Get at least seven balls ready and be quick.

That was Jeff Brohm speaking in the spring of 2012 at the start of his first practice as UAB’s offensive coordinator.

“It’s him all day every day,” Ron Sigler told Saturday Down South of Brohm’s up-tempo style.

At UAB, Sigler worked with the wide receivers for head coach Garrick McGee, a Bobby Petrino disciple.

Sigler says his former colleague Brohm is “like that in every situation,” making sure everyone is prepared — from managers to graduate assistants, position coaches and players. Sigler thinks Brohm might be a great fit for Tennessee.

Whether the 46-year-old Brohm, in his first season at Purdue after a strong three-year run at Western Kentucky, would be ready to move again is another question. His ex-colleague thinks he’d at least have to consider it.

“Tennessee is one of those type opportunities that you do not pass up on,” Sigler said.  “Tennessee is one of those kind of jobs where you experience the pressure of the SEC on top of being one of the top jobs in the country, but Brohm could definitely handle it. He’s just one of those guys.”

Why might Tennessee want Brohm to run its program?

Well, he was highly regarded enough 10 years ago to get a job offer from a guy named Nick Saban, who was starting a rebuilding job of his own at Alabama and looking for an offensive coordinator. Brohm respectively turned down the offer and remained at his alma mater Louisville in the same capacity, working under Steve Kragthorpe — who replaced Petrino when he left to become the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

Now a decade later, Brohm has his Boilermakers at 3-3, having already matched last year’s win total and with a 35-3 victory over the SEC’s Missouri Tigers. At WKU, he finished with a 30-10 record and back-to-back Conference USA championships. Petrino also won two conference titles with the Hilltoppers in his first head coaching job before climbing the college coaching ladder.

Brohm’s success is making it no secret that he is destined for a head coaching job at an elite Power 5 school.

“Whoever gets him will be getting a steal,” Sigler said. “They better get him now before he gets too hot.”

Jeff Brohm resume

2017: Head coach, Purdue. 3-3, 1-2 Big Ten
2014-16: Head coach, Western Kentucky. 30-10, 19-5 C-USA. 2 bowl wins (team also won its 2016 bowl game after he resigned to take Purdue job).
2013: WKU assistant head coach/offensive coordinator
2012: UAB offensive coordinator
2010-11: Illinois (quarterbacks)
2009: Florida Atlantic (quarterbacks)
2008: Louisville (assistant head coach/offensive coordinator)
2007: Louisville (assistant head coach/passing game)
2003-06: Louisville (quarterbacks) under Bobby Petrino

Brohm, a quarterback at Louisville and for seven seasons in the NFL, has built a reputation as an innovator and QB guru. Or, as his Purdue bio puts it: “He is widely regarded as one of the most innovative offensive masterminds in college football.”

Sigler is not the only coach who has worked alongside Brohm who thinks he could handle all that the Tennessee job entails.

“He can handle the pressure, he’s a very good football coach,” Neil Callaway told Saturday Down South. Callaway was Brohm’s offensive line coach at WKU and currently hold the same title at USC.

Callaway has been a part of seven SEC championships as an assistant at Alabama, Auburn and Georgia. He knows what it takes to be successful in the conference. He describes Brohm as being “as sharp as it gets as far as throwing the football and understanding the balance that it takes to play winning football.”

Brohm played quarterback at Louisville under Howard Schnellenberger from 1989-1993. He even beat Alabama in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl.

Sigler says Brohm’s experience as a player and coach makes him a leader “used to being out front. The pressure part of it is every day life for him.”

Does Brohm have the recruiting chops to handle that part of the job in the SEC?

“He is great recruiter because players love to play for him,” Sigler said. ”You have running backs that want to play in that offense, plus quarterbacks and receivers, everybody wants to play for him. Players can also relate to him.”

Brohm’s offense as a head coach

The reason why the passing game works so well in Brohm’s offense is because his teams emphasize running the ball.

The offense, being a Petrino-type attack, features a balanced approach using one-back sets, two tight ends, five wide receivers and the I-formation.

“Brohm has added his own twists from being in the NFL, from being on different staffs as a collegiate coach, and he is one of those guys that is like a sponge that soaks it all up and has made his own offense,” Sigler said.

“He can play big-boy ball and run it down your throat and is also not afraid to go to the mismatches and go five-wide and sling it down the field. I can’t stress enough that being a former quarterback helps in coaching by being able to find mismatches.”