'This is where he wants to be.' Former Cardinals talk Jeff Brohm's return to Louisville

Jeff Brohm had just wrapped up playing minor league baseball during the summer leading into his sophomore year at Louisville.

He was selected by the Cleveland Indians with the 107th pick in the fourth round of the 1990 MLB Draft and split his time between baseball and football that summer. To help him prepare for the upcoming football season, Cardinals offensive coordinator Gary Nord put together a playbook for Brohm to learn while he was away from Louisville.

When Brohm got back to school that fall, he didn’t just study the playbook. To Nord’s surprise, the young quarterback had dissected it.

“He had a full diagram of our playbook,” Nord said. “He had listed the top plays that he liked all the way to the least amount of plays that he liked. He even drew up a couple more that I didn't have in the playbook that he wanted. … He's been a coach, yeah, since grade school, I think. He's understood football. He knows it inside and out. He knows it better than anybody that I've ever been around.”

That understanding of football has allowed Brohm to have a successful career as a coach. His most recent stop at Purdue culminated in the program’s first Big Ten Conference championship appearance and an 8-5 record this past season. Now, he’s reportedly making his return to Louisville as the Cardinals’ next head football coach, a decision lauded by not only the fanbase and Louisville community but by those who know him as well.

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“Jeff, he understands the game very well, has great experience,” said Anthony Shelman, who played with Brohm at Louisville and played for Brohm when he coached the Louisville Fire arena football team in 2002. “So, as teammates, alumni, those who know him personally and played with him, it's exciting to look and see what he brings to the table. The same things you get at Purdue, we're looking forward to him cultivating and bringing the guys together and bringing that winning atmosphere that we have become accustomed to at the University of Louisville and beating our rival (Kentucky).”

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More than football knowledge, Brohm brings an element of toughness and leadership that still resonates with those who were introduced to him as a player. Off the field, former teammate and running back Ralph Dawkins, who holds Louisville’s records for most all-time catches (151) and touchdown receptions (12) by a running back, describes Brohm as a quiet guy. It wasn't what Dawkins was expecting, knowing Brohm’s status as a well-known, highly-touted quarterback coming out of Trinity High School.

“He actually had quite a few choices and he chose to stay at the local college, so considering that, I was actually thinking he would have been more outspoken than he was,” said Dawkins, who went on to play for the New Orleans Saints. “He had great leadership qualities about him, but he was actually quiet.”

Having a reserved nature, Brohm’s leadership was more in his actions. During his senior year in 1993, Louisville played Tulsa in the regular season finale on Thanksgiving Day. Brohm sustained a late hit and got knocked into the side of a wall. The quarterback sustained a hand injury that required surgery, although you wouldn’t have known it.

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Louisville had just earned bowl eligibility for the first time in three years with an 8-3 record, which included an unforgettable 41-10 win over Texas that Dawkins and Shelman still remember fondly. Knowing the work the team put in that season, there was no way Brohm was going to miss capping off his career with Louisville at the Liberty Bowl.

Brohm played Michigan State with a broken finger on a frigid Tuesday night and threw for 197 yards in the 18-7 win.

“A lot of people wouldn't understand the difficulty of it, but we had to switch him and have him take the snap lefthanded instead of righthanded because his right hand couldn't take the pounding from when the ball was coming up from the center because of the broken bones he had in his hand,” Nord said. “He went out there and we beat Michigan State in zero-degree temperature.”

His willingness to play hurt is a testament to the lengths he’ll go for his team. Brohm’s combination of toughness − something Nord said he pulled from the late Louisville head coach Howard Schnellenberger − leadership, extensive football knowledge and love for his hometown, provides confidence for the future of the Cardinals’ football program.

The consensus about Brohm is he can take it to the next level in an attempted rise to national prominence. Becoming the Cardinals’ next head football coach isn’t a springboard job for him but a goal, a dream job. U of L athletic director Josh Heird mentioned Monday that he wanted to hire someone who wants to be at the university for a long time. Brohm’s return home can provide the program with just that and more.

“My understanding is this is the destination job he’s wanted for a long time,” said Christian Academy football coach Hunter Cantwell, who played for Louisville (2004-08) when Brohm was an assistant coach with the program. “This is where he wants to be, and he’s going to pour everything into this job. This isn’t a stepping stone to something greater. He wants to leave his legacy and his mark on this university and the city of Louisville. When you have a guy like that in place who’s also an elite coach and can provide long-term stability, all of the resources come into play and you’re really able to build something special.”

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Former Cardinals football players talk Jeff Brohm's return to Louisville