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Pete ThamelESPN
Louisville coach Scott Satterfield has been hired to become the next football coach at Cincinnati, the school announced Monday.
Terms of Satterfield’s contract were not announced but a source told ESPN that Satterfield received a six-year deal.
The hire is a compelling one regionally, as the schools are nearly 100 miles apart and at various times have been conference rivals. The schools also will play each other in the Fenway Bowl on Dec. 17.
The hiring of Satterfield is a statement for Cincinnati as it enters the Big 12 next year. Satterfield takes over for Luke Fickell, the best coach in school history. Fickell took Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff in 2021 and helped elevate the program to earn interest from the Big 12.
Satterfield drew the interest of the Cincinnati with the job he did building Louisville back up in the wake of the 2-10 season when Bobby Petrino was fired. Satterfield led Louisville to three bowls in the past four seasons and emerged as one of the country’s hot young coaches while at Appalachian State.
Satterfield went 25-24 at Louisville after a 47-16 run in five years at Appalachian State. One of the appeals of Satterfield’s background to the Cincinnati brass was that he led Appalachian State through its FCS transition to the FBS, with the first official year coming in 2014. They saw the skill set needed as transferrable.
With Louisville’s job open, the speculative favorite with be former Louisville star quarterback Jeff Brohm, who is the coach at Purdue and just led them to the Big Ten title game.