Watch: Louisville's Mark Hagen, Ashton Gillotte Talk Start of Spring Practice

The Cardinals started spring ball last week.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When Jeff Brohm opted to return to his alma mater and take over as the head coach of the Louisville football program, he certainly wasn't coming alone.

Brohm brought seven position assistants with him over from his previous staff at Purdue. This includes Mark Hagen, who served as his co-defensive coordinator with Ron English and defensive line coach since 2021, and now has the same role at UofL.

"It's been a great couple years," Hagen said. "I appreciate coach Brohm for giving me the opportunity come down here. I'm excited to be here. I've never coached in the ACC, so excited to be in this league, excited to be here at University of Louisville. The people that awesome, very welcoming. So far, so good. It's gone fast. Now that we're in spring practice, it's going even faster."

Hagen and English are anchoring a scheme change on that side of the ball, but they are inheriting a defense that was one of the most disruptive in college football. Guys like Yasir Abdullah and YaYa Diaby have moved on, but Louisville still has a plethora of talent on defense, and they couldn't be more excited to be back on the practice fields for spring ball, which started last week.

"It's definitely good to be back," defensive end Ashton Gillotte said. "We've definitely had a lot of energy coming back. People are excited to get pads on and start to get moving again. Obviously, with the new scheme, it's fun to play around with and get to know. My mentality is to get better. We want to win. We want to win championship.s I think that's the mentality we got.

Following Monday's practice, Hagen and Gillottee took time to meet with the media. They discussed the start of spring practice, the transition to the 4-2-5 scheme, and more.

Below are the videos from their press conferences:

Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line Coach Mark Hagen

Defensive End Ashton Gillotte

(Photo of Ashton Gillotte via University of Louisville Athletics)

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