Purdue Football: Coach Brohm Worth Every Penny

We had to do it.

Jeff Brohm was all but out the door headed to his Alma Mater, Louisville, until his gut changed his mind the night before.

Maybe the new negotiated pay, commitment to football and the incoming top 25 class played a role too.

Just two full seasons ago, Mike Bobinski canned Darrell Hazell and found the up and coming coach from Western Kentucky, inking Jeff Brohm to a 6 year $20 Million dollar deal. Just over two years later, and he has basically doubled that salary, sitting at a 7 year deal worth nearly $37 Million dollars.

But, we couldn’t afford to lose Jeff Brohm. Not with the momentum he has built. Not with the great football minds he has brought to Purdue with him. If we lost Coach Brohm, that top 25 class was on the way out too.

The entire coaching staff.

The momentum that had been built.

Basically, we are back in the dark ages, a time that was not that long ago.

During the Hazell era, the stadium was rarely half full.

This year alone we sold out multiple times. You might be be thinking, Over $5 Million a year for 13-13 in two seasons?

Yes.

Expectations are sky high now, as they should be. Coach Brohm is now the third highest paid coach in the Big Ten and top 15 in America. He is only behind Jim Harbaugh and James Franklin in the Big Ten, both at “Blue Blood” Programs, with rich histories.

Purdue has history too, mostly built during the Tiller Era, but it is there. I don’t want 6-6 seasons anymore, I want 8-4, 9-3, damn it, I want Rose Bowl Appearances.

It is all obtainable under this coaching staff too, but it may take time. Coach Brohm has worked miracles the last two seasons to get to bowl games, one a bowl victory; the other a blowout, where you could see the difference of talent from the first snap.

Talent is here now, they are just young. A top 25 class is here, RS Frosh and Sophomores come from a top 50 class, his first true class at Purdue, and you have RS Sophomores and some juniors that come from his “first” class, which was mostly Hazell holdovers.

On the roster this season, we have only 21 Juniors or Seniors, before the grad transfer market heats up.

21.

Expectations should be high, but with a tough schedule this year, anything past 6-6 is hard to see. 2020 is the year, 2021, heck every year after this season.

There is an obvious dedication to the program. The massive contract to Coach Brohm, the pay raises for his assistants to stay here (something we never saw under Tiller), the new football performance complex, the updated Brees Academic Center and renovations that will happen to Ross-Ade, sooner rather than later.

Coach Brohm is worth every penny that we will pay him. If anyone is built to get Purdue back into national prominence, it is Coach Brohm. It was either cut the check, or go back to 2013.

I prefer to cut the check.

Now, it is time to sit back and watch this all develop. The best has yet to come.