Jeff Brohm, head coach at Western Kentucky, Purdue and Louisville
Photo: Rick Munroe, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jeff Brohm

Jeff Brohm went 98–⁠59 as a head coach, 2014–⁠2026, at Western Kentucky, Purdue and Louisville. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 3–⁠3); by them his record is 97–⁠59.

Record
98–⁠59 career
Seasons
13
Schools
3
Final AP top 10
0 seasons
Born
Apr 24, 1971
Best season
2023 10–⁠4, No. 19

Season by season

Wins and losses each seasonfinal AP rank above★ national titleline: the team’s Elo at season’s end, best 1713 in 2016
SeasonSchoolRecordConference finishBowlAP final
2014Western Kentucky8–⁠53rdBahamas Bowl W
2015Western Kentucky12–⁠21stMiami Beach Bowl W24
2016Western Kentucky10–⁠3T–1stBoca Raton (not coached)
2017Purdue7–⁠6T–3rdFoster Farms Bowl W
2018Purdue6–⁠7T–2ndMusic City Bowl L
2019Purdue4–⁠8T–5th
2020Purdue2–⁠46th
2021Purdue9–⁠4T–2ndMusic City Bowl W
2022Purdue8–⁠51stCitrus (not coached)
2023Louisville10–⁠42ndHoliday Bowl L19
2024Louisville9–⁠4T–4thSun Bowl W
2025Louisville9–⁠4T–7thBoca Raton Bowl W
2026Louisville4–⁠3 (Wikipedia: 3–⁠3)

Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.

Players he coached

Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.

How his teams did

Kind of gameGamesRecord
Against ranked teams3013–⁠17
Against top-10 teams145–⁠9
Against rivals2115–⁠6
Conference games10464–⁠40
Bowls and playoffs86–⁠2
Decided by 8 points or fewer7135–⁠36
At home8054–⁠26
On the road6235–⁠27
At neutral sites159–⁠6
As our Elo’s favorite10576–⁠29
As our Elo’s underdog5222–⁠30

His own 157 games on file, 2014–⁠2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.

Against other head coaches

CoachRecordTheir schoolsGames
Tom Allen 2017–⁠20235–⁠1Indiana6
Kirk Ferentz 2017–⁠20224–⁠2Iowa6
Pat Fitzgerald 2017–⁠20223–⁠3Northwestern6
P.J. Fleck 2017–⁠20222–⁠4Minnesota6
Lovie Smith 2017–⁠20203–⁠1Illinois4
Scott Frost 2018–⁠20213–⁠1Nebraska4
Skip Holtz 2014–⁠20162–⁠2Louisiana Tech4
Paul Chryst 2017–⁠20210–⁠4Wisconsin4
Bobby Wilder 2014–⁠20163–⁠0Old Dominion3
Doc Holliday 2014–⁠20163–⁠0Marshall3

Jeff Brohm’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.

Most-faced opponents

OpponentGamesRecord
Indianaseries75–⁠2
Illinoisseries75–⁠2
Nebraskaseries64–⁠2
Iowaseries64–⁠2
Northwesternseries63–⁠3
Minnesotaseries62–⁠4
Wisconsinseries50–⁠5
Boston Collegeseries44–⁠0

How he was hired

Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.

Career

YearsTeamJob
2002Louisville FireHead coach
2009Florida AtlanticQuarterbacks coach
2010–⁠11IllinoisQuarterbacks coach
2012UABOffensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
2014–⁠16Western KentuckyHead coach
2017–⁠22PurdueHead coach
2023–presentLouisvilleHead coach

Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included. Head-coaching seasons the infobox leaves out come from our records.

Coaching tree

Worked under

Jeff Brohm

Assistants who became head coaches

Worked under (6)
Head coachTeamYearsHis job
Steve KragthorpeLouisville2008Offensive coordinator
Howard SchnellenbergerFlorida Atlantic2009Quarterbacks coach
Ron ZookIllinois2010–⁠11Quarterbacks coach
Vic KoenningIllinois2011Quarterbacks coach
Garrick McGeeUAB2012Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Bobby PetrinoWestern Kentucky2013Offensive coordinator
Coached under him, later head coaches (14)
CoachWith himHead coach at
JaMarcus ShephardWestern Kentucky, 2014: wide receivers coach; 2015: special teams and wide receivers coach; Purdue, 2017: passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach; 2018–⁠21: co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coachOregon State
Neil CallawayWestern Kentucky, 2014–⁠15: offensive line coach; Purdue, 2020: offensive assistant; 2021: assistant offensive line coachUAB
Nick HoltWestern Kentucky, 2014–⁠16: assistant head coach and defensive coordinator; Purdue, 2017–⁠19: co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coachIdaho
Tyson HeltonWestern Kentucky, 2014–⁠15: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coachWestern Kentucky
Brian BrohmWestern Kentucky, 2016: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Purdue, 2017–⁠22: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Louisville, 2023–⁠26: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coachPurdue
Ryan BeardWestern Kentucky, 2016: defensive backs coachMissouri State, Coastal Carolina
Tony LevineWestern Kentucky, 2016: special teams and tight ends coach; Purdue, 2017: co-offensive coordinator and special teams and tight ends coachHouston
Bob DiacoPurdue, 2020: defensive coordinator and linebackers coachUConn
Brad LambertPurdue, 2021: co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coachCharlotte
David ElsonPurdue, 2021: quality control coach; 2022: linebackers coach; Louisville, 2026: assistant coachWestern Kentucky
Ron EnglishPurdue, 2021–⁠22: co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach; Louisville, 2023–⁠25: co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coachEastern Michigan
Garrick McGeePurdue, 2022: wide receivers coach; Louisville, 2023–⁠24: wide receivers coachUAB
Mark IveyLouisville, 2023–⁠25: linebackers coach; 2026: co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coachApp State
Paul PetrinoLouisville, 2026: offensive assistantIdaho
Other assistants under him (9)
CoachWith him
Bryan EllisWestern Kentucky, 2014: offensive quality control coach; 2015: running backs coach; 2016: passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach
Anthony PoindexterPurdue, 2017–⁠20: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach
Kevin WolthausenPurdue, 2017: quality control coach; 2018: defensive line coach; 2019: special teams coordinator and defensive line coach
Greg BrownPurdue, 2019–⁠20: cornerbacks coach
Terrance JamisonPurdue, 2020: defensive line coach
Mark HagenPurdue, 2021–⁠22: co-defensive coordinator; Louisville, 2023–⁠25: co-defensive coordinator
Brian ReaderLouisville, 2023–⁠26: quality control coach
Chip LongLouisville, 2023: quality control
Steve EllisLouisville, 2026: co-defensive coordinator

From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.

Pay

YearSchoolJobContract pay
2017Purduehead coachbonuses up to $1,200,000; buyout $15,844,445$3,333,333 USA Today
2016Western Kentuckyhead coachbonuses up to $450,000; $150,000 in bonuses paid$808,720 USA Today
2015Western Kentuckyhead coachbonuses up to $450,000; $100,000 in bonuses paid$613,920 USA Today
2014Western Kentuckyhead coachbonuses up to $550,000$600,000 USA Today

USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–⁠17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.

Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.

How he coached

Brohm’s teams went for it on 20% of fourth downs and on 37% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 56% of plays and took 24.9 seconds a play, 2014–⁠2026.

SeasonSchoolWent for it on fourthWhen the model said goPass rateSeconds a playEPA a play
2014 13 gWestern Kentucky12 of 81 15%21%59%21.7+0.20
2015 13 gWestern Kentucky21 of 86 24%41%57%24.2+0.21
2016 13 gWestern Kentucky15 of 76 20%34%51%24.4+0.19
2017 12 gPurdue23 of 111 21%39%57%23.1−0.05
2018 13 gPurdue20 of 105 19%30%59%24.9+0.08
2019 12 gPurdue17 of 100 17%34%64%22.9+0.01
2020 6 gPurdue11 of 45 24%43%67%23.8+0.10
2021 13 gPurdue14 of 97 14%29%63%25.1+0.09
2022 13 gPurdue30 of 109 28%40%57%25.1−0.01
2023 13 gLouisville23 of 91 25%51%47%28.1+0.04
2024 13 gLouisville21 of 84 25%58%52%26.4+0.16
2025 13 gLouisville14 of 98 14%29%53%27.3+0.05
2026 7 gLouisville4 of 39 10%23%46%26.4+0.25
All 154 g225 of 1122 20%37%56%24.9+0.10

His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.