Report: Michigan Football makes ‘direct contact’ with HC candidate

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Michigan is now in its second week of its search for a new head football coach following the firing of Sherrone Moore, but may the wait be over sooner than we think?

It appears progress is being made on one unpopular coaching candidate. Appearing on CBS Sports HQ on Monday, 247Sports’ Sam Webb said Michigan has made “direct contact” with Jeff Brohm, signaling a step forward in the process for the Louisville head coach.

Here is Webb’s full quote:

“Who is in the crosshairs for Michigan right now? I think you have to look at Jeff Brohm. Jeff Brohm from Louisville, he’s been a guy they’ve been vetting very thoroughly from the very beginning. The search firm had reached out to him, reached out to his agent anyway, already. And then they made direct contact (on Sunday), and so how quickly will that escalate? If you see things escalate here quite rapidly the next couple of days, I think you could see Jeff Brohm shoot to the top of the list. If things don’t escalate here in the next couple of days, I think you can really see that fizzle.”

Additionally, Webb brought up include Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator (and former Michigan offensive lineman) Adam Stenavich as a “dark horse candidate” and someone that is interested in the job.

As it pertains to Brohm, though, he has been a successful at every stop he’s made. He won 10+ games twice in three seasons as the head coach at Western Kentucky before guiding Purdue to a Big Ten Championship Game appearance in 2022, his final year there. Now in his third year at Louisville, Brohm has won 10, nine and eight games, respectively, in those three seasons, with a chance to get a ninth win tonight in the Boca Raton Bowl against Toledo.

But there are also some downsides to Brohm potentially being the guy. He has historically had bad defenses throughout his coaching career, so he’d need to land a top defensive coordinator if he were to get the job. And while he helped earn the “Spoilermakers” moniker at Purdue, he has also been known to lose games he shouldn’t. For example, Purdue lost to Eastern Michigan in 2018 by a final score of 20-19 — about a month later, Purdue upset upset No. 2 Ohio State, 49-20. This season, Louisville upset No. 2 Miami on the road, but also had a really bad stretch of three games, losing at home to Clemson and Cal before getting blown out at SMU, 38-6.

All in all, Brohm is an experienced head coach that is a solid offensive mind; there’s no question that he would be able to take quarterback Bryce Underwood’s game to the next level. However, there are still some major question marks — would Brohm be able to consistently win and not lose games to the Rutgers’ of the world like he did at previous stops, and would he prioritize having an elite defense year in and year out?

Interim head coach Biff Poggi told the media on Monday that AD Warde Manuel is hoping to have this wrapped up before the bowl game on Dec. 31. If Brohm truly is “the guy,” we should probably know very, very soon, since his Louisville team kicks at 2 p.m. on Tuesday against Toledo.

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