Jeff Brohm wants everyone to know he’s not going to Louisville

Jeff Brohm is the betting favorite to replace Bobby Petrino but he wants everyone to know he’s not going to Louisville.

Practically in concert with the news Bobby Petrino was fired as Louisville football coach last Sunday, Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm became the No. 1 candidate to take over. Brohm is a Louisville native, played quarterback at the school and started his coaching career in earnest under Petrino as Cardinals’ quarterbacks coach, so his ties are deep.

Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra openly acknowledged Brohm as an option to replace Petrino, while being careful to declare he had no real idea if Brohm would be interested in the job. But that won’t stop the rumors, and if anything things have ramped up a little now.

On Thursday a report declaring Brohm will be announced as the new head coach at Louisville on Nov. 26, after Purdue completes its regular season, surfaced. Did it come from someone like Bruce Feldman or Pat Forde? Nope, none other than Dan Dakich, the ESPN college basketball analyst who also hosts a radio show in Indiana.

Dakich is obviously not a typical news breaker, which could lend his report greater credibility or invite doubt depending on perspective.

Brohm of course was asked about the report, according to the Louisville Courier & Journal, with the expected denial.

"Completely false,” “and, once again, complete speculation. I don’t know how else to answer that. It caught me off guard as well. I think I’m an open book. I communicate with the players and the coaches and the administration and completely hold true to that. … I don’t think that would happen with anybody, to be honest with you. I don’t want to comment on someone else bringing something out on Twitter, but all I can say is it’s completely false.”"

Brohm made sure to begin and end his statement with the phrase “completely false.” He’s not going to say anything different, as Louisville at least makes it look like they’re pursuing other candidates and Brohm tries to keep the attention of his current players at Purdue.

But the next time a football coach is fully forthright about moving to a new job while he still has one might be the first. On that note I offer you Nick Saban in December of 2006, after a report he was headed to Alabama surfaced when was head coach of the Miami Dolphins.

“I guess I have to say it,” Saban said. “I’m not going to be the Alabama coach.”

Almost two weeks later, on Jan. 3, 2007, Saban was named the next head coach at Alabama. Brohm has spent this week refuting anything regarding his leaving for Louisville, but the Monday after Thanksgiving would be 15 days after Petrino was fired.

Until someone else is named the next Louisville coach, on Nov. 26 or sometime after, Brohm can do all the denying he wants. In the meantime, he can’t be believed on the matter.