OFFENSIVE COACHING STAFF

Brian Brohm
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks

Brian Brohm is in his sixth season as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He was hired Jan. 2, 2017.

Purdue’s passing offense broke several school records during a historic 2021 campaign that featured a 9-4 record, two Top 5 victories and a win in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl. With Brohm as co-offensive coordinator and coaching the Boilermaker quarterbacks, Purdue threw for 4,620 yards to eclipse the old school record of 4,208 set during the 1998 season. That amounted to 355.4 passing yards per game, another program best that surpassed the 1985 mark of 341.6 yards per game. Nationally, Purdue’s passing offense ranked fifth in the country.

Brohm’s 2021 offense also set school records for completions (407), completion percentage (.708) and passing first downs (221). Emerging from a stiff competition that lasted four games into the season, Aidan O’Connell took the starting reigns and turned into a record-setting quarterback. He completed 71.8 percent of his own passes to set a new individual school record, while throwing for 3,712 yards and 28 touchdowns. The Second Team All-Big Ten QB produced six 300-yards games through the air, including a pair of 500-yard games to become the first Purdue quarterback to throw for 500 yards multiple times in the same season. O’Connell racked up a career-high 536 passing yards in the Boilermakers’ win over No. 3 Michigan State before ending his season with 534 yards in the Music City Bowl victory over Tennessee.

In 2020, O'Connell and Jack Plummer teamed up to complete 176 of 260 passing attempts (67.7 percent) for 1,854 yards and 15 touchdowns against only four interceptions in six games. The Boilermakers averaged a Big Ten-best 309.0 yards passing per game.

A myriad of injuries saw Brohm start three different quarterbacks in 2019, a task he proved ready to handle. Starter Elijah Sindelar led the nation in passing yards through the first two weeks of the season, throwing for 922 yards and nine touchdowns against Nevada and Vanderbilt. Sindelar missed the third game of the season with an injury and went down for the year in the first quarter of the fourth game of the year. Backup Jack Plummer took over and started the next five games. Plummer completed 144 of 241 passing attempts for 1,603 yards and 11 touchdowns on the year. After Plummer went down with an ankle injury against Nebraska, walkon Aidan O'Connell took over under center for the Boilermakers. Starting his first collegiate game at Northwestern, O'Connell passed for 271 yards and threw a pair of touchdowns, leading the Boilermakers to a come-from-behind victory over the Wildcats. Sindelar (423, 509), Plummer (420) and O'Connell (408) all threw for over 400 yards in a game in 2019. 

In 2018, Brohm mentored David Blough to his finest season as the Purdue signal-caller. Blough completed 305 of 462 passing attempts for 3,705 yards with 25 touchdowns. His .660 completion percentage was the best in a season in school history, while his passing yards and touchdown totals ranked fifth. Brohm helped guide the Boilermakers to an average of 443.9 total yards per game, the sixth-highest in school history.

Brohm, part of a two-quarterback system himself in college, coached Blough and Sindelar to a combined 3,202 passing yards and 27 touchdowns in his first season at Purdue. The Boilermaker signal-callers completed nearly 60 percent of their passes while cutting their interceptions from 25 in 2016 to merely 11 in 2017.

Brohm came to Purdue from Western Kentucky, where he served as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the 2016 season. He helped guide a Hilltopper offense that averaged 45.5 points, 336.8 passing yards and 523.1 total yards per game. Western Kentucky won its final eight games, including a 58-44 victory over Louisiana Tech in the Conference USA Championship Game and a 51-31 win over Memphis in the Boca Raton Bowl, to finish 11-3 overall.

Prior to joining the Western Kentucky staff, Brohm played professionally for eight seasons with the Green Bay Packers (2008-09) and Buffalo Bills (2009-10) in the National Football League, the Las Vegas Locomotives (2011-12) in the United Football League, and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2013) and Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2014-15) in the Canadian Football League. He was a second-round pick (No. 56 overall) by the Packers in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Brohm played collegiately at Louisville from 2004 to 2007, and he still ranks among the Cardinals’ career leaders in passing attempts (second, 1,185), passing yards (second, 10,775), passing efficiency (second, 157.92), completions (third, 780), completion percentage (third, .658), total offense (third, 10,819) and touchdown passes (fourth, 71) through the 2018 season.

Brohm guided the 2006 Cardinals to a 12-1 record, including a 31-14 victory over Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl, and a No. 6 national ranking in the Associated Press final poll. He was named the Orange Bowl Most Valuable Player after completing 24 of 34 passes for 311 yards against the Demon Deacons. His 30 touchdown passes in 2007 are tied for second in school history with 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson. Brohm set school records with 45 completions and 65 passing attempts against Syracuse on Sept. 22, 2007, while his 555 passing yards against the Orangemen rank second all-time.

Brohm led Louisville Trinity High School to three Kentucky Class 4A state championships (2001, 2002 and 2003) and was named MVP of all three title games, including a 555-yard, seven-touchdown performance in the 2002 contest. In 2003, he was named Kentucky’s Mr. Football, USA Today’s Offensive Player of the Year and Gatorade Player of the Year.

Brohm (born Sept. 23, 1985) graduated from Louisville in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He and his wife, Ashley, have a son, Weston, and a daughter, Stella.

Garrick McGee
Wide Receivers

Garrick McGee is in his first season as Purdue's wide receivers coach.

McGee, a former head coach and offensive coordinator returned to the sidelines in 2021 to coach the Florida quarterbacks after serving as an analyst for the Gators in 2020. Making the move to coach the wideouts at Purdue, McGee’s previous stops include six years as a wide receivers coach, most recently in 2019 as Missouri’s wide receivers coach. The longtime offensive coach has developed wide receivers and engineered some of the top offenses in the country.

McGee joined the Mizzou staff prior to the 2018 season as senior offensive analyst. In that role, McGee aided Mizzou's potent offensive attack with advance scouting of opposing defenses, where he helped break down video and provided initial direction for the coaches to design game plans and strategies. His work helped the Tiger offense develop into one of the nation’s top units, as Mizzou finished the 2018 ranked 13^th nationally (third in the SEC) in total offense (481.8 yards per game) and 18th nationally (third in the SEC) in scoring (36.6 points per game). Prior to Mizzou’s bowl game, McGee was named interim position coach for the Tiger tight ends, and senior TE Kendall Blanton had a productive day, catching a career-high four passes for 35 yards and a touchdown.

McGee came to Mizzou with a wealth of experience at all levels of the game, as he previously had stops as a college head coach, as well as an offensive coordinator at four different Power Five schools. He joined Mizzou after spending the 2016-17 seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Illinois. The Tulsa, Oklahoma, native previously served as an offensive coordinator for Northwestern, Arkansas and Louisville, and was the head coach at UAB for two years (2012-13). He also spent two years in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he was a quality control assistant under Tom Coughlin from 2000-01.

McGee’s Louisville offense averaged 28.7 points per game and 416.1 yards per game in 2015, a year after the Cardinals scored 30+ points eight times and passed for 3,276 yards with McGee as offensive coordinator. McGee oversaw the development of future Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, as he went on to have one of the top rookie seasons in the country in 2015. He joined Bobby Petrino’s staff at Louisville after spending two seasons at UAB and four at Arkansas, where he also worked under Petrino.

McGee helped Arkansas to final rankings of No. 12 in 2010 and No. 5 in 2011 during his two years as offensive coordinator for the Razorbacks. A year after leading Arkansas to a 10-3 record and the school’s first BCS appearance in program history in 2010, McGee turned the Razorbacks into one of the most efficient offenses in the country in 2011. Arkansas led the Southeastern Conference in total offense and ranked No. 29 nationally at 438.1 yards per game, while scoring 40+ points on six occasions. The Razorbacks finished the year with a 29-16 win over No. 11 Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl, before having three offensive players selected in the NFL Draft.

McGee was influential in the development of quarterback Ryan Mallet at Arkansas. The former Michigan transfer broke 45 school records and was just the third SEC quarterback to surpass 3,500 yards passing in consecutive seasons.

Before departing Arkansas for the UAB head job, McGee was a finalist for the 2011 Broyles Award, presented to the nation’s top assistant coach.

Prior to his time at Arkansas, McGee spent four seasons (2004-07) at Northwestern, including the final two as offensive coordinator. Using the spread offense, McGee’s 2007 offense led the Big Ten and was No. 11 in the nation in passing (307.9 yards per game), while leading the Big Ten and ranking No. 31 in total offense (427.7 yards per game). 

Before his promotion to offensive coordinator at Northwester, McGee was the Wildcats’ wide receivers coach for two seasons. He arrived in Evanston after on season in Las Vegas coaching the UNLV wide receivers. McGee also coached wideouts in stops at Toledo (2002) and Northern Iowa (1999).

McGee attended Booker T. Washington High in Tulsa and played for his father, the late Larry McGee. He played at Arizona State in 1991 and 1992 and went to Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in 1993 before transferring to Oklahoma.

McGee earned a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma in 1996, where he played two seasons and ended his career fourth on OU’s career passing yards list (2,449 yards). He was voted the Big Eight Newcomer of the Year by the league’s coaches in 1994.

McGee and his wife Tiffany, have two sons, Cameron and Grant.