Paul Petrino Excited for Return to Louisville, Eager to Revitalize Tight End Position

Now in his third stint with the Cardinals, Petrino is aiming to elevate one of their more under-utilized position groups on the roster.

Aug 31, 2019; University Park, PA, USA; Idaho Vandals head coach Paul Petrino looks on during a warm up prior to the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As the Louisville football program progresses through the offseason in advance of the 2026 season, there's a lot of new faces patrolling the sidelines of the practice fields.

During the first three years under head coach Jeff Brohm, he only had to make one change to his assistant coaching staff - elevating Deion Branch to wide receivers coach last offseason after Garrick McGee left for North Carolina.

But earlier this offseason, Brohm had to make not one, but four different hires to his coaching staff. Defensive coordinator and safeties Ron English is taking the year off from coaching, defensive line coach Mark Hagen was not retained after his contract expired, tight ends coach Ryan Wallace left for Oregon State, and offensive line coach Richard Owens departed for Alabama.

One of the "new faces" that was brought in to fill a hole left open by a departing staffer is actually someone who is very familiar to both Brohm and the program as a whole. Taking over to coach the tight ends for the 2026 is Paul Petrino - the younger brother of former Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino.

"It's really exciting," Petrino said this past Friday. "It's awesome. It's a great opportunity for me with the family that I got around here and everything else. It's just great opportunity to be back with coach, Brohm. I've with coached him many different times in our careers, being in different places, and this is a place that I always really loved, and we had a lot of success when I was here. I look forward to just doing anything I can to help his program, and help us be the best we can be."

Petrino is currently in his third stint with the Cardinals. His first came in the late 1990's, when he served as their wide receivers coach in 1998 and 1999 under John L. Smith. Following a brief stint at Southern Miss, he returned to Louisville once again, this time as their receivers coach and offensive coordinator from 2003 to 2006 while his older brother was the head man (and while Brohm was the QBs coach).

It was certainly a long and winding stint to get back to the Derby City for a third time. It included following Bobby to the Atlanta Falcons and Arkansas (with a stint at Illinois in between), a nine-year run as the head coach at Idaho, landing at Central Michigan after being fired by the Vandals, and then more recently a two-year stint at South Alabama.

So what drew Petrino back to Louisville? Part of it was the chance to reunite with Brohm, sure, but the primary factor were the famial ties. His son, Mason, has been a quality control coach for the Cardinals since 2024. He also has a daughter who is attending nearby Centre College in Danville, Ky.

"Mason was huge there, and my youngest daughter goes to Centre, so that was kind of a no brainer," Petrino said. "With two of my three kids being right here, it was a no brainer. I was gonna do it the minute I could. I was really just hoping that the opportunity would arise, and if it happened, I was going to be here."

Now that he's made his return, Petrino is striving to give Louisville something that Louisville hasn't really had in their first three years under a Brohm: a tight end room that is a true X-Factor in the passing games.

Last season, Louisville got 46 catches for 439 yards and five touchdowns from the tight end spot. 2024 was the best year for tight ends under Brohm, as it resulted in 55 catches for 580 yards and seven scores. 2023 was the worst, with just 26 catches for 227 yards and two touchdowns attributed to the position.

But compare that Brohm's offense's did at both Purdue and Western Kentucky, and it's night and day.

Payne Durham caught 56 passes for 560 yards and eight touchdowns by himself in 2022, and had 126/1,275/21 for his career, resulting in getting drafted in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Brycen Hopkins logged 61 catches for 830 yards and seven scores in 2019, plus 130/1,945/16 overall, parlaying that into a 2020 fourth round pick. Even at WKU, Tyler Higbee was taken in the fourth round of the 2016 draft after hauling in 38 catches for 563 yards and eight scores.

"When he was a Purdue and at Western, their tight ends had all kinds of plays, and half those guys are still playing in the NFL," Petrino said. "He wants to use the tight end. So it's up to us. I tell the group every day in the meeting room: it's up to us show at practice every day that he can call the plays he likes. Because he likes to throw the ball the tight end. So we just got to go out there and execute it.

"It's like anything else. You got to prove to the guy calling the plays and the guy throwing the ball. You got to prove to them that you're going to be reliable, you're going to know what you're doing, you're going to run the route exactly right, and you're going to make the play. If we do that, then they'll have a good chance to make the play."

Fortunately, not only is Petrino eager to get the tight end position back up to Brohm's standards, he's got the horses in the barn to make it happen despite some offseason turnover here.

Louisville's top returner at tight end is Jaleel Skinner, who is coming off of a season where he caught 21 passes for 204 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The one-time Miami transfer is one of the more athletic players on the roster, and has only grown in his consistency since arriving prior to the 2024 season.

The Cardinals also brought in a pair of transfers here, one of which was one of their top portal pickups in the cycle. Tulsa's Brody Foley is coming off of a moster season, one where hauled in 37 passes for 528 yards and seven touchdowns to earn First-Team All-AAC honors. Tulane's Justyn Reid is more of a blocking tight end, but still managed to catch 17 passes for 200 yards and three scores.

There's also redshirt sophomore Dylan Mesman and true freshman Julius Miles to round out the room, the latter of which is a blue chip prospect. Put it all together, and Petrino thinks his guys can make some serious noise.

"I think we got a chance to have a good group," he said. "Skinner is the oldest and most experienced. He's got a lot of talent, he can really explode, he's fast, explosive. We just got to continue to get better every single day.

"I think the two transfers are both big, strong, physical kids that can help us. I think as a group, our our goal every day is to be the toughest group on the field, and the most hardest working group on the field. I think that we've achieved that goal a couple days out of the out of the four days, but we want to achieve it every day."

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(Photo of Paul Petrino: Matthew O'Haren - Imagn Images)