Louisville HC Jeff Brohm says it means more coaching his alma mater: 'I'm going to take it seriously'

New Lousiville head coach Jeff Brohm doesn't need a ton of motivation to put the Cardinals back on the college football map.

The Cardinals have suffered through a stretch of mediocrity, going 36-26 in Bobby Petrino's second stint with the university followed by a 25-24 run under Scott Satterfield. In Brohm, though, Louisville has a coach who has succeeded everywhere he's been.

He parlayed a 30-10 run at Western Kentucky into a 36-34 run at Purdue that saw him lead the Boilermakers to the Big Ten championship in 2022.

Recently speaking at the 2023 ACC Football Kickoff, Louisville's new head coach wouldn't reveal his expectation for the level of play on the field in Year One, but he does have expectations for his level of buy-in.

Louisville is his alma mater, after all. He was a quarterback for head coach Howard Schnellenberger from 1989-93. He also started his college coaching career as the quarterback's coach for the Cardinals from 2003-06.

This is deeply personal for Brohm.

“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," Brohm explained, per On3. "You better put in the time. 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 explained.

Brohm isn't saying that he didn't take his past head-coaching gigs seriously. He was a wizard at Western Kentucky, after all, and his Purdue teams were always punching above their weight. Known for his offensive prowess, it will be interesting to see how long it takes him to get Louisville's offense humming again, though.

Louisville may never have another Lamar Jackson, but the Cardinals do now have a coach who can put some big numbers back on the scoreboard.