Scott Satterfield watching Cincinnati versus Louisville in Fenway Bowl: 'It was very weird'

Scott Satterfield watched the Fenway Bowl away from the stadium as Cincinnati took his former school Louisville. Satterfield left the Cardinals for the Bearcats and was asked about his feelings seeing his two affiliations square off.

“Well, I mean, it was very weird, quite honestly,” Satterfield said on ESPN. “I mean when I was on campus here in Cincinnati, we’re hosting players and recruits to try to get him to come play for us and I’m watching the team that we spent so much time with and invested in, I was proud of the players. And Luke (Fickell) was proud of the way (Cincinnati) went out and performed. Tremendous players, tremendous people. You know, I was really excited for them.”

The new Bearcats head coach also got a look at his new players, which was certainly a different sight this time around.

“At the same time I’m watching Cincinnati players really for the first time, you know, to try to get a gauge on the type of players that we’re going to have here though and figure out which ones are going to be coming back and helping us and which ones are moving on,” Satterfield said. “But for me, the last four years were invested in those players. I was proud of them the way they went out and played, they had fun. They played very hard just like they did for us all season long. And to finish up on a high note for them to win eight games, I was really proud of the team that we put together there.”

Satterfield just wrapped up his ninth year as a head football coach. He spent his first five with Appalachian State where he led the Mountaineers to a 47-16 record. That led him to earn the Louisville job in 2019 to replace Bobby Petrino.

However, things haven’t gone perfectly during his time with the Cardinals. On one hand, he had found success on the recruiting trail as he’d earned enough commitments in 2023 and 2024 to earn Top-20 class ranks for both per On3’s Consensus Team Rankings. Still, the product on the field was inconsistent with a 25-24 overall record. That stretch of time saw high rankings and bowl games but also reached five or more losses every season with Satterfield at the helm.

Cincinnati has high expectations after the goals Luke Fickell hit during his time in the program. That already leaves a very high bar for Satterfield to immediately try and meet. From there, the Bearcats are just months away from joining what will now be a very deep Big 12.

“You know, really difficult particularly with the situation that we had playing Louisville and Cincinnati,” Satterfield said. “I kind of was hands off and we came over I was really just trying to build out our staff. I met with the players individually as they came through our offices and tried to get around them and kind of talk to them about the kind of the vision and kind of what we’re going to be doing here.

“It’s interesting because they can watch the film of the team they’re getting ready to play, figure out the offense and defense and special teams side of it, you know, but I think more than anything, just for them to get a feel for me, how we’re going to run the program, how we do things, I think that was the thing that we’re trying to do.”