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A flashback to the time when Jeff Brohm nearly served under Nick Saban

By Cameron Franck

MIAMI, FL - DECEMBER 21: Head coach Jeff Brohm of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers looks on during the 2015 Miami Beach Bowl against the South Florida Bulls at Marlins Park on December 21, 2015 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - DECEMBER 21: Head coach Jeff Brohm of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers looks on during the 2015 Miami Beach Bowl against the South Florida Bulls at Marlins Park on December 21, 2015 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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The year is 2007 and Jeff Brohm is currently an offensive assistant on Steve Kragthorpe’s staff at the University of Louisville. Bobby Petrino has been hired to be the Head Coach of the Atlanta Falcons and Nick Saban has decided to leave his Miami Dolphins post to accept the head coaching vacancy in Tuscaloosa and become the Head Football Coach for the University of Alabama.

Once Nick Saban was hired by the Crimson Tide, he needed to build his coaching staff and for one of the most important positions on his staff, he turned to none other than Louisville’s Jeff Brohm. Saban wanted to hire Brohm for the offensive coordinator position, and liked him so much that he even offered him the job.

So, this offer put Jeff Brohm at a crossroads, kind of like the one he found himself years later when he was offered the head coaching position at Louisville, but elected to stay at Purdue. At this point in time, the Louisville football program was on the rise.

The Cardinals are just coming off of a 12-1 season with the national championship chances just slipping out of their reach, while the Crimson Tide are coming off a 6-7 season in which they finished the season with four straight losses.

Times were very different back then, which made the decision even more difficult for Jeff Brohm. He said, it ultimately came down to one thing.

"”In all reality, it basically came down to a simple question I asked myself, and that was, ‘Do I want to help the University of Alabama win a national championship or do I want to help the University of Louisville win a national championship? I felt the answer was easy, and I chose Louisville.”"

This decision could have catapulted Steve Kragthorpe to promote him to his offensive coordinator, which was an upgrade from his role as passing game coordinator. And that’s exactly what happened. Brohm became the offensive coordinator for the 2008 season, in which the Cardinals had a disastrous season, finishing with a 5-7 record.

Following that season, he left to become the quarterbacks coach for the Florida Atlantic Owls, which was led by his former collegiate head coach Howard Schnellenberger.

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