Scott Satterfield draws on App State, Louisville experience in Year Two at Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Bearcats achieved just three wins in their first season under head coach Scott Satterfield last year, their worst finish since 1999. But it’s well-known in the college football landscape that achieving success in the first season of a new coaching regime is not easy.

But this is not Satterfield’s first rodeo when it comes to inheriting a program, with Cincinnati representing the third stop of his head coaching career after spending time as the head man at Appalachian State and Louisville.

At Big 12 Media Days, Satterfield was asked about his previous head coaching experience, and if he’s drawing on any of those lessons learned ahead of his second season with the Bearcats as he looks to get the program back on track.

“I think you draw a lot on it, obviously everything that you do is experiences that you went through,” Satterfield said. “At Louisville we did the same thing, we took a two-win team and took them to eight wins in ACC. I do think it comes down to people.”

At App State, Satterfield’s alma mater, he helped shepherd the program from the FCS to the FBS seamlessly. Highlighted by three double-digit win seasons, three conference titles, and four bowl game appearances where the Mountaineers boasted an undefeated record.

Eight-win seasons for the Cardinals bookended his four years at the helm of Louisville, maintaining a winning tradition at each of his previous head coaching stops. Which Satterfield admitted he maybe leaned into a little bit too much in his first season with the Bearcats.

“And I made this mistake last year, we kind of just went status quo of this Cincinnati team because they had a lot of success in years previous. Hindsight, we shouldn’t have done that. So this offseason we kind of said listen, here’s how we’re doing it, we went down to square zero, and let’s now build this thing back up,” Satterfield explained. “So that’s kind of where we are right now.”

Instead of attempting to build on the previous success of head coach Luke Fickell, Satterfield is now focused on rebuilding. Bringing back all but one coach from last year’s staff and 47 new scholarship players in an offseason that he described as the most demanding he’s seen for a group of players.

“You win with people and we got the right people in the locker room and I think that’s the key in this game when it comes down to those final plays, and so we’re excited about this group,” Satterfield concluded.

Between new players and a new-look conference, it will be fascinating to see how the Bearcats’ season plays out in Cincinnati as Satterfield looks to bring the program back to its previous success and similar accomplishments he achieved at his preceding head coaching stops.