Championship in 2022.

Now, Brohm hopes to reach even greater heights at his alma mater. It isn’t an outlandish thought. The Cardinals dodged both Florida State and Clemson on their 2023 schedule. Nonetheless, experts aren’t sure what to expect from Louisville, who have over 40 fresh faces on the team.

As for Brohm’s expectations, he kept it simple.

“We’ll see,” Brohm said with a smile.

Don’t be surprised if that smile widens early in the season. Brohm is known for slaying giants. The former Purdue head coach led the Boilermakers to a shocking 49-20 blowout win over No. 2 Ohio State in October 2018.

Just three years later, Purdue gutted out a convincing 24-7 victory over No. 2 Iowa, ending the Hawkeyes’ 12-game win streak. In hopes of satisfying fans, Brohm aims to execute more upsets.

“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,” Brohm said. “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,” Brohm said.