LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As the University of Louisville (UofL) is expected to announce the hiring of Jeff Brohm as its new head football coach Thursday, fans and students are already buzzing about the news -- and the future success they hope comes with it.
"It's pretty validating, as a student," UofL junior Tate Luckey said. "To be able to know these people, their faces and their stories, and to see their dedication to the program, too."
Louisville is getting paid $3.5 million by the University of Cincinnati to part ways with Scott Satterfield, who was announced as their new head coach earlier this week.
In Satterfield's tenure at Cardinal Stadium, students like Luckey questioned if he was ever fully invested in the program.
Luckey, who's also the editor-in-chief at the school's student newspaper The Louisville Cardinal, and UofL senior Spencer Laws believe full commitment will never be an issue with Brohm.
"You have a guy like Jeff Brohm who's here, who gets it, who knows the standard that UofL has in terms of athletic prowess," Luckey said.
Laws also works for the Cardinal as the newspaper's sports editor.
"We've watched his career at Purdue just explode, and now he's coming here and he's going to have a lot of pressure and it's going to be from the start -- [but] you're going to see that he's hopefully going to be able to win next year and fight," Laws said.
WHAS11 also discussed the imminent move with Mike Rutherford, publisher for Card Chronicle and host for Big X Sports Radio, 1450 AM/96.1 FM.
Rutherford says this is the best case scenario for fans who wanted Brohm.
"This fanbase needed a jolt of life, it needed a shot in the arm, and getting Jeff Brohm and getting $2.5 extra million in the process I think certainly provides that. I think people are very, very excited right now," he said. "Louisville and Cincinnati aren't actually going to play their Fenway Bowl game until Dec. 17, and it kind of feels like Louisville already won in this rivalry regardless of what the score ends up being 10 days from now."
Rutherford added he'll be watching closely to see how Brohm handles UofL's incoming, top-20 recruiting class secured by Satterfield, especially if some of the recruits choose to decommit.
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