Brown: Louisville football has many new faces, but familiar ones will be key for Jeff Brohm

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — University of Louisville coach Jeff Brohm endured his first ACC football media day on Tuesday taking his fair share of questions about how he’ll blend two dozen transfers into a cohesive unit.
Brohm went hard in the transfer portal to plug holes in the Cardinals’ depth chart with experienced players. They also signed 16 high school recruits from the Class of 2023.
That’s a lot of new faces, for sure.
But Brohm is leaning on seven familiar ones to smooth out the transition.
The Cardinals' first-year head coach brought seven of 10 position coaches with him to U of L from his previous staff at Purdue. That includes offensive coordinator Brian Brohm and his co-defensive coordinators Ron English and Mark Hagen.
The staff continuity will play an even bigger role than the new players in whatever success the Cards have this season.
“If you get a collection of guys that are all good people first, that know the game of football, second, you’re going to have better results than just trying to go get the biggest name you can coaching-wise that everyone’s talking about,” Brohm said.
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During his previous stops at Western Kentucky and Purdue, Brohm said he’s made that mistake in building a staff. But he’s grown from it.
As Brohm stopped looking to make a splash with his hires, he put more emphasis on working with guys he trusted.
He first worked with English when both served as coordinators at U of L in 2008. They maintained a good relationship and when Brohm was looking to shore up his defense at Purdue, he hired English in 2021.
Brohm goes back 20 years with Richard Owens, the offensive line coach, who was a tight end at U of L during Brohm’s first year as quarterbacks coach in 2003.
Tight ends coach Ryan Wallace was on staff for Brohm’s entire tenure in West Lafayette, first as a quality control assistant. Running backs coach Chris Barclay, a Male High graduate, has been on his staff the past seven seasons going back to his final season at Western Kentucky.
“You want to be around a bunch of people you trust that are invested in putting a great product on the field; building a relationship with players; recruiting at a high level; and trying to help their team win,” Brohm said.
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Trust also helps avoid situations like Northwestern, where a tradition of hazing was so entrenched in the culture that no one on staff seemed to speak up or challenge the head coach about it.
Brohm has a staff that will do both. And that continuity has helped Brohm instill both his playing philosophy on the field and his culture in the locker room.
“Obviously if you’re familiar with people and you’re battle tested with them and you know what to expect when the going gets tough, they’re the ones that you’re gonna rely on the most,” Brohm said.
The players will always be interchangeable, not in a disposable kind of way, but change has always been the one constant in college football. Well before the portal turned college athletes into free agents, coaches had to blend in a new recruiting class of freshmen that annually made up a fourth of their scholarships.
There’s a comfort that comes with Brohm knowing what he can expect from his staff. And having that stability is reason enough for him to go into his first season as U of L’s coach with peace of mind — no matter how many newcomers are on his roster.