Bobinski: Contract shows Purdue is serious about keeping 'top-flight coach'
When Purdue was surging toward the postseason in November, athletic director Mike Bobinski started thinking that a new deal for his football coach might need to come earlier than anticipated.
After Purdue won two straight to end the regular season, then the Foster Farms Bowl in December, that feeling started to peak. And on Thursday, it reached near crescendo, when the Board of Trustees unanimously (10-0) passed approval of a new seven-year, $29-million tentative agreement for second-year coach Jeff Brohm at a special meeting in Stewart Center.
“As we could feel the energy building, the vibe changing in such a dramatic way, like, ‘Boy, this is really good. We thought we had something good here, but maybe it was even better than anticipated. Things are happening quicker,'" Bobinski said. "... We realized that’s not typical. It’s a big turn. This was not easy, not a layup here, and it continues to be a challenging circumstance. But we’re headed in a direction for sure. We heard from everybody and we sensed ourselves we don’t want (Jeff) to wonder whether we’re happy or satisfied with what we’re doing, we wanted to demonstrate that in a positive way and that’s what we tried to do.”
The new deal includes a 2018 salary of $3.8 million, increasing by $100,000 every season except for a single one-year increase of $200,000. Brohm also can earn incentives.
Brohm's buyout, if he should be hired elsewhere, is $4.4 million until Dec. 5, 2018 — a $400,000 increase from the previous contract — decreasing by $1.1 million every year to date until hitting $1.1 million in 2021.
Bobinski says the new deal is a reflection of Purdue's continued commitment to building a winning program.
“I would think that’s what it’s intended to be, not only to Jeff and his staff but to people who might be looking to join our program, if they’re wondering whether or not we might be serious about keeping a top-flight coach at Purdue," he said. "We tried to move in that direction yet again here (Thursday). That’s the goal for sure. We want Jeff and others to know that we intend to build this thing, and Jeff is the right guy to build it for us.”
Brohm's original contract, signed on May 12, 2017, called for an annual salary of approximately $3.3 million for six seasons, plus additional stipends and bonus opportunities. Brohm's buyout started at $5 million but decreased by $1 million in December.
In his first season at Purdue, Brohm led the Boilermakers to a 7-6 record, including a win over Arizona in the Foster Farms Bowl. It was Purdue's first winning season since 2011.
“The primary reason for doing (a new contract) was the outcome of our first season,” Board chairman Mike Berghoff said. “I think it’s safe to say it exceeded (expectations). I know it exceeded my expectations and it exceeded certainly the vast majority of our fanbase and their expectations and significantly changed the trajectory of our football program. So we thought it appropriate to take some steps so that we get the benefit of this for a long time.”
Brohm, 47, is 37-16 in four seasons as a head coach, having gone 30-10 in three seasons at Western Kentucky before being hired at Purdue. He's also 3-0 in bowl games; his 2016 WKU team also won a postseason game, although it was coached by interim Nick Holt, now the Boilermakers' co-defensive coordinator.
At Purdue, he quickly worked to change a program that had been grown used to losing, with only nine victories in the previous four seasons. But the Boilermakers started 3-2, with an impressive win at Missouri, before a mid-year malaise. But at 4-6 in mid November, the Boilermakers went on the road to beat Iowa, then toppled Indiana in Ross-Ade Stadium.
The run won over fans and players.
"When you talk to Coach Brohm, all you see is football," running back D.J. Knox said in December. "He eats, sleeps and breathes it. That’s one thing I knew about Coach Brohm. I feel like this is kind of like a challenge to him, 'OK, yeah, Purdue probably is not the biggest football school, but I can get them there.' I kind of feel like that’s his personality, and I feel like that’s what he is training to do every day. Trying to get better, always incorporating different things into the schemes, whenever we play different teams, things like that. Coach Brohm is kind of a grind-it-out-in-the-mud type of guy."
After the 2017 season, Brohm's name surfaced as a leading candidate in a whirlwind Tennessee coaching vacancy, one that landed on Jeremy Pruitt, the former defensive coordinator at Alabama.
“From my first conversation with Mitch Daniels, Mike Berghoff and Mike Bobinski, it was apparent that there was a commitment to rebuilding this football program, and I am honored to be Purdue’s head coach,” Brohm said in a release. “We have all the resources necessary for success, and I promise that my staff and I will continue to work tirelessly to build a championship-caliber program. My family and I love West Lafayette, and we look forward to being part of the Purdue family and this community for years to come.”
The new deal, which is a tentative agreement that will be need to be signed by all parties, also includes a assistant coaching compensation pool of $3.9 million, up from $3.5 million previously. Although Purdue's assistants saw salary increases — Nick Holt, the co-defensive coordinator, got a $120,000 raise to $620,000, for example, per the Journal & Courier — the total of the 10 assistants is $3.465 million for 2018.
"He wants to have the flexibility because he likes his staff very much," said Bobinski, who also noted that the multi-year assistant contracts would be renewed, "and would like to be able to regain them if a competitive situation arises."
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