How Jeff Brohm's debut with Louisville football compares to other coaches at alma maters
During the ACC's spring meeting a year ago, Jeff Brohm, Brent Key and Mario Cristobal shared a moment relishing in being football coaches at their alma maters.
Four months later, Brohm began his tenure at Louisville with a win, causing Key to start his official tenure at Georgia Tech with a loss. Brohm then defeated Cristobal’s Miami team on the road near the end of the season for the Cardinals’ first win at Miami, which allowed U of L to clinch a spot in the ACC championship game for the first time.
Despite losing the last three games of the season, Brohm’s first year at Louisville ended with the program’s seventh 10-win season. It’s one of the most successful campaigns a coach recently has had at their alma mater. Of the three ACC coaches, Brohm had the best start.
Although Cristobal had the more lucrative deal, signing a 10-year, $80 million contract, Brohm added $800,000 in bonuses and two years of extensions to his $5 million annual base salary by winning 10 games, making a Level 1-3 bowl game and the ACC title contest. Brohm’s six-year contract made him the fourth highest-paid coach in the ACC — behind Dabo Swinney (Clemson), Mike Norvell (Florida State) and Pat Narduzzi (Pittsburgh) — and 31st in the country.
And unlike Cristobal, Brohm and Key posted winning records in their first seasons after the former went 5-7 in his debut with the Hurricanes in 2022. Key was the only one to win a bowl game in 2023, ending Year 1 with a 7-6 record. Brohm went 10-4 after falling to USC in the Holiday Bowl, and the Cardinals were 18th in the final US LBM Coaches Poll.
Jim Harbaugh was one of the only other FBS coaches to lead his alma mater to 10 wins in his first season over the last 10 years. Harbaugh led Michigan to a 10-3 record and No. 11 final ranking in 2015. Brohm came to Louisville from Purdue, but Harbaugh returned to lead his former school after an NFL stint, signing a seven-year, $35 million contract and getting a $2 million signing bonus.
Harbaugh followed the hot start with the Wolverines by signing the No. 8 recruiting class in his first full cycle and posting another 10-3 mark despite losing the final two games of the 2016 season. Eight years later, the transfer portal plays more of a factor, with Brohm having to balance recruiting high school and college players.
Brohm has capitalized on the transfer portal and has picked up key offseason wins since his time at Purdue. In his final year with the Boilermakers in 2022, he added former Iowa receiver Charlie Jones from the portal. Jones broke a 20-year-old school record for most receiving yards in a season (1,361) and had the program’s ninth-most 100-yard receiving games with eight.
Last year, Louisville’s starting quarterback (Jack Plummer, California), leading receiver (Jamari Thrash, Georgia State), second-leading rusher (Isaac Guerendo, Wisconsin), and second-leading tackler and interceptions leader (Devin Neal, Baylor) were all transfers.
Though Key hasn’t had as much success recruiting, Cristobal’s third recruiting cycle resulted in Miami signing the country's sixth-best high school class including nine four-star recruits. Although the Cardinals’ 2024 high school recruiting class ranks 31st nationally, their transfer portal class is first and sixth in the country, per On3 and 247Sports, respectively.
Brohm’s second season with Louisville begins in August. He’ll look to remain undefeated against Key and Cristobal, building on 2023's 10-win campaign at his alma mater.
Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Jeff Brohm Louisville football debut vs other coaches at alma maters
