Coming after a notable season Western Kentucky football has certainly shaken things up a bit. First of course, by hiring the oft controversial head coach, Bobby Petrino, but more than that the school has picked up a number of Louisville related talent to lead the team.
First and foremost with Jeff Brohm, who got his start first as a Louisville stand-out high school quarterback, then nationally playing for the Cards, has been named the team’s new offensive coordinator. Prior to that, Brohm worked in that role for Alabama-Birmingham.
In addition to Brohm former Louisville defensive coordinator Mike Cassity, is joining the Hilltoppers. Cassity was a major factor in the Cards’ turn around in the early 2000’s, working with the team toward their 2004 Conference USA Championship, the 2006 Big East Trophy, and of course Louisville’s Orange Bowl victory in 2007. Outside of the Cards, Cassity has coached for more than 37 seasons now with Kentucky, Morehead State, Northeast Louisiana, East Carolina, Georgia Tech, Cincinnati, Wisconsin, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Illinois, and Marshall.
During that same time Mike Summers worked with both Cassity and Petrino, and there’s set to be a reunion of sorts in Bowling Green. Summers, an offensive line coach, is coming to Western after a less than stellar season with Kentucky. However his resume includes time in the pros with the Atlanta Falcons as well as various other universities including Oregon State.
Acting as a Defensive Tackles coach is 2008 Louisville linemen L.D. Scott. The versatile linemen proved himself as an athlete during his tenure with the Cards, and demonstrated a great deal of natural on-field leadership; traits that should make a valuable tool for Western.
Coaching the running backs is another Louisville alum, running back, Kolby Smith, who has signed a deal to be the team’s running backs coach. A strong back while with Louisville, Smith showed enough potential that he was drafted to the NFL in 2007 when he signed a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, where he played for two seasons. He eventually was shelved so to speak playing on the practice squads of the Denver Broncos and Jacksonville Jaguars in 2010. Following his playing career, Smith comes to Western having already been an assistant coach at Arkansas in 2012.
It’s difficult to say how Western will respond to all these changes and for that matter Bobby Petrino is always “unpredictable” to put it nicely so only time will tell what these grouping of guys who all spent their time in the Derby City will be able to accomplish in Topper Town.
Images courtesy of Herd Zone, UK Athletics, Gridiron Gab, Go Cards, V Media, and Arkansas Razorback
