Reports: Louisville Makes Two More Defensive Staff Hires

This story will be updated.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Head coach Jeff Brohm is not done adding to his support staff in advance of the 2026 season for the Louisville football program, this time bringing in two more staffers for the defensive side of the ball.

The Cardinals are hiring Bowling Green defensive pass game coordinator and secondary coach Derrick Jackson, as well as Murray State defensive line coach Me’Leick Miles, according to reports from On3's Pete Nakos and CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz.

Jackson is joining Louisville for a senior defensive assistant role, while Miles is doing so for a defensive quality control/recruiting role. Both have previously worked for Brohm either at Purdue or Louisville.

Jackson has spent the last three years with Bowling Green in various capacities coaching the secondary. This past season, the Falcons boasted the No. 40 passing defense in the FBS at 201.7 passing yards allowed per game, with cornerbacks M.J. Cannon and Jalen McClendon earning Third-Team All-MAC honors.

Prior to his stint with Bowling Green, he spent three seasons with NIU as their defensive coordinator. This was proceeded by a two-year stint coaching under Brohm at Purdue as the Boilermakers' cornerbacks coach in 2017 and 2018.

The Cincinnati native also has coached at Wake Forest, Rice, Akron, Syracuse, Michigan State, Eastern Illinois, Army and West Georgia. As a player, Jackson started 40 consecutive games at Duke, and finished his career as the eighth-leading tackler in school history.

Miles has spent the last two seasons with Murray State after serving as a defensive graduate assistant with the Cardinals in 2023, where he worked primarily with the defensive line. That season, Louisville went 10-4 overall and made their first ever appearance in the ACC Championship Game, and defensive end Ashton Gillotte had a career year with 14.5 tackles for loss and a league-best 11.0 sacks.

Previously, Miles also coached under Brohm at Purdue, serving as a defensive graduate assistant for a pair of seasons in West Lafayette. The Indianapolis native has also coached at DII Indy, DIII Machester, and Franklin College. Miles played at Trine College, where he is the all-time sacks leader at 20.5.

After having minimal coaching staff movement over the first two years under Brohm, Louisville has seen a decent amount this offseason. Tight ends coach Ryan Wallace left for Oregon State, defensive line coach Mark Hagen joined him in Corvallis after he was not retained, while defensive coordinator and safeties coach Ron English is taking a year off from coaching.

While Brohm will now have to fill the void left open by Owens, he has already done so with the other spots on the staff that opened up.

Mark Ivey is making the move to defensive line coach, while he and cornerbacks coach Steve Ellis will be co-defensive coordinators. Paul Petrino is taking over as tight ends coach, while quality control coaches Adam Mueller and Brandon Sharp were promoted to linebackers and safeties coaches, respectively. He's also hired Jontavius Morris and David Elson as defensive assistants.

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