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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It was the spring of 2022, and regardless of how his phrases sounded when replayed on the native information later, Jeff Brohm was simply attempting to be well mannered.

Brohm was again in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, chatting with 100 or so alums of Flaget Excessive Faculty — “The place Paul Hornung, Howard Schnellenberger and my dad went,” Brohm famous. He spent the higher a part of an hour speaking soccer earlier than he obtained the query — the one he at all times appeared to get.

“When are you coming again to teach at Louisville?”

Brohm was Kentucky’s “Mr. Soccer” in 1988, then turned a star quarterback at Louisville. He labored as an assistant for the Cardinals underneath Bobby Petrino for six seasons, too, earlier than transferring on to move teaching jobs at Western Kentucky and Purdue. He was supplied the pinnacle job at Louisville after Petrino was fired in 2019, however he demurred — “Dangerous timing,” he mentioned — and for the subsequent 4 years, Cardinals followers longed for a second probability to convey Brohm residence.

And so the query got here once more — this time from a pleasant gentleman — and Brohm did not need to be impolite.

“I like this city,” Brohm mentioned. “I am an alumnus of Louisville. So, something can occur sooner or later.”

Now, he would possibly’ve supplied just a few necessary caveats earlier than answering — like the truth that Louisville already had a coach and that Brohm already had one other job. However the occasion had been so lighthearted that, really, Brohm did not give his reply a lot thought. Nor did he take into consideration the reporter with the digicam.

“I talked for an hour and 10 minutes and it was the one time I referenced Louisville,” Brohm recalled. “And that is all I heard about after.”

Brohm insisted he wasn’t insulting Purdue, and he wasn’t angling for the Louisville job. It was lots of hubbub over nothing. Actually.

“After which positive sufficient,” Brohm mentioned, “it really occurred a yr later.”

Sure, Brohm is lastly again in his hometown, teaching at his alma mater, a lot to the delight of the innumerable followers who’d pined for his homecoming for years. When Satterfield left for Cincinnati on the finish of final season, Brohm was supplied the job once more, and this time, all of it felt proper.

After all, these dream jobs at all times really feel magical at first, but it does not at all times grow to be such a contented reunion. For each Steve Spurrier or Kirby Sensible, who went residence and received a nationwide title, there are others, like Scott Frost, who withered underneath the outsized expectations.

When it does not work out, it is not only a job that is misplaced.

“While you’re teaching elsewhere, you set within the work, but when it does not work out, hey, I can at all times go residence,” Brohm mentioned. “Nicely, that is residence.”

It is one thing Brohm mentioned he thinks about almost daily now. After years of anticipation, he lastly has the job he at all times needed. He cannot afford to fail.

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BROHM ARRIVED TO immense fanfare in Louisville, however he additionally noticed a ticking clock. Everybody beloved him the day he was employed as a result of he’d achieved a lot for the town and the varsity over time, however finally, there could be actual knowledge factors on his job efficiency, and he cannot afford a misstep.

“All of the positivity now’s as a result of we have not misplaced a sport but,” Brohm mentioned. “I have been round some good days right here, and there is been super fan help in any respect ranges if you’re doing nice issues. We need to get that going as quick as we are able to.”

It is the identical steadiness Mario Cristobal understood when he opted to go away a comfy gig at Oregon to return to Miami with a plan to resurrect his alma mater. The issue, as he noticed it, was a large schism between the dimensions of the job and the optimism of Miami’s followers.

“The clear reality, the truth that’s as clear because the day is lengthy, is Miami did not get to this spot in a single day,” Cristobal mentioned, “and Miami is not getting out of this spot in a single day.”

That is Cristobal’s tagline for this system in Yr 2. However when he first arrived, the fan base was so overjoyed on the thought that their prodigal son, who’d received two nationwide titles at Miami as a participant, would restore this system’s previous glory that there wasn’t a lot room for the chilly, onerous reality.

The Hurricanes completed 2022 with a 5-7 file with embarrassing losses to Center Tennessee and rival Florida State. After the season, a large chunk of Cristobal’s first employees departed, as did various gamers. The thrill that adopted his arrival in Coral Gables had shortly become skepticism.

Cristobal noticed most of it coming, the inevitable struggles, and it almost satisfied him to remain at Oregon.

The hours, the strain, the expectations, he thrives on that, he mentioned, however he knew it might take its toll on his household. It was a giant danger.

Nevertheless it was residence.

“I do not need to go to the grave with out Miami successful,” Cristobal mentioned. “I do not. I’d’ve had lots of remorse. I do know if I might mentioned no, the ship would’ve sailed, and the subsequent time it got here round, it would’ve been too late.”

It is the double-edged sword of being a program’s favourite son. The usually sizable challenges of the current are seen by means of the glories of previous success, and when actuality units in, issues can get ugly.

Dave Wannstedt had received Tremendous Bowls within the NFL, so he appeared like a really perfect rent at Pitt, the place he’d starred as a participant. Six years later, he was fired after a 7-5 marketing campaign.

Jim Harbaugh has taken Michigan to back-to-back School Soccer Playoffs, however that success got here on the heels of a dismal 2020 marketing campaign that compelled him to take a pay reduce. That Michigan did not fireplace him rankled a large contingent of Wolverines followers who’d as soon as celebrated his return.

Frost was alleged to be the miracle that returned Nebraska to greatness. He’d coached UCF to an undefeated season in 2017, and he had his choose of plumb jobs within the aftermath. However he needed to go residence, to a spot the place he’d quarterbacked the Huskers to a 24-2 file in two seasons. His teaching tenure there ended after an embarrassing residence loss to Georgia Southern that dropped his file at Nebraska to 16-31.

So sure, Brohm is not assuming he has an inch of runway at Louisville.

“While you take a little bit extra satisfaction in what you are doing, it makes you’re employed a little bit more durable, take a little bit extra time figuring it out so you do not let folks down,” Brohm mentioned. “There are lots of guys on our employees with native connections, and so they need to win right here, and so they need to win now.”

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JOSH HEIRD INSISTS he had multiple candidate for the job after Satterfield departed for Cincinnati. Sure, Brohm was on the high of the record — however not simply due to his native ties. He was a heck of a coach, had simply led Purdue to the Huge Ten title sport, had been to seven bowl video games in 9 years as a head coach.

After all, Heird additionally admits it might’ve been an issue if he’d gone in one other path.

“If it wasn’t Jeff,” Heird mentioned, “whoever it was could be in comparison with Jeff from Day 1.”

Heird really joked at Brohm’s introductory information convention that “for the final 12 months, you’ve got made my life depressing.” Yeah, there was a little bit of strain to get the prodigal son again onto campus.

Heck, Louisville defensive lineman Ashton Gillotte had began following a Twitter account with the deal with, @BringBrohmHome. The account’s proprietor has a web site, too, with flight tracker knowledge and video of Brohm’s enjoying days. The account’s bio now notes the success of the initiative: “Future typed into existence.”

The Brohm impact has Louisville as excited for the 2023 season as followers have been for any yr since Lamar Jackson was on campus, with season ticket gross sales already up greater than 20%. Working again Jawhar Jordan mentioned he will get approached on the grocery retailer now by followers wanting to speak in regards to the group.

“There’s fixed folks,” Brohm mentioned. “There’s extra talking capabilities and going out locally and it is all necessary to do this.”

That is largely meant his spouse and youngsters have loved the perks of being again in Louisville. Brohm’s been on the clock for the reason that second he accepted the job.

“I inform them I am glad they’re having enjoyable,” Brohm mentioned. “I am working my ass off right here.”

If it is time-consuming, Brohm has no less than been met with one thing akin to a purple carpet at native excessive colleges, booster membership conferences and fan fests. These folks know him, and that brings immediate cache. That is the actual worth of coming residence. There is no gross sales pitch wanted to persuade followers to get excited or donors to write down a giant verify or the administration to buy-in on a plan to get higher.

Spurrier remembers arriving at Florida in 1990 to a far much less optimistic welcome. The Gators had completed 7-5 the yr earlier than — and had really misplaced no less than 5 video games in 4 straight seasons earlier than he took the job.

Spurrier’s arrival wasn’t accompanied by lofty expectations, so he invited them.

“Some folks thought I used to be a little bit cocky or brash,” Spurrier mentioned, “as a result of I instructed them we might win the SEC.”

In his first season, the Gators went 9-2. In his second season, they performed within the Sugar Bowl. And for the subsequent 10 years after that, Florida received no less than 9 video games and completed ranked within the high 12 each season.

“There was the strain I placed on myself and the group,” Spurrier mentioned. “We might be Alabama and Georgia and Tennessee and all these guys, however we needed to imagine. While you imagine you are able to do it, your possibilities get quite a bit higher.”

Brohm needs followers and his gamers to imagine, too, so he is not hiding from expectations. He is embracing them. He is seen what the city is like when Louisville’s good, when the entire program is buzzing and the town is alongside for the journey. To make that occur once more in his hometown — what might be higher?

So sure, there’s strain. Nobody’s set increased expectations than he has.

He grew up right here. His household, his spouse’s household — they’re from right here, too. His children love Louisville. There’s nowhere else Brohm would moderately be. He cannot mess that up.

“The very last thing I need to do is be a failure and lose and lose the identify I constructed there as a result of we did not win,” Brohm mentioned. “It motivates me to work more durable, in order that if for some motive it does not work, I can look within the mirror and say, ‘OK, there’s nothing I might have achieved extra to get this achieved.'”