College Football

Cincinnati spring storylines: Scott Satterfield guides Bearcats to Big 12

Published Apr. 14, 2023 9:24 a.m. ET

It’s a new era in Cincinnati. The Bearcats have a new head coach, are joining a new conference and have had lots of roster turnover since last year’s 9-4 season.

In November, Luke Fickell left Cincinnati after six seasons to become the head coach at Wisconsin. It was never a matter of if, but rather when Fickell would leave. After all, he was the program’s all-time winningest coach and led the Bearcats to the College Football Playoff in 2021 — the first Group of 5 team to crash the four-team field. Fickell was beloved, and fans were bummed when he left. He changed the culture, identity and expectations within the program and set it up for long-term success.

Cincinnati acted swiftly and replaced Fickell with a Power 5 coach in Louisville’s Scott Satterfield. And he surprised his Cardinals players with the news the day after it was announced that Louisville would, ironically, play Cincinnati in the Fenway Bowl.

As always happens when a coach leaves, there was staff and roster turnover. But Satterfield brings fresh ideas along with new offensive and defensive schemes to a team hoping to start its first season in the Big 12 strong.

With all of that in mind, here are a few storylines surrounding the Bearcats as they begin spring ball:

What will the Scott Satterfield era look like?

Satterfield knows this is going to be a challenge, but one that he’s ready for. He’s replacing a popular coach who took Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff just two years ago. He’s leading a Group of 5 team into the Big 12 — though he does have some experience with this after taking Appalachian State from FCS to FBS and promptly leading the Mountaineers to three straight conference championships and four bowl wins. And he’s implementing a new playbook the team will need to get used to quickly.

Because of Fickell’s accomplishments, expectations are higher at Cincinnati than they’ve arguably ever been. Satterfield will surely be granted a learning curve by the administration and fans, but there won’t be much time for that as the Bearcats take on a tougher conference in Satterfield’s first year. The good thing is he has experience coaching in a Power 5 conference while he was at Louisville for the past three seasons.

The 50-year-old Satterfield isn’t really considered an "up-and-coming" coach anymore, though that’s certainly what he was when Louisville hired him away from his alma mater App State in 2019. He won ACC Coach of the Year that first season, but finished his tenure 25-24, including 15-18 in the ACC and 0-3 against rival Kentucky. Over the past two decades, Cincinnati has (mostly) had an eye for coaching talent, hiring Mark Dantonio, Brian Kelly, Butch Jones and Fickell to lead the program. Tommy Tuberville was sandwiched between Jones and Fickell and went 29-22 from 2013 to 2016.

How Satterfield stacks up with those predecessors will be a storyline to follow, but he wouldn’t have taken this job if he didn’t think he could keep the Bearcats rolling as a disrupter in the sport with aspirations of making the CFP. Success will take time, as it often does for a new head coach.

Who starts at QB?

As if there wasn’t enough to navigate, Satterfield has a quarterback competition to sort through as Cincinnati opens spring practice with five scholarship QBs.

Last year’s starter, Ben Bryant, returns for his sixth year, though he is still recovering from a season-ending foot injury. In 2022, he completed more than 60% of his passes for 2,732 yards, 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Bryant started his career at Cincinnati but transferred to Eastern Michigan for the 2021 season, which was the year captain Desmond Ridder led the Bearcats to the American Athletic Conference championship and the CFP.

Bryant returned to UC in 2022, but the job is not automatically his for the taking in 2023. That’s because Cincinnati also has senior transfer Emory Jones, whom many believe will emerge as the front-runner for the job. He’s a dual-threat, veteran quarterback who has completed 404 of 631 pass attempts for 4,880 yards and 33 touchdowns over 45 career games at Florida and Arizona State.

The roster also includes Evan Prater, who came in for Bryant after he injured his foot in the season finale against Tulane and started for Cincinnati in the Fenway Bowl loss to Louisville. Redshirt sophomore Brady Lichtenberg and four-star freshman Brady Drogosh, who enrolled early, will also compete.

Depending on who wins the job — a decision that could certainly come during spring practice — expect one or two of these quarterbacks to transfer.

How will Cincinnati fare in the Big 12?

This season presents a unique scenario in which the Big 12 will have 14 teams before Texas and Oklahoma leave for the SEC in 2024. Cincinnati doesn’t have to play the Longhorns, but will face the Sooners on Sept. 23 at home.

With two longtime powerhouse programs leaving, this opens up the conference to everyone. TCU dominated last season and became the first Big 12 team to play for a national championship in the CFP era, but the Horned Frogs lost big-time playmakers from that team. Kansas State won the conference championship last year and Baylor won it in 2022. OU has won a record 14 Big 12 titles, and with the Sooners soon out of the way, there will be more opportunity for other teams to rise up and dominate.

Fickell turned the Bearcats into a nationally relevant program and raised the bar by setting higher expectations. Can the Bearcats command attention and respect from their new conference peers? Can Satterfield keep this thing going? Fans certainly hope so. How rapidly it all happens is the next question.

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.

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