When Scott Satterfield was hired by AD Vince Tyra to become Louisville’s head football coach, a lot of fans were disappointed. They had cast their eyes north to a son of the city and alumnus of the university and program named Jeff Brohm. Brohm chose not to come home and instead remains in West Lafayette as the coach at Purdue.
While I’m sure Tyra lamented the fact he couldn’t land the prodigal son, he didn’t panic. Instead, he looked south and east, having cast his eyes upon Boone, NC and the successful head coach at Appalachian State, Scott Satterfield. He hired Satterfield when many Louisville fans were clamoring for someone else. Tyra’s decision was validated today when Scott Satterfield was named ACC Coach of the Year.
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๐: https://t.co/Wr4ccONgin#GoCards pic.twitter.com/VO1WBOLF2Q
— Louisville Football (@UofLFootball) December 5, 2019
Scott Satterfield is the #ACCFootball Coach of the Year!
He led @UofLFootball to a second place in the Atlantic Division after being picked to finish last in the preseason poll.
Read more ยป https://t.co/njNlMRuQ9i pic.twitter.com/4u9Mxu8zvZ
— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) December 5, 2019
Satterfield was not a sexy pick at the time. Yes, he had overseen the transition of App State from FCS to FBS and done so successfully. He made App State the class of the Sun Belt Conference and a team capable of hanging with power 5 schools in the so-called “cupcake” games. Satterfield wasn’t a blood-and-guts type of coach. He was more even keel and was all about positive reenforcement. It’s both a personality trait and a coaching technique he learned from a mentor in the coaching profession, Dabo Swinney.
Louisville fans were skeptical. Could this coach win at the power 5 level? Could he recruit at that level? Does his style translate to wins offensively? Can he hire a staff that can coach at the power 5?
Satterfield’s introductory presser helped win over some doubting fans, but some would not be won over by anything other than on-field success. Well, Coach Satterfield took a 2-10 team from 2018 and ended up making them winners. This team that had beaten only a 2-10 WKU team by a field goal and an FCS Indiana State team by a score of 31-7 the previous season, came out on opening night of the 2019 season and hung with a top 10 Notre Dame team. They then went on to win 7 games and will be going to a bowl. This in spite of being behind the 8-ball in recruiting for the 2019 class and losing numerous players to transfer including arguably the best defensive player in Jon Greenard.
The team was imbalanced and lacked depth along both lines and on the defensive side of the ball. Starting QB Jawon Pass was lost early in the season to injury. Backup QB Micale Cunningham battled a ton of injuries which forced true freshman QB Evan Conley to play significant minutes. Yet, Satterfield hired a brilliant staff. Guys like Dwayne Ledford, Frank Ponce, Gunter Brewer, Mark Ivey, Bryan Brown, Cort Dennison, and others took a team of guys who had been beaten down by last season and made them winners. Javian Hawkins rushed for well over 1000 yards, Tutu Atwell became one of the best playmaking receivers in the country, Mekhi Becton became one of the most feared linemen in the country, and the defense played much better despite the attrition and lack of depth. It was a massive culture change. One that Coach Satt had constantly mentioned trying to implement in the off season. It was the buzz word. We saw it has changed with the success of this season.
In conference, Louisville was even more abysmal than the 2-10 record from last season suggests. They did not win one ACC game and were only really competitive in 1 game against Florida State. To put this in perspective, Georgia Tech, a team transitioning from the triple option to a conventional offense, managed to win 2 ACC games this season. They are far worse personnel-wise than last year’s Louisville team and still managed 2 ACC wins.
Satterfield is ahead of schedule already. He got the players to buy in to the culture change and they will now go bowling. The staff has recruited a very good, top 30 class and are still putting the finishing touches on it. Coach Satterfield earned this honor today and already has the Louisville program back on track. Congrats to Coach Scott Satterfield on being named ACC Coach of the Year for 2019.
Check out a nice highlight package of this memorable season and his excellent coaching job below.
366 days later, what a ride it's been…
And we're just getting started!#GoCards pic.twitter.com/K4NctxzYDg
— Louisville Football (@UofLFootball) December 5, 2019
