Louisville's Jeff Brohm Among Top-Graded Third Year Coaches

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Since hiring Jeff Brohm to be the head coach, the Louisville football program has enjoyed a good amount of success.

During his three years at the helm, Brohm has guided the Cardinals to a 28-12 overall record, winning at least nine games in all three seasons. This has included the program's first berth in the ACC Championship Game, snapping lengthy losing streaks against Clemson and Kentucky, and earning a pair of wins over AP ranked top-10 competition.

Sure, things have not been picture perfect at times, but there's no doubt that Brohm was among the best hires during the 2022-23 coaching carousel. Just how good was the hire?

Recently, CBS Sports graded the head coaching hires made during this cycle now that we have a three-year sample size. 24 overall hires were made, but eight of them are no longer at the school that hired them in this cycle.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that, of these 16 coaches, Brohm was one of the highest-graded. In fact, he was one of four coaches to receive an "A" grade, joining Arizona State's Kenny Dillingham, Georgia Tech's Brent Key and Navy's Brian Newberry.

"Another coach who made a big splash in Year 1, Brohm had the Cardinals playing in the ACC Championship Game en route to a top-20 in 2023 after the return to his alma mater," CBS Sports' Chip Patterson wrote. "Louisville's native son and former quarterback has built on that success with a pair of nine-win seasons in 2024 and 2025, though the conference record did take a hit this past year due to a late three-game losing streak.

"Still, with 28 victories in three years he's the winningest coach of this carousel class and worthy of top honors in the grades."

Also this hiring cycle, former Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield's hiring at Cincinnati received a "C-" grade, while his offensive coordinator in Lance Taylor earned a "B+" grade for his hiring at Western Michigan. Two coaches receive "F" grades: Auburn's Hugh Freeze and UAB's Trent Dilfer, both of whom were unsurprisingly fired midway through the season.

Heading into his fourth season, many are extremely high on Brohm's Cardinals. Despite losing guys like Chris Bell, Caullin Lacy and T.J. Quinn due to graduation, Louisville is bringing back running back Isaac Brown, edge rusher Clev Lubin, linebackers Stanquan Clark and Antonio Watts, plus multiple other impact playmakers.

Louisville also did a fantastic job in the portal this cycle, as they rank No. 5 in On3's transfer portal team rankings. While UofL lost 26 players in the 14-day window, they countered that with a 30-player haul, bringing in several impact players. This includes Ohio State quarterback Lincoln Kienholz, Vanderbilt wide receiver Tre Richardson, UNC edge rusher Tyler Thompson and Tulsa tight end Brody Foley.

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