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Sources: Louisville Coach Jeff Brohm Declines Penn State Offer

The Nittany Lions fired James Franklin in October and were turned down by BYU’s Kalani Sitake a day earlier with former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll now rising as an option.
Pat Forde|
Louisville coach Jeff Brohm declined an offer by Penn State to be its next coach.
Louisville coach Jeff Brohm declined an offer by Penn State to be its next coach. | Scott Utterback/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Louisville CardinalsPenn State Nittany Lions

Louisville coach Jeff Brohm turned down overtures from Penn State on Wednesday to remain with the Cardinals, sources tell Sports Illustrated.

After the Nittany Lions were rebuffed by BYU’s Kalani Sitake on Tuesday, Brohm was presented with terms of a deal by Penn State. Agreeing to leave on the same day Brohm was signing a new freshman class with Louisville was not an attractive option, sources say.

More than 50 days after firing James Franklin, the Penn State search is still an ongoing affair as the school has been turned down by a number of candidates. Sources say former New York Giants coach Brian Daboll, who was fired from that job last month, could be an option. In addition to extensive NFL experience, Daboll previously was the offensive coordinator at Alabama under Nick Saban.

Brohm and Louisville athletic director Josh Heird have been in talks in recent weeks about reworking his contract and other program enhancements. Brohm is believed to be more interested in NIL resources than anything else.

The 54-year-old Louisville graduate and native just completed his third season at the school with an 8–4 record, capped by a 41–0 rout of rival Kentucky. Brohm’s overall record with the Cardinals is 27–12, the most wins in a three-year span for a Louisville coach since Bobby Petrino from 2004 to ’06.

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Pat Forde
PAT FORDE

Pat Forde is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who covers college football and college basketball as well as the Olympics and horse racing. He cohosts the College Football Enquirer podcast and is a football analyst on the Big Ten Network. He previously worked for Yahoo Sports, ESPN and The (Louisville) Courier-Journal. Forde has won 28 Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest awards, has been published three times in the Best American Sports Writing book series, and was nominated for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize. A past president of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and member of the Football Writers Association of America, he lives in Louisville with his wife. They have three children, all of whom were collegiate swimmers.

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