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Purdue's Jeff Brohm hired as Louisville's next head football coach

Louisville fans have been clamoring for Jeff Brohm for years.

And now, they have him. Louisville has hired Brohm, a former quarterback for the Cardinals, away from Purdue to be the program’s next head football coach, the school announced

"My family and I are honored to return home to the University of Louisville, a place we love, which has been so influential in shaping me as a player, a coach and a man," Brohm said in a statement.

His contract is reportedly for around $35 million for six years. That number would immediately put Brohm among the highest-paid coaches in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

According to the USA TODAY coaching salary database, former Cardinals head coach Scott Satterfield was making only $3,250,000 a year upon his departure for Cincinnati.

It apparently didn’t take long for the two parties to come to an agreement. The Cardinals just lost Satterfield to Cincinnati on Monday.

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This is the second time that Louisville has tried to get Brohm. The first time was when the Cardinals hired Satterfield in 2019. At the time, Brohm had been with the Boilermakers for two only years and turned the job down. Now having six years under his belt at Purdue, the timing seemed better.

Brohm’s journey began as a quarterback at Trinity High School where he led the squad to an undefeated state championship in 1988. His father, Oscar, was the quarterbacks' coach for the program. That same year, Jeff Brohm was named Kentucky’s Mr. Football.

The Louisville native stayed in town for college and was Cardinals quarterback Browning Nagle’s backup in 1990. The next year, he took over as the starter but suffered a season-ending injury in the second game of the season – a 28-11 loss to Tennessee. That year, the Cardinals went 2-9. Brohm was back as the starter for the next two seasons. By the time his career was over, he etched his name in the program’s record books as 10th in career completion percentage (56.2%), 10th in career passing yards (5,451) and tied for eighth in career TD passes (38).

Brohm, who was inducted in the Louisville Ring of Honor in 2006, had a professional career that included stints with the San Diego Chargers (1994), Washington (1995-96), San Francisco 49ers (1997-98), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1998), Denver Broncos (1999) and Cleveland Browns. He also had a stint in the XFL, playing for the Orlando Rage in 2001.

When his playing career was over, Brohm began his coaching career at Louisville in 2003, working with the team’s quarterbacks. He then became the offensive coordinator in 2008. His first head coaching job was with the Louisville Fire, an arena football team, in 2002. His other stints included Florida Atlantic, Illinois, Alabama-Birmingham and Western Kentucky.

Brohm was hired on as Purdue’s head coach on Dec. 5, 2016, and was the first former quarterback to lead the squad since Bob DeMoss in 1970. In his debut season, the Boilermakers went 7-6, which included a season-opening 35-28 loss to his alma mater.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Jeff Brohm hired as Louisville's next football coach