For many Penn State football fans, James Franklin’s firing was due simply because of his struggles in the big games. The former Penn State coach was 4-21 at Penn State against AP top-10 opponents. This includes a 1-18 record against top-10 teams in the Big Ten.

If you are one of those people, an interesting name to keep in mind for Penn State’s next head coach is Jeff Brohm. The current Louisville head coach made noise on Saturday, defeating No. 2 Miami in Hard Rock Stadium.

This was not a one-off game either. Since joining Purdue in 2017, Brohm is 27-15 against the spread with 20 outright wins as an underdog. This includes four wins against top-five opponents and no losses in the regular season.

Three of those top-five wins were against Big Ten opponents with the Boilermakers. Brohm led his team to a 49-20 win against No. 2 Ohio State as 13.5 point underdogs, a 24-7 win against No. 2 Iowa as 11.5 point underdogs, and a 40-29 win against No. 3 Michigan State as 2.5 point underdogs.

His archetype has remained the same with Louisville and Purdue: win the passing game and win the turnover battle. In each top-five upset with Purdue, the Boilermakers threw for over 300 yards and won the turnover battle 7-2 through three games.

On Saturday, Brohm led his team to four interceptions, and Miller Moss threw for 248 yards and two touchdowns.

If there were ever a candidate who could do more with less, it’s Brohm.

History

Brohm’s playing career started with his Kentucky Mr. Football Award as a senior in 1988 while playing for Trinity High School in Louisville, Kentucky. He was named the Kentucky High School Player of the Decade for the 1980s and made the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2014.

The Louisville head coach chose to stay home and played quarterback for the Cardinals, where he is still thought of as one of the best signal callers to play for them. He is tied eighth for career leaders in touchdown passes, ninth in total offense, ninth in completion percentage, and tenth in passing yards.

The three-year college starter then went on to play eight seasons in the NFL with the San Diego Chargers, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Denver Broncos, and Cleveland Browns. He finished his professional career with the Orlando Rage and was named first-team All-XFL.

Brohm’s coaching career began in the Arena Football League with the Louisville Fire. The fire struggled all season and ended 2-14 after beginning the season 0-7.

Despite the struggles with the fire, Bobby Petrino hired Brohm at his alma mater in 2003 as the quarterbacks coach. In 2007, he was promoted to Assistant head coach & passing game coordinator. He moved to the offensive coordinator role in 2008.

With Brohm as offensive coordinator, the Cardinals went 5–7, averaging 377 yards a game, ranking 45th overall.

Without the instant success that many envisioned as a play caller, Brohm went back to being a quarterbacks coach in 2009 with FAU. He kept this role over the next three seasons, joining Illinois in 2010.

Brohm got another chance as an offensive coordinator in 2012 with UAB. The Blazers went 3–9. The offense finished No. 53 in the country with 417 yards per game. Austin Brown took over as the starting quarterback after Jonathan Perry went winless in the first four games of the season.

The Louisville native then moved to Western Kentucky as the assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach. After a successful season in 2013, he moved up to the head coaching role from 2014 to 2016.

In his three seasons with the Hilltoppers, they were top 10 nationally in scoring offense, passing offense, and total offense every year. Western Kentucky went 30-10 under Brohms’ coaching, winning Conference USA in 2015 and 2016, the school’s first back-to-back titles as an FBS member.

Brohm moved to the Big Ten for his first Power Four head coaching role with Purdue from 2017 to 2022. This is where his aforementioned underdog status began as he helped the Boilermakers get to a Big Ten championship in 2022.

Brohm’s record at Purdue was 36-34 overall and 26-25 in Big Ten play, helping them get to four bowl games during his time. Since he left, the Boilermakers have not had a winning season.

Brohm made his return to Louisville on December 8, 2022, and has led the Cardinals to a 24-5 record. In his first two seasons at the helm, he coached Louisville to back-to-back nine-win seasons for the first time since 2014.

This season, he has the Cardinals 5-1, with the only loss coming at the hands of No. 16 Virginia. Louisville finds itself at No. 19 in the country with a realistic path to both the ACC championship and the college football playoffs in front of it.

Is It Realistic?

Similar to Kenny Dillingham, while Penn State can pay Brohm more money, offer more resources, and give him a better shot at competing for conference and national titles, it’s his alma mater.

For some people, like Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith, glory at the school that you grew up rooting for and played for is more attractive than winning at the highest level.

Brohm does have a history of not leaving Louisville for a jump in job prestige. In both 2007 and 2008, the Louisville offensive coordinator turned down the same role at Nick Saban’s Alabama—a move he would later regret.

“Everybody makes a few decisions they regret and that’s obviously one of them. I definitely enjoyed meeting with Coach Saban and the whole staff when I was there and I knew that program was going to come around and obviously it came around fast,” Brohm told Matt Coulter on Birmingham radio station in 2012.

There is a chance that this missed opportunity still hangs out in the back of Brohm’s mind. A lot of the coaches on that and later rosters ended up making jumps to Power Four earlier than Brohm; he may not want to miss out on the next step again.

Brohm is making around $5.3 million per year with the Cardinals. Compared to Franklin’s $8.5 million per year, this is not a lot. Penn State will likely have to pay a lot of money to pull Brohm away from his old school, but that number is a lot more realistic for him over other options like Eli Drinkwitz, who makes over $9 million.

The buyout is also lighter for Penn State in the case of poaching Brohm. The Nittany Lions would owe Louisville $1 million to end his contract.