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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 27, ISSUE 3 20 nator for only one season — Petrino bolted for Lou- isville and Brohm was promoted to head coach at WKU in 2014. But Doughty didn't want to be done with Brohm's influence. Brohm attended quarter- back meetings, Doughty said, and went beyond that in 2015. Doughty had earned a sixth year of eligibility and told Brohm, "I really want you to be involved." So Doughty, who had classes that year but none he had to actually be in a classroom for, met individually with Brohm to scour other film for ideas and ways to tweak the offense. They "stole" some ideas after watching film of the Patriots and other NFL teams, and traded film with other schools. It was an "open door policy" in action, not just something a coach says. "He's very easy to get along with," Doughty said. "What you see is what you get out of him. I'm not just saying that. He's really, really, truly that type of per- son." But Brohm still is able to motivate his players. And that should not be overlooked. Doughty said there were some "intense" locker room scenes with Brohm as a coordinator and a head coach. Brohm likes to get players' attention, Doughty said, and if that took throwing a chair, Brohm would throw a chair. Actually, Brohm did it more than once, first as a coordinator, then as a head coach. Practices were hard because Brohm wanted games to be easy, and that meant demanding much during the week by getting in players' faces and challenging them to rise to occasions and finish hard. But it was never in a demeaning, degrading tone, players said. Before games, Brohm would gather players in for fiery speeches, and some from his time at WKU went viral, showing him pounding a player's shoulder pads in front of him for emphasis as he was barking, "No- body believes in us!" before the C-USA championship game this season or showing him imploring his guys to have a "street fight between the whistles." But after games, he'd celebrate with his players. Just like he did after WKU beat ranked Marshall to win a conference championship two years ago, when Brohm "danced" while being surrounded by his guys, singing and chanting. "Jeff Brohm is the man," said Dangerfield, who had 1,669 receiving yards and 19 TDs in only two seasons at WKU. "I think he's one of the best coaches in col- lege football. I couldn't have asked for a better coach. He's the perfect idea of a coach. He's not too strict, but he's not too lenient. He's got the perfect (balance). "He's not much (for) a loud crowd, but when he yells, it's for a reason. He's trying to make you the best player possible." That was a sentiment Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski heard over and over during a thorough coaching search that included speaking with Brohm's former players. It was one of the reasons Brohm was so appealing as a candidate, Bobinski said. "I see him as a unique blend of sort of an old-school, hard-nosed, unbelievably competitive guy — I re- member watching him as a player, and he would fight you 'til his last breath — but then he blends that with sort of the new version of coaching in this time where he really, really takes great pains to connect with his players, to know his players personally," Bobinski said. "It's not just the coaching-from-the-tower thing. He's in it with his guys. He's really invested with his players. "… I think he brings that really fiery (approach), you watch him on the sideline, he's for real. He's not sitting there picking daisies. He's into the game, but he also has this great ability to connect and relate with his players in a way they know he's in it with them. I think when you do that, people give you that much more, when they know you're invested and you know them as people and you care about them as people. He's got that great two-way balance." j