Elephant in the Room (This isn't Going Well At all)

[MDW79]

I'm sorry but this coach and his staff continues to disappoint at almost every single turn. I'm honestly not trying to sound hyerprbolic when I say that this may even putting it mildly. A downright disaster seems more appropriate of a description.

Can anyone tell me one single thing this staff does well? High School Recruiting? Transfer portal? X's and O's? Team culture? Building excitement for the program? Where are they meeting expectations? Cuz I can't think of any examples. I can't even think of one single thing that I'd even give them a "C" or above.

The excitement around the name of the hire was about as low as possible, but that in of itself is not the end of the world. But then couple that with that the fact coaches personality also generates little to no enthusiasm. For a program like UC, who had been building and building up their program, who still has to compete for eyeballs with the Bengals, Reds, FC Cincinnati and other regional schools this is problematic IMHO.

I believe what you've seen slowly transpire is the destruction of so much of what Luke had built up, and had built upon the work of many others (RM, MD, BK, BJ). There is next to zero excitement for UC football around the city. Outside of diehards I hear almost no one talking about it. Heck, even going into last year, with a brand new coach and a brand new (Power 5) league, the Bearcat conversation around the proverbial water cooler seemed pretty minimal, if not completely non-existent .

I understand you're replacing a big name, and that there's turnover and new faces, but I'm sorry there should have been way more buzz surrounding the team. New coaches and new leagues should have a built-in level of excitement but that didn't seem to translate here. IMO it was seemingly squashed by an absolute dumpster fire of a hire.

Anyone remember when it was announced Scott Satterfield's staff budget was like 7.5 million dollars, at the time on par with schools like Clemson and Nebraska, and in the top 15 of all teams? Does it look like to you guys that Scott Satterfield has built an elite staff? I mean he's had 2 offseasons to put all that money to use. Fwiw, last year they only used, I believe, 4.2 million. Why aren't they using their full allotment?

How do you guys feeling about the new "GM" we brought in? Does it seem like he's getting good bang for his buck? Has he elevated recruiting? Do you think he's attracting the talent needed to be a top program?

We had an OC immediately bolt for an assistant NFL job. Our DC, who was also the AHC, just left to become the CO-DC and Safties coach at Ol' Miss. We've has numerous other departues. Is this not a little concerning? Supposedly we have plenty of money, and yet a DC who spent is entire paid career with Satterfield takes a job with a lower title. And who does Coach bring in to replace him? The LB coach from Iowa State? You serious, Clark? Something isn't right.

I can't even remember the last time I saw a recruit attatched to us, even if just on a visiit, that is top 300. It's like this staff won't even attempt at signing a 90 rating recruit or above. And if you look at many of the offer lists it only looks worse. We're beating out the likes of Buffalo, Ohio U, Bowling Gree, East Carolina, Boston College. If you look at many of our average composite ratings they're trailing the likes of Vandy, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Maryland, and BYU. They're on par with the likes of USF, Tulsa, Cal and Houston.

I think we all know we BADLY needed WR help this year, right? So who did this staff go out and get in the portal? A former walk-on from Florida Atlantic who had 400 yards and 4 TD's last year. Seriously, that's maybe who they're highest on. With Power 5 money, about 200 million in facility upgrades, and what's supposed to be middle of the road NIL for the BIg 12, this is who we are capable of getting, even with immediate PT available. I'd also iike to note we just inked a DT from Southeast Mississipi St. who had 3 solo tackles last year with zeros across the board for sacks, fumbles, INT's, etc. This is where we're at.


I'm going to wrap it up shortly here, I promise. And I apologize for those that may be offended by this, or deem unecessary or overly harsh. I really am only trying to put to words what I feel like so many are thinking... This is bad guys, real bad. This coach stinks and his staff stinks.

I think apathy has started to set in for many and I certainly wouldn't look for the results on the field help change that. I honestly believe Scott Satterfield is just about the worst hire they could have possibly made. It's a failure on almost every level. It was doomed from the start. He's not a good coach, he's not a good recruiting, and personality wise he not at all a fit. Cunningham and/or whatever boosters pushed for this have killed any and all momentum from the college football playoff. While we should be improving in many areas, due to increased spending and increased exposure, we have somehow manage to regress. There's a lot of blame to go around and many should feel absolutely embarrassed. What's been done to ths program is almost unbelievable. And I REALLY, REALLY hope they're already planning on how theyre going to approach the next hire this upcoming offseason.

/rantover

[JohnFrancis]

I'd like to throw in my outsider's perspective... One year is way too quick to call for SS to be fired. But I also don't think SS was a good hire before moving into a bigger and better league. With that being said, Cincy has planted roots to grow and find success over the last few years (new renovations, staff changes, new players from the portal). The key to success in this league is staff and player continuity. The biggest thing is Cincy needs to find a good staff (whether this staff or not), keep that staff together, and stack some good recruiting and transfer classes together. The off-the-field upgrades are already in place.

My prediction for this year is a 6-6 ceiling and 3-9 floor. I don't think SS is capable of winning anything more than a very low level P4 bowl game. But I just don't like coaches being fired or questioned after one year. Let the man get some recruiting and transfer classes together before calling for his head.

As a Texas Tech fan, I have to remind myself of all this. I was furious with the pre-season hype last year vs our results. I did not expect us to be fighting for a bowl game all season. However, HC Joey McGuire was working with former HC Mat Wells pitiful recruiting classes. Tech also had to play their true freshman QB3 for 2 games. On top of that, Tech's QB2 had a grade 3 AC sprain on his throwing shoulder and wouldn't take reps at practice, his first reps would be during the game. It's hard to find success when you don't have healthy QBs and you lack talent from years of bad recruiting. But now Coach McGuire is in his 3rd season. His back-to-back-to-back top 25 recruiting classes will be taking the field, he's upgraded the o-line to keep our QB healthy, and he's revamped the WR/TE rooms. Year 3 for a coach is always the telling year. I think this will be the case for Cincy. Give SS 3 years to have continuity and to get his players on the field. There is nobody on Cincy's staff or roster from that playoff run, if I'm not mistaken. This is a complete rebuild for coach SS. He needs time even to implement his style of play, recruiting, and coaching.

Three (3) years is MORE than enough time to turn around a program if you're the right person. Curt Cignetti's first year at JMU was a 7 game improvement over the previous year, and JMU took off from there and Cignetti parlayed that success into the HC job at IU; Josh Heupel inheirited a 3-7 squad and the roster was a mess with many defections - what did he do? He installed his QB/WR friendly offense, hit the transfer portal, and went 7-6, 11-2, and 9 -4 in the tough SEC. Everyone likes to slam Coach Prime, but I think his first year at Colorado was a success, Buffs were 1-11 before he arrived; Coach Prime went 4-8 but I think 5 or 6 of those losses were 1 score games and he had a rash of injuries. One year is not enough time to build depth in the OL and that cost him as well as the injury bug, espeicially when he lost his best player to a lacerated liver. Now it did take Jonathan Smith three full years to turn around the fortunes of Oregon State football (he's now HC at Michigan State). So with this small sample, I would think we can withold judgement on Coach Satt for awhile but we had better see improvement this year.

[WesternCactus]

I'd like to throw in my outsider's perspective... One year is way too quick to call for SS to be fired. But I also don't think SS was a good hire before moving into a bigger and better league. With that being said, Cincy has planted roots to grow and find success over the last few years (new renovations, staff changes, new players from the portal). The key to success in this league is staff and player continuity. The biggest thing is Cincy needs to find a good staff (whether this staff or not), keep that staff together, and stack some good recruiting and transfer classes together. The off-the-field upgrades are already in place.

My prediction for this year is a 6-6 ceiling and 3-9 floor. I don't think SS is capable of winning anything more than a very low level P4 bowl game. But I just don't like coaches being fired or questioned after one year. Let the man get some recruiting and transfer classes together before calling for his head.

As a Texas Tech fan, I have to remind myself of all this. I was furious with the pre-season hype last year vs our results. I did not expect us to be fighting for a bowl game all season. However, HC Joey McGuire was working with former HC Mat Wells pitiful recruiting classes. Tech also had to play their true freshman QB3 for 2 games. On top of that, Tech's QB2 had a grade 3 AC sprain on his throwing shoulder and wouldn't take reps at practice, his first reps would be during the game. It's hard to find success when you don't have healthy QBs and you lack talent from years of bad recruiting. But now Coach McGuire is in his 3rd season. His back-to-back-to-back top 25 recruiting classes will be taking the field, he's upgraded the o-line to keep our QB healthy, and he's revamped the WR/TE rooms. Year 3 for a coach is always the telling year. I think this will be the case for Cincy. Give SS 3 years to have continuity and to get his players on the field. There is nobody on Cincy's staff or roster from that playoff run, if I'm not mistaken. This is a complete rebuild for coach SS. He needs time even to implement his style of play, recruiting, and coaching.

[Bearcat93]

Not trying to make this a Wes / basketball thread, but this past season to me wasn’t satisfactory development. It was a rinse/repeat of year 2. If Wes doesn’t get us to the tournament and earn some marquee quad 1 wins across the season, he should be terminated.

[Carthage World]

Wes Miller had a disappointing first season but has since made "satisfactory" progress in Years 2 & 3.

Satisfactory progress for Satterfield in Year 2 probably means going at least 6-6 and making a bowl game.

If he can't do that, then I expect a pretty significant uproar.

[bfcain1]

Whatever else might be said about the negative posts on this thread, you can't say you didn't give the new coach a fair shot !

[Bearcat93]

Capitalism stealing competition, what a shame. I hope the limited positive performance sample of Sorsby takes hold, it’s certainly possible.

[Lobot]

For what's it's worth, there was a lot of concern about Wes's ability in the x's and o's department right up through the final game this season. His quad 1 performance record is dreadful. What ultimately makes/breaks coaches is having (or not having) a stud QB or PG. Zac Taylor's a perfect example - his track record w/o a dude named Burrow is simply awful, whether at UC, Miami FL or any other OC role.

Satterville has again appointed a starter prior to camp and converted two 4* QB prospects to other positions. I see SI just rated Sorsby 14 of 16 in B12 2024 QB rating. Personally, I don't have much faith that Sorsby's the answer at QB in part due to his performance but in greater part, Satt's inability to grow QB's. I fully expect a 3-4 win season but am looking forward to going out to Boulder!

The starting QB thing is really simple. We paid a lot of NIL money to bring Sorsby here just like we did with Jones last year. Sorsby was always going to start. Unlike with Jones who was a one year deal, Sorsby has three years left. Even if we have another terrible season like last year, I would bet that Sorbsy will continue to start throughout the season barring injury.

[leo from jersey]

For what's it's worth, there was a lot of concern about Wes's ability in the x's and o's department right up through the final game this season. His quad 1 performance record is dreadful. What ultimately makes/breaks coaches is having (or not having) a stud QB or PG. Zac Taylor's a perfect example - his track record w/o a dude named Burrow is simply awful, whether at UC, Miami FL or any other OC role.

Satterville has again appointed a starter prior to camp and converted two 4* QB prospects to other positions. I see SI just rated Sorsby 14 of 16 in B12 2024 QB rating. Personally, I don't have much faith that Sorsby's the answer at QB in part due to his performance but in greater part, Satt's inability to grow QB's. I fully expect a 3-4 win season but am looking forward to going out to Boulder!

WHAT a stud PG is needed. Why yes he is.

[Bearcat93]

We have had this coach (CSS)for one season, I recall others calling for Wes Millers head after his first season, can’t coach, has wrong lineup etc. where are those comments now??? Last year football season was a big disappointment, particularly having to watch Emory Jones, but we were competitive enough to have won 4 more games. Let the season play out, and if Satt falls on the sword you are all welcome to pile on. I for one am encouraged by our new players from the portal
along with those guys coming back. The Big 12 is a Big Boy league and we’ll see how we stack up after a roster refresh. In the mean time, go to the beach and enjoy your summer

For what's it's worth, there was a lot of concern about Wes's ability in the x's and o's department right up through the final game this season. His quad 1 performance record is dreadful. What ultimately makes/breaks coaches is having (or not having) a stud QB or PG. Zac Taylor's a perfect example - his track record w/o a dude named Burrow is simply awful, whether at UC, Miami FL or any other OC role.

Satterville has again appointed a starter prior to camp and converted two 4* QB prospects to other positions. I see SI just rated Sorsby 14 of 16 in B12 2024 QB rating. Personally, I don't have much faith that Sorsby's the answer at QB in part due to his performance but in greater part, Satt's inability to grow QB's. I fully expect a 3-4 win season but am looking forward to going out to Boulder!

[D.A.H.]

other than at least one (important) person or two at the school, I don't think CSS was anyone's first, or second, choice. But, any coaching change brings turnover, esp. with no transfer restrictions and nil. you also have a break in continuity. 2023 stunk, but i think we have to go into this year hoping / expecting things to be better. QB can't be any worse than last year - fwiw, OL is intact - RBs should be improved, and it looks like they tried to upgrade the WR /TE rooms. gotta give CSS and the gang at least this year.

[True Bearcat]

When CSS was hired a lot of people including myself thought it was a lame duck hire when there seemed to be more valuable candidates. I was hoping for an up and comer like Jamey Chadwell to be hired. Although Fickell left the team with a lot of holes to fill we cannot afford to be bottom of the conference dwellers for long. Cincinnati fans have zero appetite for rebuilding, and will stop coming to games.

[bearcatbret]

For those of you who have questions or complaints about the direction of the program, here is a schedule where you can ask the coach. Cincinnati Football's ‘Ball and Brew’ Tour Begins Thursday - University of Cincinnati Athletics (gobearcats.com)

[leo from jersey]

The O-line returns all five starters from last season. That line allowed the team to rush for a whole lot of yards. I am not concerned with it. I’m concerned about the DB/CBs who were constantly torched last year and the WRs who could never separate from their defenders.

Good points, but I thought the RBs made a lot of those yards on their own. My hope is that the new wrs can get open and we share the same fear of the DBs. Maybe a big change was needed.

[London 'Cat]

Well I guess we will see. I like the RBs and the speedy wr. I am concerned with the o-line. The defense is led by one of the best , but can the rest of the team hold on. I am not enthused about the coaching, but winning changes that.

The O-line returns all five starters from last season. That line allowed the team to rush for a whole lot of yards. I am not concerned with it. I’m concerned about the DB/CBs who were constantly torched last year and the WRs who could never separate from their defenders.