Report: Purdue Co-DC/DL Coach Mark Hagen to Follow Jeff Brohm to Louisville

Alongside Ron English, Hagen helped to elevate the Boilermakers' defense upon his arrival in 2021.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Yet another member of Jeff Brohm's staff at Purdue is following him to Louisville.

Boilermakers co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Mark Hagen is "planning to depart" Purdue and join the Cardinals, according to On3's Tom Dienhart. Hagan will remain with Purdue through their upcoming Citrus Bowl matchup with LSU on Monday, Jan. 2 before officially joining Brohm's staff at UofL, per Dienhart.

Hagen is the fifth Purdue assistant that has opted to join Brohm at Louisville. He follows co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Ron English, wide receivers coach Garrick McGee, running backs coach Chris Barclay and offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Brohm.

English, McGee and Barclay have already made the transition to the Cardinals, whereas Brian Brohm is also remaining with Purdue through the Citrus Bowl. None of them have been officially announced yet by Louisville.

Hagen joined Purdue's staff in 2021, and alongside English as co-coordinators, helped elevate Purdue's defense. Ranking 56th in total defense (399.0 ypg) and 67th in scoring defense (29.8 ppg) in 2020, the Boilermakers improved to to 48th (366.6 ypg) and 34th (22.4 ppg), respectively in Hagen's first year. This season, Purdue is at 37th (349.9 ypg) and 53rd (24.6 ppg) heading into the Citrus Bowl.

He has also developed a reputation as a player developer and recruiter. He helped mold defensive end George Karlaftis into a 2021 Third-Team All American and first round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

He also was the primary recruiter for three four-star defensive lineman across the last two recruiting cycles: Nic Caraway and Joe Strickland in 2022, and Kendrick Gilbert in 2023. He also had a hand in the recruitments for '23 linemen Micah Carter and Saadiq Clements, both of whom have already flipped to Louisville since Brohm was hired.

The Carmel, Ind. native has also had stints as the defensive line coach at Texas in 2020 and at Indiana from 2015 to 2018. Before that, he spent three years at Texas A&M, coaching the linebacker from 2013 to 2014 and the defensive tackles in 2015.

Since Scott Satterfield opted to leave Louisville for the head coaching position at Cincinnati last week, seven of his 10 assistant position coaches have departed the Cardinals. Defensive coordinator Bryan Brown, quarterbacks coach Pete Thomas, offensive line coach Nic Cardwell, inside linebackers coach Derek Nicholson and running backs coach De'Rail Sims all decided to follow Satterfield up I-71 and join the Bearcats. 

Co-defensive coordinator/secondary coach Wesley McGriff left for Auburn and offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach is left to become the head coach at Western Michigan.

The only position assistants left for Louisville for their upcoming bowl are tight ends coach Josh Stepp, defensive line coach Mark Ivey and outside linebackers coach Greg Gasparato. Director of Player Personnel Deion Branch is serving as their interim head coach.

The Cardinals finished the regular season at 7-5, and 4-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Louisville, ironically, will face Cincinnati in the Fenway Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 11:00 a.m. EST.

(Photo of Mark Hagen: Nikos Frazier / Journal & Courier via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

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