Sep 28, 2024; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Scott Satterfield checks his notes in the second half during the game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images

Scott Satterfield Addresses Direction of UC Football Program Following Just Eight Wins in First Two Seasons

Originally posted on Cincinnati Bearcats on SI
By Russell Heltman | Last updated Nov 30, 2024 10:35 PM ET

Scott Satterfield just posted the worst two-year winning stretch for a Cincinnati football coach since 1998-99. The fanbase is justifiably wondering how things get better following a five-game losing streak to end the 2024 campaign.

The Bearcats head coach addressed those concerns on Saturday night.

"Well, because we're trending up and we're going in the right direction," Satterfield said when I asked about why fans should keep faith. "We played a lot of young players tonight. I look out on defense, Simeon (Coleman), Simeon's making tackles, Montay Weedon and (Jiquan) Sanks. These are all true freshmen that came in and had a huge impact on our team, and not only them, we played a bunch of freshmen across the board, those guys are gonna get better in the off season. We feel like we got a great nucleus of guys coming back that really competed at a high level this year in the Big 12. The big 12 as we all know, is extremely competitive conference. Everybody's got at least two losses in this league. Everybody's beating everybody up. And, you know, in order to win these games, you have to be very buttoned up, meaning, you know, the least amount of mistakes are going to win, the penalties, the turnovers the kicking game.

Cincinnati has a 2024 recruiting class outside the top 60 nationally on average, is losing multiple key pieces on offense compared to last season, and has a harder projected non-conference schedule in 2025.

Without a few home runs in the transfer portal, the path to six-plus wins looks eerily similar to this season and last. UC has done nothing to prove it's any more than a Big 12 bottom feeder.

"We're not that far off," Satterfiled conlcuded. "We'll get a few more pieces to the puzzle this offseason here in the next three to four weeks, because we all know Signing Day's Wednesday next week, and then the portal is going to open up, and it's going to be fast and crazy for about three weeks in December. And a lot of times, that effort right there, can make or break, how you're going to be next year, you're going to be very good or you're going to be average. And so we have already started on that we feel good about the next three weeks."