Purdue locked up Jeff Brohm for two more years.
Why not?
The Boilermaker boss has shown progress during a five-year run that has produced three bowl trips on the heels of the disastrous Darrell Hazell era. And the program is coming off its first nine-win season since 2003.
“We are excited about the progress we have made over the past five years,” Brohm said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to build our program into the future. I would like to thank our administration and fans for their support and our players and staff for their hard work and dedication. It is an honor to be the head football coach at Purdue.”
The Purdue Board of Trustees showed its approval, rubber-stamping a two-year extension to Brohm's current deal on Friday. The contract now will run through 2027 instead of 2025.
"It was an easy conversation," said Bobinski. "We do appreciate what has been built to this point but what continues to build. We're far from done."
Brohm’s agent approached Bobinski about the extension.
“Jeff's attorney called me and said, ‘Hey, Mike, what are you thinking?’ So, we then made a proposal to him. And, honestly, it was not at all a contentious situation. I think we reached agreement really quickly on it.
"President (Mitch) Daniels was supportive right from the get go and moved it forward. So, it was about as easy as you could hope for it to be.”
Brohm (28-29 overall at Purdue and 20-22 in the Big Ten) will be the first Boilermaker coach to work into a sixth season since Joe Tiller coached 12 seasons (1997-2008). The only other coach to work six or more years since Jack Mollenkopf (1956-69) was Jim Colletto (1991-96).
"I know this - when Jeff and I first talked about him coming to Purdue, we talked about a methodical build. We didn't want a good team in 2017 or '18 and then back to square one. We wanted to build something that would last and have a chance year in, year out to be good like the very programs in our league do."
On Friday, the Board also approved as part of the extension a retention bonus. Brohm is to receive $500,000 in 2024 and $1 million in 2026, to be paid March 1. And his salary pool for assistant coaches will increase $250,000 a year over a three-year period. It's currently at $4.35 million and will balloon to $5.1.
Brohm's guaranteed income for 2022--if he remains the coach on Dec. 31--will be $5.1 million. His buyout remains the same: $1 million.
Now, Brohm--who turns 51 on April 24--hopes to take Purdue to the next level. Expectations are high coming off a 9-4 season capped by an exciting Music City Bowl overtime win vs. Tennessee.
“There are models out there,” said Bobinski. “Wisconsin and Iowa, they’re good pretty much every darn year. We want to be that. We're starting to build depth, we're starting to build options at different positions and continue to layer on. When I watch practice, there are more Big Ten-looking athletes, more talented players out there than there were five years ago by a long shot.
"Again, we're not done. We haven't reached the end of that line. I appreciate the process, I appreciate where we're going and I want to make sure Jeff knows we appreciate that, Purdue appreciates the work that he's doing and we want him to continue doing it."
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