UC leader ‘happy’ with Scott Satterfield, Bearcats football progress

The University of Cincinnati winning its sixth game of the season and reaching bowl eligibility last weekend didn’t seem like such a big deal.

After all, the 6-1 Bearcats are positioned for much bigger things this season, riding a six-game winning streak that has them contending for the Big 12 Conference championship and a playoff berth. But the win at Oklahoma State was a big milestone for coach Scott Satterfield.

It ensured he’s saved his job after a rough two seasons to start his tenure as UC’s coach.

That was a big takeaway from my 45-minute discussion with UC athletic director John Cunningham about the state of the UC football program in his office this week.

“I’m happy with our progress,” Cunningham said, adding that no one at UC is satisfied simply with bowl eligibility.

The goal “is to get to Dallas” for the Big 12 championship game and have a shot to make the playoffs, Cunningham said. That’d be a hell of an accomplishment for a team that was picked to finish 14th in the league – and had a coach fans were unhappy with ahead of the season.

Cunningham talked about why he remained patient with Satterfield, what he likes about the coach he hired before the 2023 season and the impact of UC’s neutral-site, season-opening game against Nebraska in Kansas City.

2025 make-or-break for Scott Satterfield?

The Bearcats finished 3-9 and 5-7 in Satterfield’s first two seasons. UC finished last season on a five-game losing streak.

All the momentum from the 2021 run to the College Football Playoff was gone from the program. It felt like the Bearcats had quickly become irrelevant, and a faction of the fan base – and perhaps some donors – saw this as a make-or-break season for Satterfield.

Is that how Cunningham viewed it?

When asked, Cunningham paused for five seconds and slightly adjusted how he was sitting, as if to carefully choose his words.

“I wouldn’t say it was make-or-break, but you want to keep taking steps forward,” Cunningham said. “And last year’s win total wasn’t enough. And the year before that certainly wasn’t enough. You have those open conversations and everybody understands the situation, right? You’ve got to go perform. It’s really important, because of our investment, that we go perform. That’s just how it goes.”

No ‘cracks’ behind-the-scenes in UC Bearcats football

Cunningham has a challenging job, trying to balance being patient amid the pressure of raising millions of NIL money in order to keep up with the big boys of college football.

His ongoing conversations with Satterfield and others in the football program, including the players, helped Cunningham to remain patient. It stood out to Cunningham that Satterfield was able to retain so many top players despite the mounting losses, pressures of the transfer portal and UC fans’ growing discontent with the coach.

Look around the country and most successful teams were able to retain a core group of players. Quarterback Brendan Sorsby, tight end Joe Royer, three-year captain Gavin Gerhardt, defensive lineman Dontay Corleone and a handful of other veteran guys all love playing for Satterfield. That impressed Cunningham in what he called a “constant evaluation.”

“Behind the scenes, I love what’s going on,” Cunningham said. “I really believe in the people. His staff really likes to work for him.”

Things Cunningham was hearing from the staff:

“This group really likes working together.”

“We really think that we found some key pieces in the transfer portal.”

“We love our freshman class, and they’re developing really well.”

Said Cunningham: “Then I look at the student-athlete experience. Do they really like being here? What do you hear from the transfers who come in? Is this a better program fit and why? All of those indicators were that this thing is really structured the right way.

“I’ve been around other programs. I’ve been in (college athletics) for 20 years. You can start to see cracks fairly early, and (UC) just didn’t have those. You had a real solid foundation.”

No excuses from Scott Satterfield

To be clear, Cunningham wasn’t going behind Satterfield’s back to talk to coaches, support staff and players. That’s not this AD’s style. Even in the good times of this season, Cunningham continues to have those conversations to see what he can do to help make the program better.

Most important, Cunningham has regularly talked with Satterfield throughout his tenure at UC. That doesn’t happen everywhere when things are going bad. Satterfield’s demeanor and how well he treated everyone in and around the program during the tough times made an impact on his boss.

“He’s unshakeable,” Cunningham said. “He’s really sneaky competitive. He doesn’t just jump out at you that way, but he is a competitive dude. I like when that side comes out when we’re having those conversations. … He was very consistent with who he was, what he was going to do and very thoughtful about how to get better.”

Cunningham added: “The other impressive thing from the get-go is the coaches around him that would run through a wall for him. That means a lot.”

Cunningham had a strong sense of fairness in evaluating Satterfield, who replaced Luke Fickell after he’d taken the program to heights no one else has. UC made the move to the Big 12 in Satterfield’s first season, and it required an adjustment period. The Bearcats didn’t have the roster to compete physically in a power conference in 2023. Satterfield also didn’t have an indoor practice facility to use until the $134 million Sheakley Center was finished in June.

“He never, ever used that as an excuse,” Cunningham said. “He never, ever suggested that he couldn’t operate with what he had. Now we finally have everything we need.”

Nebraska Cornhuskers game made $4.5 million, paying off on field, too

Cunningham took some heat for moving a home game to Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium. It didn’t help that it was a Bearcats’ 20-17 loss in front of a sold-out crowd that overwhemingly supported Nebraska.

The loss didn’t do Satterfield any favors in the eyes of UC fans, either. Sorsby threw a late interception on what could’ve been the game-tying or winning drive.

But UC hasn’t lost since.

Cunningham believes the game against a Big Ten opponent in a hostile environment may have turned out to help the Bearcats.

“That game has kind of proven itself to be something that we can call back to,” Cunningham said. “We’re at Kansas (Sept. 27), and we get the ball with two minutes left. You know, we’d been there. We’d done that. (UC scored a touchdown with 29 seconds left to win, 37-34.) Maybe that (Nebraska game) helped us in that situation. I think you can make the argument it made us tougher.”

The game certainly was an off-the-field win. UC made $4.5 million by playing the game, Cunningham said. By comparison, the athletic department clears $1.5 million off a sellout at Nippert Stadium.

“It was a huge for our program financially,” Cunningham said. “It was everything that we were hoping it would be financially.”

The game was originally slated to be played during the pandemic but had to be cancelled. This was a creative way to still play the marquee non-conference game while also helping to bring in more money as UC looks to fund its NIL account up to the $20.5 million cap. UC still ended up with seven home games at Nippert this season.

Don’t worry, UC fans. A neutral site game isn’t going to become a regular part of the Bearcats’ future schedules.

“It won’t be necessarily something that we do again,” Cunningham said. “But it made sense this year.”

Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com