Bovada odds for the Louisville Job

Bovada released their first list of odds for the Louisville Football coaching position today. It’s no surprise that Jeff Brohm is the heavy favorite but the rest of the list gives a look at what Vegas and most of the media predict for the backup plan if Brohm spurns Louisville.

We’ll keep this post updated as Bovada releases their updates. I still think back to them putting Charlie Strong at the top of their list for the Texas job and completely blowing it off. They’ve been right before.

Jeff Brohm 10/11

Neal Brown 4/1

Ryan Day 9/2

Brent Venables 6/1

Luke Fickell 11/1

Dino Babers 12/1

Matt Campbell 12/1

Jason Candle 16/1

Scott Satterfield 16/1

I’m really surprised that Mike Norvell isn’t being mentioned for this job very much and that he’s not getting odds. Norvell got a new contract last year and that might be why people don’t expect him to leave. He’s a name that’s not listed here that could appear as time goes on. I’d also expect Chip Long to make an appearance as well as some other coordinators at power five schools.

The main thing that the odds and the lists from national writers who always keep in touch with agents shows is that Louisville will likely go after an “up and comer” if they don’t get Brohm. Neal Brown is essentially what Brohm was two years ago from a reputation standpoint. He has worked with highly regarded coaches and he has wins over LSU and Nebraska over the last two years. His team was also able to keep it within a touchdown against the Clemson team that ended up winning the national championship.

I think that Ryan Day might be off the table with Urban Meyer looking at another situation that he will have to answer questions about. Meyer might just be done with college football and Day provides an easy transition for OSU. Day and Luke Fickell also might have to answer some tough questions just by being linked to Meyer. I talked about why Brent Venables likely wouldn’t take the job in the candidate list post on Monday but he’s being mentioned a good amount. However, everything out of Clemson seems to say that he has passed up better jobs than Louisville over the past few years and I think that shows that he’s probably not going to change course anytime soon.

One thing that I haven’t seen from writers or other betting sites is retread coaches. Les Miles, Charlie Strong, and others haven’t been mentioned much. I don’t think that Vince Tyra wants to go that route after things didn’t work out with Bobby Petrino. I don’t think that many people know who is truly on Tyra’s shortlist but he pointed out in his press conference on Sunday that he keeps an eye out for up and comers and that includes coordinators.

As it stands right now, everyone seems to be playing for second place as Jeff Brohm is the obvious choice. If that changes, it’s obvious that there are other candidates available that would do great here.