Columnist Rick Bozich uses a lot of ink in his most recent Courier-Journal column bemoaning the fact that Brian Brohm lost millions of dollars in opting to play football at the University of Louisville rather than making himself available to the National Football League.

We know how much money he sacrificed because the Cardinals sagged from a preseason top-20 team to one that lost half of its 12 games and was ignored at bowl time.

Minimum loss to Brohm: $7 million.

Worst-case loss: $33 million.

Spare us your false concern, Rick. The topic makes for good column material, practically writes itself. But as much as this observer appreciates the value of cash, there are some things in life much more important.

Brian Brohm turned down scholarship offers from the universities of Tennessee and Notre Dame, half a dozen other traditional football powers and one mediocre program down the road to play at U of L. It was his lifetime dream, playing in front of the hometown fans. At one point, he was one half of football away from leading U of L to being the No. 1-ranked team in the land.

Brohm also led the Cards to an 11-1 season in 2007, including a win in the Orange Bowl and the school’s first Bowl Championship Series victory in history.

Faced with the challenge of possibly leading U of L to a national championship in 2008 and an early entry into the NFL, the choice was obvious for Brohm – return to the University of Louisville.

Anyone doubt Brian Brohm would make the same decision all over again?

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Schedule Widget – A big thanks to Alvin Kreitman for the UofL football schedule widget, which should automatically update during the season. He has made the widget available in both desktop and blog formats for all major football programs across the country on his web site, where the Louisville schedule is prominently displayed. He reports that the widget has been downloaded more than 16,000 times.Alvin Kreitman

A native Louisvillian, Kreitman currently resides in Charlotte with his wife Jayme and two youngsters, Eran and Cailey. He grew up in Louisville and attended the University of Louisville from 1981-1986.  He’s been a fan of UofL sports since he was very young.  He recalls going to basketball games “back when Butch Beard, Wes Unseld, and Junior Bridgeman were the stars — and Lee Corso wasn’t nearly as annoying as he is now.”

He is employed as Director of Emerging Technologies by the American City Business Journals in Charlotte NC – which is the parent company of Louisville’s Business First newspaper (along with many other business journals).  ACB also owns The Sporting News, Street & Smiths, and many other publications along with their online brands.    

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Moving Tailgate – Ditchball reports that Rick & Jeff’s popular tailgating group is moving its football feasts from the Green Lot to the property owned by Whip Mix, which is located half way between Floyd St. and Crittenden Drive between Boxley Ave (Cardinal Inn street) and Central Ave., parallel with the Red Lot, north of Central Avenue.  The cost is $10 for parking. You can call 807-7531 for more details.

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By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.

6 thoughts on “Riches Secondary For Brian Brohm”
  1. There’s no way he would have believed that, with his skills and the guys who were returning with him. Also, there is no way to account for the “big head” factor and all the months of celebrating that followed the huge Orange Bowl win, reminiscent of the 1981 basketball team which lost five or six straight to kick off the next season. Throw a coaching transition in there with different disciplinary approaches and you get what you got.

  2. Charlie,

    So you’re saying that if Brian would have been informed of the difficulties with the transition (6-6!)and been told there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of sniffing the nat’l title, he’d still have come back?

    Hmmm….

    Frank

    http://hellinthehall.wordpress.com/

  3. Let’s get some facts straight. Bozich makes quite a bit more than $50k a year. Brohm gets $5mil over 4 years, not 3. Certainly nothing to sneeze at, but a far cry from $30 million. It’s a shame and alot of the blame falls on Steve Kragthorpe for screwing up the transition at UofL.

  4. Gee, Brian is getting only $5 mil over 3 years? It seems to me that Mr. Bozich may be suffering with a bit of salary envy…if Rick is making…say $50,000 a yr., it would take him 100 years to equal what Brian is making in 3. Brian did the right thing by staying true to his hometown, university and teammates and staying at UofL his senior season. If Brian can manage to “limp by” at $1.666 mil a yr…and proves to be the top quality QB we all think he has in him, then the salry boost will come. I’ll start clipping coupons for him, though…just in case, and maybe Oscar, Jeff and Greg can chip in and buy him an old junker to drive around until he gets his feet underneath him. Maybe Bozich will bless us with an article about how short and underweight Elvis Dumervil is next.

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