Louisville football announces additions and changes to defensive coaching staff
The University of Louisville and head coach Jeff Brohm have announced the addition of two defensive position coaches.
In late December, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that Defensive coordinator/play-caller and safeties coach Ron English will not return next season, as he informed the University that he wants to take a year off from coaching to support his son, Seth, during his senior season at Navy.
It was also confirmed that defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator Mark Hagen would not return as a part of next season’s coaching staff. Hagen’s contract expires at the end of January.
Jeff Brohm isn’t looking too far for replacements on the defensive staff.
After spending three years as a quality control coach at Louisville, Adam Mueller has been promoted to fill in for longtime Cards staffer Mark Ivey as the team’s next linebackers coach. Ivey will remain on staff with a different role. Mueller played football at UConn before graduating in 2014 and starting his career as a defensive line coach at Morehead State. He also served as a graduate assistant for both Boston College and Purdue.
To coach the defensive tackles, Brohm is bringing in another former staffer, Jontavius Morris. A former Western Kentucky defensive tackle, Morris had previously spent time on the Louisville and Purdue staffs as a recruiting and graduate assistant. He spent this past season coaching defensive ends at Louisiana-Monroe.
Ivey, who will now serve as co-defensive coordinator alongside defensive backs coach Steve Ellis, just finished his seventh season at Louisville, making him one of the longest tenured assistant coaches, and has been the linebackers coach for the previous three seasons under Brohm. However, he will return to coach the defensive line in the 2026 season.
Before joining the Louisville staff, Ivey spent seven seasons with Appalachian State, coaching the outside linebackers and the defensive line. Ivey was promoted to interim head coach following Scott Satterfield’s departure to Louisville, guiding the Mountaineers to a 45-13 win over Middle Tennessee in the 2018 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. Ivey then, as expected, joined Satterfield’s staff at the U of L.
Ellis was named the Cardinals’ cornerbacks coach entering the 2023 season after spending time at East Carolina, Middle Tennessee State, and USF. This past season, Ellis’ group was statistically one of the best in the ACC.
Louisville is set to open the 2026 season over Labor Day weekend against Ole Miss. The two will meet at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
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