The past—sometimes a gentle nudge, sometimes a brutal blow. Right now, the Cincinnati Bearcats might be still living on repeat telecasts of the 2024 season. They ended it with an overall record of 5 wins and 7 losses. So now who has to bear the blows? Obviously none other than their HC, Scott Satterfield.
After all, people are still not okay with the fact that the Bears appointed a 52-year-old coach. That’s because they had envisioned Satterfield in Louisville. So he had been in the hot seat since December 2022. However, the seat got hotter in the 2024 season.
Why did Scott Satterfield get an ‘F’ grade?
Two years ago, the Bearcats hired Louisville’s Scott Satterfield to be their 43rd head coach. Back then, the HC came off with a 7-5 record and helped Louisville earn a berth in the Fenway Bowl. Athletic director John Cunningham called Satterfield “a proven winner.” However, over the years, Satterfield fell prey to the burden of lofty expectations. Even though he has compiled a 79-57 record (.581) and dedicated 11 years to head coaching in different stops like the Bearcats, Louisville Cardinals, and Appalachian State Mountaineers, he failed to gain enough praise.
On The Next Round podcast, analysts Jim Dunaway, Lance Taylor, and Ryan Brown came together for a discussion. Talking about the Cincinnati HC, Taylor had let out a sigh of relief, asking a question, “What’s his record?” To which Dunaway replied, “8 and 16.” That’s when the comparative stance came into place. As the Bearcats joined the Big 12 in 2023, the expectations reigned high for Satterfield. But the HC failed to match up to the hype left by his predecessors.
“Maybe I’m judging them. No, I mean…Brian Kelly, Butch Jones, Tommy Tuberville was a seven or eight win guy at Cincinnati.” Things started to heat up in comparison with Luke Joseph Fickell, who coached between 2016 and 2022. He now coaches the Wisconsin Badgers, a program with high hopes after his 2021 College Football Playoff Semifinal run with the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Sadly, Satterfield did not anticipate that he would be responsible for Cincinnati’s worst season in 25 years, where they went 3-9 overall in their first year in the Big 12 Conference. That included a 1-8 record in Big 12 play. That’s why the analysts called it a “weird move” on their part to hire Satterfield, and it landed the HC an “F” grade. But what was the reason behind the HC opting to move out of Louisville?
The mystery behind Scott Satterfield’s Bearcats move
When Satterfield opted for Cincinnati, it left the college football world scratching their heads. After all, he had no local connection to the place. Being a North Carolina native, he coached for many years at Appalachian State. However, his only tie to Ohio was a year on Toledo’s coaching staff. But what made Satterfield take that leap of faith?
Maybe he thought of resetting his career clock. Back in Louisville, he was not quite in a safe place. Already there were a lot of things on his late-to-midseason win streak. After that, there would be higher expectations from him, putting Satterfield under pressure to show progress in 2023. He might have felt that coaching the Bearcats would be still manageable. Sadly, that too turned out to be a flop.
However, Scott Satterfield is taking baby steps towards whitewashing his image. And what better way to gain back the lost trust than some big recruitment wins? The UC head coach is happy about the 15 additions and feels they addressed some clear needs. He has mainly focused on running back and wide receiver.
Right now, the Bearcats added eight players on offense, six on defense, and a new kicker in Stephen Rusnak. However, their biggest haul came on the offensive perimeter, as Brendan Sorsby helped reel in some receiving talents. Maybe from this season, Satterfield can make the program proud.
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