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Guys, I had a long conversation with Ty Spalding, the publisher of the Rivals site covering Louisville, CardinalSports.com. I honestly just said, "Tell me about Satterfield, from your experience." And I wrote down everything Spalding told me. He told me I could use his name, so I'm doing so, but keeping this on the board. Still, lot of perspective here on Satterfield that's pretty interesting:
"He’s an offensive minded guy. He’ll be the playcaller. The bread and butter, the staple is the stretch zone run, off tackle. He did it at App State, at Louisville and he’ll implement it from day one. It’s basically an off-tackle run. I’d describe it as outside zone, stretch. That’s what he’s going to do, implement and build offense around. At Louisville, in his first year, I don’t think many ACC teams knew how to expect or prepare and the offense gave everyone fits. He’s an offense-minded guy. But as time went on and years went by, he didn’t change anything, add any new wrinkles and tried to do the same thing from year one in two, three and four. The book was out and he started to run into pushback. That’s when his offensive numbers fell off.
Beyond that, I can tell you that the biggest gripe with people in Louisville is that he never really embraced the city. A lot of fans felt like it was a bad fit, from a cultural standpoint. They felt like he distanced from inner city, from the community and that was something fans couldn’t get over. He’s from North Carolina. You can hear it in his voice, he’s a rural guy. Everyone during his tenure thought the first job that came open close to North Carolina, he’d jump. When the South Carolina stuff happened, they interviewed Satterfield and had they chose him, he’d be gone. The sense around here was he wanted to get back to the Carolinas. From there, his tenure, there was just a divide with the fan base. Whenever they’d play a good game, there was something fans wouldn’t be happy with. He didn’t lose enough to make a change made, but he didn’t win enough to earn an extension and raise. When you throw in the divide, some of that has to do with how he approached the rivalry game with Kentucky. They got blown out three years.
To end the season, a lot of fans were like, we have this recruiting class. The general consensus was we have to extend him, but from what I’m told, he and the AD met and Satterfield and his agent wanted a $500,000 a year raise. (AD Josh) Heird said, we’re not gonna do that. At that point, Scott and his agent got the hint, got the message they needed a reset, go somewhere else to get his career back on track. I would imagine that’s when all this came about. From a Louisville fan perspective, you have two sides. You have one that when you lose a coach to a program you think you’re better than, you’re embarrassed. But some say this is best for both sides. He didn’t get fired, he landed on his feet in a good position. It’s also good for Louisville, since fans didn’t show up to games. Even when winning, a loud majority wanted a change made. Here, you have a clean break. I think most Louisville fans were happy today. They know the class is special, but they’re not gonna sacrifice long term success for the recruiting class.
I think he’ll bring quite a few assistants with him. Brian Brown is a DC who’s been with Satt for years. Mark Ivey has been with him for years. I’d expect both to go with him. His defense is a 3-4 base. He took over a defense that was one of the worst in country and now it’s a top defense. He’s a good mind and the players seem to really like him. I’m expect him to go with Satt. Typically, Satterfield is very hands off with defense and took more responsibility with the defense when Louisville started season slow. By and large the defense played well. Scott is very loyal to his assistants. A lot wanted of people wanted to fire Brown, but he’ll live and die with his guys.
As far as what players thought of him, I think players going from (Bobby) Petrino to Satterfield, they definitely likes Scott’s temperament. They like that he brought them around the coaches’ families, to houses for dinners, meals. It was a more inviting locker room compared to Petrino. The knock on Scott is he’s not really an alpha male personality. For a while, there was a sense that the strength coach ran the program and acted as a bad cop, so Scott could be quiet behind the scenes. This happens everywhere but there were players who transferred out that they didn’t wanna lose. The consensus is Scott just never really evolved the offensive playbook.
Most people here knew he was gonna look to get out. Most knew that he’d probably accept a lateral move. We just thought it would be in the Carolinas, like NC State, USC. I didn’t think he was a good fit here.
I really think he had no choice, because he wasn’t gonna get an extension, he wasn’t gonna get raise and he was going up against fan base that wasn’t supporting him. No new fans coming on board, something was just off."
Guys, I had a long conversation with Ty Spalding, the publisher of the Rivals site covering Louisville, CardinalSports.com. I honestly just said, "Tell me about Satterfield, from your experience." And I wrote down everything Spalding told me. He told me I could use his name, so I'm doing so, but keeping this on the board. Still, lot of perspective here on Satterfield that's pretty interesting:
"He’s an offensive minded guy. He’ll be the playcaller. The bread and butter, the staple is the stretch zone run, off tackle. He did it at App State, at Louisville and he’ll implement it from day one. It’s basically an off-tackle run. I’d describe it as outside zone, stretch. That’s what he’s going to do, implement and build offense around. At Louisville, in his first year, I don’t think many ACC teams knew how to expect or prepare and the offense gave everyone fits. He’s an offense-minded guy. But as time went on and years went by, he didn’t change anything, add any new wrinkles and tried to do the same thing from year one in two, three and four. The book was out and he started to run into pushback. That’s when his offensive numbers fell off.
Beyond that, I can tell you that the biggest gripe with people in Louisville is that he never really embraced the city. A lot of fans felt like it was a bad fit, from a cultural standpoint. They felt like he distanced from inner city, from the community and that was something fans couldn’t get over. He’s from North Carolina. You can hear it in his voice, he’s a rural guy. Everyone during his tenure thought the first job that came open close to North Carolina, he’d jump. When the South Carolina stuff happened, they interviewed Satterfield and had they chose him, he’d be gone. The sense around here was he wanted to get back to the Carolinas. From there, his tenure, there was just a divide with the fan base. Whenever they’d play a good game, there was something fans wouldn’t be happy with. He didn’t lose enough to make a change made, but he didn’t win enough to earn an extension and raise. When you throw in the divide, some of that has to do with how he approached the rivalry game with Kentucky. They got blown out three years.
To end the season, a lot of fans were like, we have this recruiting class. The general consensus was we have to extend him, but from what I’m told, he and the AD met and Satterfield and his agent wanted a $500,000 a year raise. (AD Josh) Heird said, we’re not gonna do that. At that point, Scott and his agent got the hint, got the message they needed a reset, go somewhere else to get his career back on track. I would imagine that’s when all this came about. From a Louisville fan perspective, you have two sides. You have one that when you lose a coach to a program you think you’re better than, you’re embarrassed. But some say this is best for both sides. He didn’t get fired, he landed on his feet in a good position. It’s also good for Louisville, since fans didn’t show up to games. Even when winning, a loud majority wanted a change made. Here, you have a clean break. I think most Louisville fans were happy today. They know the class is special, but they’re not gonna sacrifice long term success for the recruiting class.
I think he’ll bring quite a few assistants with him. Brian Brown is a DC who’s been with Satt for years. Mark Ivey has been with him for years. I’d expect both to go with him. His defense is a 3-4 base. He took over a defense that was one of the worst in country and now it’s a top defense. He’s a good mind and the players seem to really like him. I’m expect him to go with Satt. Typically, Satterfield is very hands off with defense and took more responsibility with the defense when Louisville started season slow. By and large the defense played well. Scott is very loyal to his assistants. A lot wanted of people wanted to fire Brown, but he’ll live and die with his guys.
As far as what players thought of him, I think players going from (Bobby) Petrino to Satterfield, they definitely likes Scott’s temperament. They like that he brought them around the coaches’ families, to houses for dinners, meals. It was a more inviting locker room compared to Petrino. The knock on Scott is he’s not really an alpha male personality. For a while, there was a sense that the strength coach ran the program and acted as a bad cop, so Scott could be quiet behind the scenes. This happens everywhere but there were players who transferred out that they didn’t wanna lose. The consensus is Scott just never really evolved the offensive playbook.
Most people here knew he was gonna look to get out. Most knew that he’d probably accept a lateral move. We just thought it would be in the Carolinas, like NC State, USC. I didn’t think he was a good fit here.
I really think he had no choice, because he wasn’t gonna get an extension, he wasn’t gonna get raise and he was going up against fan base that wasn’t supporting him. No new fans coming on board, something was just off."
