High School Closes After Receiving Threat over College Football Coach's Decision
The Louisville community was eagerly anticipating that one of its own, Jeff Brohm, would return home and coach the university’s football team.
But Brohm decided to stay at Purdue, surprising and disappointing the Cardinals faithful.
One individual took things too far and made a terroristic threat against the coach’s former high school.
Trinity High School in St. Matthews, part of metropolitan Louisville, was forced to cancel classes Thursday after a threat was made against the school.
In a statement on Wednesday night, the school said it was notified of the threat by St. Matthews police. ESPN reported the threat was posted on Twitter.
St. Matthews police Chief Barry Wilkerson told ESPN that his department and the FBI were investigating the situation.
“We take these threats seriously, especially toward a school,” Wilkerson said. “We’re going to investigate as much as we can at this point. It’s difficult when you have Twitter accounts to trace back, so it’s a little more complex than pushing a button and figuring out who it is. We’ll investigate it fully and bring charges if necessary.”
Jason Riley of WDRB-TV reported Thursday that 29-year-old Thor Wiljanen of Louisville has been arrested in the case.
NEW: Police arrest Louisville man over ‘burn down Trinity’ Twitter post.
29-year-old Thor Wiljanen has been charged with felony terroristic threatening over an alleged threat related to Purdue football coach Jeff Brohm.https://t.co/yvPrwKFWTn— Jason Riley (@JasonRileyWDRB) November 29, 2018
In addition to Brohm attending Trinity High, where he won the Kentucky “Mr. Football” Award in 1988, his brothers Greg and Brian also graduated from there.
Their father, Oscar, is an assistant coach with the football team, and the Brohms have been called the “First Family of Louisville.”
Jeff Brohm is one of the greatest players in Louisville football history as a three-year starter at quarterback. He was named the team’s MVP during his junior and senior seasons and was inducted into the Louisville Ring of Honor in 2006.
While presumably just one person went as far as to make a threat against a high school, others expressed their disappointment over Brohm’s decision in other ways.
One fan posted a video on Twitter of him burning two Brohm Cardinals jerseys.
Some Louisville fans aren’t happy Jeff Brohm turned down their head coaching job
(via @UofLSheriff50)pic.twitter.com/vOlMZ4OKnS
— Bleacher Report CFB (@BR_CFB) November 29, 2018
Louisville will have to set its sights elsewhere in its search to replace Bobby Petrino, who was fired two weeks ago. In his second stint with the school, Petrino had won at least eight games each of the past four seasons before going 2-8 this year.
Brohm is in his second season with Purdue and is 6-6 this year after finishing 7-6 last season.
The Boilermakers’ season was highlighted by a dominating 49-20 victory over Ohio State in October when the Buckeyes were the No. 2 team in the country.
Purdue’s regular season is over, but it is expected to get a bowl bid. Sports Illustrated predicts the Boilermakers will face Pitt in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, while 247 Sports projects them going to the Quick Lane Bowl to take on Virginia Tech.
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