JEFF BROHM - Purdue HC
Current Spot: 13-12 overall at Purdue, now in his second season
Why He's Hot? Brohm has been the No. 1 candidate since Day 1 of this coaching search. In fact, he was the No. 1 candidate on Day -21 of this search because we believe he has been the target all along. A Louisville native, a Louisville alum, a Louisville legend, Brohm led Louisville as starting quarterback in 1992 and 1993. He has been a QB Coach at Louisville (2003-06) and was Associate Head Coach in 2007 and 2008. After coaching at FAU, Illinois and UAB, Brohm joined Bobby Petrino's staff in 2013 as Associate Head Coach and then took over as Head Coach in 2014. Brohm coached the Hilltoppers to an 8-5 record in 2014, a 12-2 record in 2015 and a 10-3 record in 2016, winning Conference USA in 2015 and 2016. He was hired by Purdue on Dec. 5, 2016, taking over a program that had won just nine games the previous four seasons. Purdue made a bowl in Year 1, finishing 7-6 overall after a win in the Foster Farms Bowl. This season the Boilermakers lost their first three games, but have since recovered to win 5 of the last 7.
Why He's Not? Purdue has said they are prepared to do what it takes to retain him. That means he is going to be pricey. Brohm currently has a $4.4 million buyout until Dec. 5 when it drops to $3.3 million.
Bovada's Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 1/3
Sunday Update: Tyra and Brohm are expected to have first "official" contact today.
Monday Update: Negotiations may continue throughout the week. Do not be discouraged at this point.

NEAL BROWN - Troy HC
Current Spot: 33-15 overall at Troy, now in his fourth season
Why He's Hot? He has a phenomenal offensive system that is fun to watch and Hell to prepare for. He's already coached two teams to 10-plus wins and this season is heading that way, too, at 8-2 already. He has won the Sun Belt (Fun Belt) and he won the 2016 Dollar General Bowl and the 2017 New Orleans Bowl. He's from Kentucky (Boyle County) and has family in the area. 2017 Sun Belt Coach of the Year. And he's only 38 and he's making less than a million per year.
Why He's Not? Can he recruit at an elite enough level to beat Clemson or FSU? I'm not sure what else there is to dislike, and don't start with the UK stuff (Schnellenberger, Tyra, etc...)
Bovada's Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 6/1
Howie's 11/18 Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 20/1
Howie's 11/25 Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 20/1

LUKE FICKELL - Cincinnati HC
Current Spot: 13-9 overall, now in his second season at Cincinnati
Why He's Hot? He took over a mess and won four games in 2017. This season Cincinnati is playing with purpose and fire, winning 9 of 10 games and currently leading the AAC East. Fickell is a hard-nosed dude, aggressive and a Coach passionate about practice. He has spent most of his career at Ohio State and would likely call that his dream job, but it isn't open right now and he's probably going to leave Cincinnati at some point. On a personal note: I also respect anyone who can manage six children.
Why He's Not? Yeah, I don't have much here. Not much experience? Maybe the Zach Smith stuff at OSU?
Bovada's Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 15/1
Howie's 11/18 Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 20/1
Howie's 11/25 Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 30/1
Sunday Update: There has been contact between the parties within the last week.

SCOTT SATTERFIELD - Appalachian State HC
Current Spot: 48-24 so far at App State, now in his sixth season
Why He's Hot? High-scoring offense, great passers, good running backs, explosive plays... he checks the boxes for an exciting new coach. He is an Appalachian State grad and, after six seasons as head coach, he may have found his career spot. He's a very good coach as a very affordable option because his base pay is just $612,500 a year.
Why He's Not? He went from Appalachian State to Toledo and FIU and then back to Appalachian State. He has never coached or recruited to a Power-5 school.
Bovada's Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 25/1
Howie's Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 20/1


MATT WELLS - Utah State HC
Current Spot: 44-34 overall at Utah State, now in his seventh season
Why He's Hot? He's one of the sharpest young GAs or QC guys I have ever worked with. He reminds me so much of Dan McDonnell in the way he structures his program, who he recruits and how he builds things. He has won the Mountain West twice at Utah (Freaking) State. Fun offense. He actually reminds me of a hybrid of John L. (players would love him) and Bobby (schemer on offense, his brother coaches with him). Louisville could land him for less than $2 million a year.
Why He's Not? Could the fans get behind that hire? Can he recruit the South? Can he compete at the ACC level?
Howie's 11/26 Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 40/1

DINO BABERS - Syracuse HC
Current Spot: 16-18 overall at Syracuse, now in his third season
Why He's Hot? The losing overall record at Syracuse isn't stellar, but we also have to remember what he took over. He's building a winner at Syracuse and that is a major accomplishment. The fact that they are 8-2 this season is fairly ridiculous. He's so easy to love. The more you interview him, the more you like being around him. The players seem to love playing for him.
Why He's Not? Would he leave an Atlantic Division team to go to another Atlantic Division team? Maybe. Also, the overall record isn't great.
Bovada's Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 16/1
Howie's 11/18 Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 10/1
Howie's 11/25 Odds to be Louisville's Next Coach: 40/1

500 record. Blowout loss to Minnesota. Home loss to Western Michigan. We dodged a bullet

Sorry ... that may make me a dick. But that's the cold harsh reality of this.

See ya Jeff.

Still somewhat surprised at this outcome

On to the next one.

Things just got cheaper

In West Lafayette this morning for the signing of Brohm's extension.

What y'all think of Galloway?

Heard from a good source that Jeff Brohm and Papa John are close and how UL treated him factored into his decision. Ugh, it is like out administration wants to lose. Anybody think about looking at these things before acting???

CFB Conference Championship Games

With the 2018 regular season in the books and the CFB Conference Championship games drawing closer, it's time to revisit the exhausted argument for an expanded College Football Playoff system. On Nov. 18, Merf Trout put forth his proposal for an 8-team playoff which consists of the winners of each Power Five conference championship games and three wildcards. Now that the conference championships have been officially set, let's see what this 8-team playoff would look like. - PART ONE

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Upset with Clemson Fans, says maybe its time to leave Clemson. VT, swing for the fences baby

The biggest issue for me going forward is "desire to coach at UofL"...not just be a HC, but is very anxious to be HERE at UofL specifically.

So, Tyra here is the REAL issue you need to look at going forward.

Which of the names mentioned are the ones that have shown interest in wanting to come here? Any? None?....what UofL needs now is someone who WANTS to be here; WANTS to build a long-term perennial top-10 program; can see all of what UofL has to offer; and is excited about all of the resources and potential that exists here. NOW more than ever we need someone who is "applying" for the job, instead of being "recruited" to it.

So we can kick Brohm's ass and show him what he could've been a part of here at UofL. As for the Purdue fans on here, you all can go s*ck it. You'll never be anything in football and will never sniff a Big Ten title. I never had anything against Purdue before this but after this they are right behind UK in terms of hatred.

I know that Dino Babers was dismissed as a hot possibility, but given that none of the other coaches have P5-level recruits that they could bring over, is it crazy to think that if Babers really wants the Louisville (and doesn't want to use the search to increase his salary like Brohm apparently did), that he could more quickly restore the program to competitive status than one of the other coaches being discussed.

While I think one of the other coaches may have more upside potential, my concern is that it will take a couple of years and 6-7 wins to get recruits to consider Louisville as a legitimate contender. Will the fans have the patience to wait for the building process to occur? There may be some other P5 coach out there interested that we're not aware of, but if there was a way to vet Baber's true interest, I'm not sure that he shouldn't be given a closer look after Brohm rebuffed the job. The guy has a dynamite personality and carries more street cred than a young mid-level coach will coming into a pretty toxic locker room.

I think if he really wanted to come here that he could potentially bring some decent recruits with him where I think we are looking at pretty dismal classes for at least 2 years otherwise.

Like everyone I was extremely disappointed that we were not able to land JB. And it certainly appears it came down to money. I wondered why this all played out yesterday. Purdue had made it pretty clear they were going to do all they could to retain JB. And because of the Big10 Contract, Petrino's buyout, Brohm's buyout, and the scandals that have greatly depleted the ULAA reserves, Purdue was in a much stronger position to outbid UL for his services. And I am sure VT could have found out behind the scenes if JB would be willing to come to UL for less than Purdue would be willing to pay him. If not he could have moved on.

I suspect VT knew getting JB was 50/50 proposition at best. But because of JB's popularity with the Fan Base he had to make a very public attempt to get him or he would have been roasted by the fans. So I think VT was in a tough situation. The problem now is the expectation was that we would land him and we did not. Current players are disappointed, recruits are disappointed, and the fan base is disappointed. VT needs to move quickly to land his #2.

I know the Brohm news is a big let down to most and understandably so. What does this mean for the Louisville football program and where do we turn from here? Here are some thoughts I have on the situation as it currently sits.

- First and foremost, there is no way to sugarcoat Brohm turning down Louisville and how much that stings. He was the obvious choice for multiple reasons but moreso than just his connections to Trinity, UofL, and the city, Brohm coming to Louisville had much farther reaching implications. First and foremost, Brohm at Louisville almost certainly meant a HUGE recruiting swing in Louisville's favor, starting with guys like Milton Wright and Wandale Robinson. Now no matter who the next Louisville coach is, the possibility of those guys coming to Louisville is 0. Along with these specific recruits, Louisville's staff with Brohm at the helm would likely have been a recruiting machine. In fact, I know from very good sources that a couple former Louisville coaches who were phenomenal recruiters could have very well ended up on Brohm's staff. Finally, a Brohm coached team had current players and current recruits VERY excited. I've heard from a couple people that if Brohm did not take the job to expect additional transfers from Louisville. I can't verify that claim but it really wouldn't surprise me at all. Regardless, Brohm's turning down of the Louisville job may have hurt Louisvlle's long term outlook, but it almost certainly dealt a big blow in the short term.

- Purdue reportedly offered Brohm up to $6 million a year to stay there. I know there were a good amount of people insisting Tyra hand Brohm a blank check but let's put that into proportion. If Louisville would have matched Purdue's $6 million, Louisville would have been paying a coach with 2 years of power 5 experience only $200,000 less than what Dabo Swinney makes at Clemson. I think Brohm was definitely Louisville's top option but I would have a VERY hard time justifying paying a coach that much money.

- Where does Louisville turn from here? I know the reaction I am going to get from this but it needs to be said. If you are a Louisville fan that wants to win both on the recruiting trail and on the field, one of if not the top guy that needs to be considered is Neal Brown. I know it's a tough pill to swallow because of his UK connections but I think if we are going to go for the best possible coach at Louisville he HAS to be in consideration at the very least. Just because I write this does not say I want him to come here and that he is my choice, I just feel we need to remove the emotion and at least give him a fair shot. I'd hate to turn down Neal Brown and in 2-3 years look back and see what we missed because we weren't willing to put certain emotions aside.

This is like a damn sitcom. Never in my life seen fans act like this. Some people are idiots. The meltdown was worse than expected.

And players saying? Any word?

into south Florida to start doing what was done before.

He's 3-1 against Neal Brown. tifwiw

Unbelievable. Really!?

I know there's a fringe group of idiots in every fan base, but come on. This is criminal.

Kind of getting tired already if the media fawning over Brohm staying at Purdue. I’d like to see some narrative about a guy leveraging his alma mater to get some serious additional money from his current employer. So far the whole narrative is about the emotional decision but how he made a commitment to his guys...rah rah. He could’ve done that a week ago and not brought UofL in as a bargaining chip. I admire his ability to get the raise but I’d prefer to at least acknowledge that not all of this was rooted solely in altruistic motives.

You're welcome!

BoilerAndy70 said:

Doormat? Always has been? Always will be? Yet, your Hometown Hero, your savior in waiting; is still strongly considering remaining our coach. Man, life must suck right now knowing Brohm would rather coach a "doormat", than come home! BTW, in case Brohm does stay at Purdue, I guess I can stop back by to say you are welcome, cuz you really wouldn't want a "doormat coach"! Am I right?

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