5. Jeff Brohm, Purdue
Jeff Brohm hasn’t been a head coach for many years, but he has been successful in his short stint with both Western Kentucky and Purdue. When coaching for a smaller school, success means even more. If he had taken over for Ohio State, he would have the talent on his roster to make up for any shortcomings as a coach.
However, he has to really develop his guys if he wants to win at Purdue, and that has helped him prove himself as a coach.
He has made a bowl game in each of his first two years with the Boilermakers, and that is a tough thing to do with a Big Ten schedule. In fact, he has made a bowl game in each of his first five seasons as a coach in general, and he’s won all of them except this past year against Auburn.
Brohm has a winning percentage of 65.2 percent. That’s not great, but he also hasn’t coached at any high-level programs. If a team decides to hire Brohm, it would be because of his offensive mind, not his win record.
Brohm is great when it comes to developing offensive players in a scheme. If you question his ability to foster talent, just ask Ohio State, a team he score 49 points on last season. You could also watch Rondale Moore’s highlight reel to see what he does. Moore is an undersized receiver with insane strength that Brohm gets the ball in whatever way possible. Whether it’s a deep ball or a jet sweep, they always seem to find ways to get him the ball in space.
One thing working against Brohm as an NFL coach is his age. His best coaching years are still in front of him, but some teams won’t want to take a risk on a man approaching 50 with only five years of college head coaching experience. If a team would be willing to give him a chance (assume he would take it), he could make a franchise very happy.