Where’s the Tylenol? Louisville football Whiffs on Jeff Brohm

After much anticipation and build-up, Jeff Brohm decides to spurn an offer from his alma mater and home town team to stay at Purdue.

WELP.

If this isn’t the biggest punch in the gut.

We all, undoubtedly, remember the scene in Christmas Vacation (of course you do, who doesn’t watch Christmas Vacation excessively this time of year?) where Clark Griswold goes outside “for the season” to light his house with 250 strands of lights for a total of TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND imported Italian twinkle lights. Clark goes out there in the cold Chicago weather, meticulously stapling lights to his roof, lining up the reindeer just right and checking every bulb (right, Russ?).

Louisville fans, supporters, boosters, alumni, current, future, and former players have been on the Brohm bandwagon for days, weeks, if not months or years. This site speculated  Bobby Petrino’s departure and Brohm’s return home before the season even began.

Hell, there was a weekend this year where more Louisville fans watched as Brohm’s Purdue team walloped then No. 2 Ohio State than they did the Louisville football game the week before. We have ALL been on the Brohm bandwagon for some time now. He was the future, and we all knew it.

Even Louisville’s Athletic Director, Vince Tyra, seemed to be reading the pulse of the fan base and thought he had his second big-time hire in the bag. The plan all along, after firing Bobby Petrino nearly three weeks before Louisville’s season ended, seemed to be to line things up for Brohm to swoop in and save the day.

To everyone in and around Louisville, and on a national scale, Louisville’s plan A, B, and C were to hire Brohm. The candidates were Brohm, and then everyone else.

We invested hours and hours of time and energy speculating when Brohm would make his decision, what coaches he would bring, what recruits he could attract, and so much more.

We were Clark Griswold, ready to stand out in the yard with the family and look at our beautiful home with pride, to puff our chests out at the snooty Purdue neighbors and let them know we mean business around here when it comes to our home.

But what happened?

Drum roll….. “JOOOOYYY TOOOO THE WORLD”

nothing.

Nothing happens. Total heartbreak for everyone involved in Louisville.

But, in the case of Jeff Brohm, the decision seems like a head scratcher. We were all sold on the potential of Brohm coming home and returning Louisville to its winning ways. We were so caught up in the moment, that nobody stopped to think… Are the lights plugged in? Are all of the bulbs working properly? You know how those things are, if one light goes out, the whole strand doesn’t work.

Brohm cited timing as a key detriment in a statement that he released to the public on Wednesday night:

"“This has been a very difficult and emotional decision for me and my family. We are extremely happy at Purdue and thankful for the opportunity to lead this program. After intense and thorough discussion, I believe it is important to finish the building process we have begun and honor the commitment I made to our football program, players, and recruits. While going home was very appealing and meaningful to me, the timing was not ideal. I believe that remaining at Purdue is the right thing to do, and I am excited for the challenges ahead.”"

“Bad timing” seems to be an odd reason for a guy with an opportunity to play hero for his hometown and university to stay in an unexciting Midwestern meh-tropolis. But, then again, Brohm isn’t built like most coaches.

According to many close to the situation, the negotiations between Brohm and Tyra were not about money, but about opportunity, job security, and length of tenure. This shouldn’t surprise anyone who has payed attention to his career. After all, Brohm still drives a 2004 Honda Accord that he had when he was at Louisville in his tenure as an assistant coach (talk about pissing your money away). Brohm is not a man to be concerned about material things, or having a top-notch contract- he wants to be where he sees the most success.

While Vince Tyra tried to figure out how to get the light strand out of a thousand knots, and most in Louisville spent their time over the course of the last month figuring out where the lights were going to go, how they were going to be strung on the roof, and how Santa and his reindeer were going to be lined up in the yard, Brohm wasn’t concerned with any of that. Brohm never even wanted to plug the damn things in anyways, let alone flip on the garage light switch.

Louisville worked really hard to get Jeff Brohm, but so do washing machines.