Jeffrey Scott Brohm (born April 24, 1971) is an American college football coach and former professional quarterback. He is the head football coach at his alma mater, the University of Louisville, a position he has held since the 2023 season. Brohm played college football for the Louisville Cardinals under coach Howard Schnellenberger from 1989 to 1993. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons from 1994 to 2000 and the XFL in 2001. Brohm served as the head football coach at Western Kentucky University from 2014 to 2016 and Purdue University from 2017 to 2022.
Brohm was born in Louisville, Kentucky. His father, Oscar, was a quarterback for Louisville and a high school football coach in Louisville. He attended Trinity High School in Louisville, Kentucky. After graduation from high school, he was selected by the Montreal Expos in the seventh round of the 1989 MLB draft, but he instead decided to pursue playing football and baseball at the University of Louisville. After spending his freshman season as a backup quarterback, he was once again selected in the MLB Draft, this time in the fourth round by the Cleveland Indians. This time Brohm had a change of heart and decided to pursue a professional baseball career in the summers when he wasn't playing football. After two summers, he decided to drop baseball and focus solely on football. As starting quarterback for two seasons, he led the Cardinals to the 1993 Liberty Bowl.
Brohm went undrafted in the 1994 NFL draft. He played seven years as a quarterback in the NFL, with the San Diego Chargers in 1994, the Washington Redskins in 1995, the San Francisco 49ers from 1995 to 1997, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1998, the Denver Broncos in 1999 and the Cleveland Browns in 2000. He also played one season with the Orlando Rage of the XFL, where he was named to the All-XFL team despite having his season end early with a shoulder injury.
In 2002, Brohm moved to the AF2 where he became the head coach of the Louisville Fire. Brohm returned to the University of Louisville in 2003 to work under Bobby Petrino. He spent the next six years as a quarterback coach, passing game coordinator, offensive coordinator, and assistant head coach for the Cardinals and helped them win the 2007 Orange Bowl. In 2009, Brohm went to Florida Atlantic University, where he was reunited with Schnellenberger as offensive coordinator. Brohm then went on to coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2010 to 2011, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2012, and reuniting with Petrino at Western Kentucky University in 2013 as an associate head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. When Petrino returned to Louisville in 2014, Brohm was promoted to head coach of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. As head coach, he led the team to three bowl games, winning two of them. In 2016, Brohm took the head coaching position at Purdue University. Brohm returned to Louisville as head coach in December 2022.
Early life Brohm was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1971. He is the son of Donna and Oscar Brohm. Brohm and his siblings Greg, Kimberly, and Brian were born in Louisville while his father was an assistant football coach at Trinity High School in Louisville.
Brohm was a standout high school player at Trinity High School in Louisville. He was named the "Kentucky High School Player of the Decade" for the 1980s and won the Kentucky "Mr. Football" Award in 1988 while leading his team to a state championship and undefeated season. Brohm was inducted as a member of the 2014 Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame class.
College playing career 1989 and 1990 seasons In February 1989, Brohm committed to play football for Howard Schnellenberger's Louisville Cardinals football team. Brohm played in every game, but was relegated to backing up Browning Nagle. The 1990 Cardinals ended the season 10–1–1 in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl. Brohm played for two series during the Fiesta Bowl, but on his first series he was intercepted. He was intercepted again on his second series by Charles Garner who returned it 49-yards for a touchdown.
1991 season After Nagle graduated, Brohm became the starting quarterback for the 1991 team. Just two games into the season, Brohm and the Cardinals were facing the Tennessee Volunteers, when Brohm suffered a fracture in his right ankle, placing him in a cast for six weeks.
1992 season Brohm returned from his ankle injury to regain his starting quarterback role. In his first game back, Brohm was a two-point conversion away from knocking off #17 Ohio State as Brohm's pressured pass floated just past the arms of Ralph Dawkins. Brohm played well against #6 Florida, completing 66.6% of his passes and frustrating the Gators defense with his ability to scramble. The Cardinals ended up losing 31–17.
1993 season Brohm returned for his senior season. After taking every snap as a junior, Brohm proved he was fully recovered from his ankle injury. After defeating San Jose State to begin the season, Brohm had a dominant performance against Memphis State, throwing for four touchdowns and 219 yards—175 yards and three touchdowns of which went to Aaron Bailey. The following week, Brohm threw for a career-high 331 yards defeating the #23 Arizona State 35–17. Brohm led the Cardinals to the #17 ranking. During the game against #24 West Virginia, Brohm threw for 270 yards. However, he had two very critical turnovers, including an interception with 3:02 to play. The Cardinals were upset by the Mountaineers 36–34. After a 7–1 start, the Cardinals accepted a bid to be the home team in the 1993 Liberty Bowl Brohm broke the index finger of his passing hand in Louisville's final regular season game. His finger was repaired with a steel plate and pins, and he wasn't allowed to throw until the week before the bowl game. Trailing 7–3 going into the 4th quarter against Michigan State in the Liberty Bowl, Brohm threw for two touchdowns in the final minute leading the Cardinals to an 18–7 victory.
Professional career
Baseball After high school, Brohm was drafted in the seventh round of the 1989 MLB draft by the Montreal Expos. He turned down the Expos offer, choosing instead to play college football for Louisville. However, after one year of college football, he had a change of heart and decided to pursue both sports, playing minor league baseball during his college summers.
He held a workout for all MLB teams prior to the 1990 MLB draft and was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the fourth round and chose to play baseball and football. He played for two summers in the minor leagues before quitting to focus on football. The Indians also pushed him to drop football entirely.
Football
San Diego Chargers After going undrafted in the 1994 NFL draft, Brohm signed with the San Diego Chargers in 1994 as an undrafted free agent. Brohm beat out Trent Green to become the team's third-string quarterback. Brohm spent the season as the third-string quarterback, never appearing in a game as the Chargers lost Super Bowl XXIX.
Washington Redskins Brohm signed with the Washington Redskins for the 1995 season.
San Francisco 49ers Brohm signed with the San Francisco 49ers in 1996. Brohm played in the season opener for the 49ers in 1997 after Steve Young was sacked seven times and left the game with a concussion. Brohm was in line to start Week 2 for the 49ers, but he cracked a bone near the base of his middle finger on his passing hand. Brohm didn't make a start, instead Jim Druckenmiller made the start for the 49ers.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Brohm signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1998, competing with Steve Walsh and Scott Milanovich for the backup quarterback position behind Trent Dilfer. After just three plays in the Buccaneers first preseason game, Brohm scrambled and slid to avoid being hit, but on the slide Brohm tore a ligament in his right thumb. Brohm had to decide between wearing a cast for 4 weeks hoping his thumb would heal, or have surgery and heal the thumb properly, but ending his season. Brohm elected to have surgery on his thumb, where a pin was placed in his thumb during his August 10 surgery. Two weeks later, Brohm was placed on injured reserve, ending his season. After the season, Brohm requested he be waived by the Buccaneers, and the team granted him his wish on April 25, 1999.
Denver Broncos Brohm signed with the Denver Broncos in 1999. On August 16, 2000, Brohm was waived by the Broncos.
Cleveland Browns On December 13, 2000, Brohm was signed by the Cleveland Browns to be the emergency third-string quarterback with one week remaining in the season.
Orlando Rage On October 28, 2000, Brohm was drafted with the fourth overall pick in the XFL draft by the Orlando Rage of the XFL. Brohm briefly left the Rage when he signed with the Browns. Brohm battled with Brian Kuklick for the starting quarterback position with the Rage. Brohm won the starting job, and led the Rage to a season opening win 33–29 over the Chicago Enforcers. During the 2001 XFL season, he owned the league's highest QB rating at 99.9 and was named first-team All-XFL. He was at the receiving end of a particularly brutal attempted sack by Shante Carver in the Week 5 contest against the Memphis Maniax; although it knocked Brohm out of the game and led to a hospital visit, the actual play resulted in a touchdown pass, and Brohm was back on the sidelines in a neck brace later in the game. When Brohm returned to play the next week, he gave a memorable speech when asked why he returned to play so soon:
Let me answer that question by asking you two questions – One, is this or is this not the XFL? Yes, it is. Two, do I or do I not currently have a pulse? Yes, I do. Let's play football.
Brohm later admitted fearing that the statement would make him an even greater target for the Rage's opponents. A shoulder injury in the Week 7 contest against the Los Angeles Xtreme ended Brohm's playing career.
Brohm was, along with Las Vegas Outlaws running back Rod Smart, one of the few players to openly embrace the XFL's approach to football, fully immersing himself in the kayfabe and sports entertainment. Brohm had hoped to put the nickname "J Bro" on the back of his jersey, but his fellow players voted not to use jersey nicknames.
Coaching career Louisville Fire On December 19, 2001, Brohm was named the head coach of the Louisville Fire arena football team. The Fire started the 0–7 before they defeated the Carolina Rhinos 31–28 to improve to 1–7. The Fire finished the season 2–14.
Louisville On December 24, 2002, Bobby Petrino hired Brohm to return to his alma mater as quarterbacks coach. Brohm worked with first-year starting quarterback Stefan LeFors, helping him to a 3,145-yard passing season, the third-best in school history. LeFors finished first in the nation in passing efficiency and completion percentage and was named First-team All-Conference USA. During Brohm's second season, he helped recruit his brother Brian Brohm, who was one of the most sought-after recruits in the nation. LeFors and Brian split time at quarterback, similar to how Jeff split time as a freshman with Nagle. LeFors and Brohm led the Cardinals to the 2004 Liberty Bowl and a No. 6 ranking to end the season. Brian finished the season as the Conference USA Freshman of the Year, and LeFors was named First-team All-Conference USA and the Conference USA Co-Offensive Player of the Year. In 2005, Brian took over the starting role permanently, leading the Cardinals to an 8–2 regular season and a berth in the 2006 Gator Bowl. Brian tore his ACL, forcing the Cardinals to start walk-on Hunter Cantwell. Cantwell completed 15 of his 37 passes for 216 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions.
2006