Coach Rating Index Ranks Louisville's Jeff Brohm Among Top 10 Head Coaches

The statistical model, created by Matrix Analytical Solutions, believes the head coach of the Cardinals is one of the best in college football.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Not only are various statistical models high on the Louisville football program heading into their upcoming 2023 season, one model holds their new head coach in an extremely high regard.

The Coach Rating Index, which was developed by Matrix Analytical Solutions in 2009, is a statistical model that "measures the careers of all on-field coaches" using "a massive grading system with over 30,000 individual unit profiles and over 250,000 annual coaching result reports."

Matrix Analytical Solutions' data is not available publicly, as they typically sell this data to athletic departments and coaches in order to help make decisions in coaching searches, but 247Sports was granted an exclusive peek at the data.

As it turns out, the CRI believes Jeff Brohm - who took the UofL job this past December - is one of the best head coaches in all of college football, giving him a 78.86 rating to land at No. 10 on the list. Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Lincoln Riley, Ryan Day, Dabo Swinney, Jim Harbaugh, Chris Klieman, Hugh Freeze and Josh Heupel are the nine coaches in front of him.

"Brohm's record isn't elite but it is considering the context of the competition and talent at those schools," wrote 247Sports' Brandon Marcello. "Remember, the CRI grades coaches on their win-loss records but also weigh the "difficulty/importance" of those games in nine distinct categories ranging from expected close-margin games to how they perform in games with equivalent talent profiles."

Related: Projecting Louisville's 2023 Season Using Updated SP+ Rankings

Inheriting a Purdue program that had gone 9-39 under the previous regime, Brohm guided the Boilermakers to a 36-34 overall record and 26-25 record in Big Ten play during his six years at the helm, including 8-5 with a Big Ten West title this past season. Under Brohm, Purdue went 7-11 against top-25 opponents, including a 3-1 mark against top-five opponents.

Prior to his time in West Lafayette, Ind., Brohm spent three years as the head coach at Western Kentucky from 2014 to 2016. He has been the Hilltoppers' most successful coach since their transition to the FBS level in 2007, guiding them to a 30-10 overall record. WKU went 12-2 overall and 8-0 in C-USA play in 2015, including their first ever AP Top 25 ranking as an FBS member, then followed that up with a 9-3 regular season in 2016.

The Cardinals finished their 2022 season with an overall mark of 8-5 (4-4 in ACC), including a 24-7 win in the Fenway Bowl over Cincinnati. They'll kick off their 2023 season against Georgia Tech in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Classic at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. on Friday, Sept. 1.

(Photo of Jeff Brohm: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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