Scott Satterfield: 'Throwing Egos Out The Window' In Building UC Staff

Cincinnati is locked in with its new regime as the calendar turned to 2023.

CINCINNATI — UC football head coach Scott Satterfield introduced his coaching staff on Tuesday amidst a bevy of January transfer commitments.

The group is largely set at the main position coaching spots and coordinators:

2023 Cincinnati Football On-Field Coaching Staff

Bryan Brown – Associate Head Coach / Defensive Coordinator

Tom Manning – Offensive Coordinator / Tight Ends

Kerry Coombs – Special Teams Coordinator / Secondary Coach

Nic Cardwell – Offensive Line

Greg Gasparato – Outside Linebackers

Derek Nicholson – Inside Linebackers

De’Rail Sims – Running Backs

Josh Stepp – Wide Receivers

Walt Stewart – Defensive Line

Pete Thomas – Quarterbacks

It's a strong mix of his old Lousiville crew, UC staples like Coombs/Stewart, and new voices with Big 12 experience like Manning.

Check out some of the best quotes from Satterfield as they get ready to open up the offseason program.

On His New Coordinators:

Coach Brown has been with me since 2012, which in this business is hard to accomplish. He’s had many opportunities over the years but fortunate for me, he has been able to stick with me. When we took over at Louisville, defensively, it was not very good, and you can look back at those stats, but when we finished up last year at Louisville, we led the country in sacks and were top 25 in many other categories. So, a tremendous job in the turnaround defensively there and an exciting brand of football, so pleased to have Coach Brown with us.

Tom Manning is a guy that I talked to early in the process. From the state of Ohio. He’s from Youngstown. A lot of pride in this state and really knows this state well. I first met him when he was a GA at Toledo in 2009. I am very impressed by him at that stage of his career, and it just has followed him throughout the years. We have kept in touch since then, and he has been at Iowa State, Indianapolis Colts, and of course Toledo. But he does a tremendous job and has run some of the best offenses in Iowa State history if you go back and look. Brock Purdy was a quarterback that they had and did a tremendous job and won a ton of games there. The fact that he has been in the Big 12 was another key ingredient that I thought we needed to get on staff. So, bringing him on board here is going to be an asset for us.

We were looking for somebody to bring some ideas that maybe we haven't been doing. He spent a year at the Indianapolis Colts. I think he learned a lot when he was in the NFL that year, particularly in concepts and throwing the football. I feel really good about our run game. We've been running the football as good as anybody in the country over the years. But for me, to bring in a guy who has a great understanding of concepts and how to get the ball to players. When he was at Iowa State, he did an unbelievable job with their tight ends. We've had great tight ends here historically. So, I think that'll be a big piece of what we're trying to do. On top of those two things, you mentioned about having experience in the Big 12 and recruiting in Ohio, it was really more concepts and things we can do with that throw game that'll help us.

On Play-Calling And Offensive Mentality:

Yeah, I plan on calling the plays, but I think some people make a big deal out of that more than they need to. My whole career, calling plays has been very collaborative. We're the offensive staff, and I want ownership by everybody in that room. Everybody has input on what we're doing offensively. You get ideas from everyone at the end of the day. We walk out of the room, knowing what we're doing. Throughout the game, we all talk. We sit there and talk about it, and then I’m just going to be the one who puts out the last play when we were actually running, but we all feel good about it.

The thing about the way I like to run a program is that you throw the egos out the window, and we're all in this thing together as a team, but particularly as an offense. The plays that we're going to run, everyone feels good about those plays. I'll call the plays, but Coach Manning will have strong input as well. Pete Thomas (Quarterbacks) and Nic Cardwell (Offensive Line) will all have a big input in that and hopefully, we'll put together a good product and score a lot of points.

On The Recruiting Staff And Recruiting Gameplan:

It is important to grow our recruiting department. We know how in this day and age with how the portal is working we got to recruit our team, high school players, and recruit the portal. So, it is very important to get people in here that are going to be able to do that. Zach Grant is our GM now and was at Ohio State this past year. Prior to that, Western Kentucky. If you look at his body of work, he is a great evaluator, and that is what we need, we must have that. He is very organized and has a great plan that we are going to put forward here in the recruiting department.

The people that he has brought with him, Jack Griffith was with the New York Jets last year who is also a smart guy and a great evaluator. Cass Simmons, another guy that he brought in from Ohio State. Caroline Tart was with us at Louisville. She was at Oklahoma three years prior as an on-campus recruiter. We are trying to grow the recruiting; you have to have as many people in that department as you can for these evaluations. A huge emphasis on the city of Cincinnati and within 300 miles for recruiting. We are going back on the road on Friday and blitzing the city. We are sending everybody out within 50 miles right here and hitting as many high schools as we can hit. It starts in our backyard.

On UC's Current Standing In The NIL Landscape:

It's a big piece. You have to be involved with it, but it does come down to money. Some schools have a lot more money than others. So, you have to try to get the best player that you can possibly get for however much NIL money you have. As you look at some schools like Ohio State, for example, a school not far from here, they probably have a lot more money to put out for NIL opportunities than we do. But it still comes down to relationships and philosophies. We have a lot of great things to sell here, outside of the NIL opportunities. You certainly have to have those opportunities or you're not getting those guys.

As you think about certain positions like quarterbacks, I've seen some numbers get thrown out there. I don't know if they're true or not. It's hard as well because as you’re going out, recruiting, and talking, you don't really know what to believe or what not to believe. You have your own philosophy, stick to it and hopefully get some great players in here. For me, in recruiting, there are guys that are coming out, who were not heavily recruited, but they were great players.

So much of it is asking, what's in there, what's inside of that? That is so hard to see. It's hard to evaluate. It's hard to really find. They've had some great players in Cincinnati over the years that have had the right stuff about them, but maybe got overlooked out of high school for whatever reason. So, for us, we have to continue to try to find those guys. I think that's going to be huge.

On More Players Getting Added From The Transfer Portal:

Yeah, we will potentially add two or three more in the next couple of days, and then I certainly think we will have some more at the end of the semester as well. Obviously, we have to look at the numbers and all that and kind of work with positions of need. We'll have a better idea, as coaches, throughout the spring as to knowing where we're at with it. As we go out and recruit the next couple of weeks, and as we head into the spring evaluation recruiting period, which by the way, will be high school players 2024-25.

But all the while knowing that this next window will come up, and we'll see what's in the portal when that happens. I anticipate guys going through spring practice throughout the country, seeing where they're at, and saying ‘Hey, I may want to try to go somewhere else.’ It’s going to be interesting to see how that happens. I know we've had maybe the most portal guys we've ever seen this past December, but it'll be interesting to see what happens. I don't think it'll be as many in May but there certainly will be some really good players.

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