This is a career inflection point, if there ever was one, for Coach Scott Satterfield.
The most direct comparison is to look at Ron Cooper's and Steve Kragthorpe's records, and juxtapose them with Satterfield's at roughly the same point in time.
RON COOPER
Cooper followed UofL legend Howard Schnellenberger, who had put in a 6-5 final year at Louisville (playing Kentucky, Texas, Arizona State, Pitt, NC State, Boston College, Texas A&M, Army and Navy in his final UofL season), and had a pretty well loaded roster set up for him. Cooper bombed right out of the gate. He had been head coach at Eastern Michigan for 2 seasons prior to coming to Louisville. He was a losing coach at Eastern Michigan. He was very young (33 years old). It showed. He faced the likes of Kentucky (3x), Michigan State (2x), North Carolina (2x), Maryland, Penn State (2x), Baylor, Utah, Illinois, Oklahoma in his 3 seasons, as well as several other pretty good teams. He went 1-11 in his last season and was fired by new AD Tom Jurich, and a man named John L. Smith was brought in.
Cooper went on to coach at Alabama A & M for 4 seasons. His record was 23-22 there in 4 seasons.
Cooper through this exact point in his 3rd Louisville season (IOW, one game had been played) had a total UofL record of 12-11. He went on to win only one more game. Against Illinois who would go winless. His final UofL record was 13-20.
STEVE KRAGTHORPE
Kragthorpe had both the good and bad fortune to follow Bobby Petrino (Petrino 1.0), who had gone 41-9 in his 4 UofL seasons, and had simply departed to the Atlanta Falcons in the 'middle of the night', so to speak. Petrino had been set up to go at least one more decent season before poor attention to recruiting would have finally caught up with him. Most expected Kragthorpe to cruise to a 9-3 first season, at minimum. The expectations at Louisville for Kragthorpe were high. Jurich, not to be shown up, had rolodexed his buddy Steve from Tulsa in a nanosecond, to demonstrate he was on top of things and knew exactly what UofL football needed at the time. Kragthorpe was going to change the culture.
Kragthorpe bombed. It was his last head coaching job. He finished with a lifetime head coaching record of 44-43, combined, from Tulsa and Louisville.
Kragthorpe through the same point (that is, just one game had been played in his 3rd season), had a total UofL record of 12-13. Compared to Cooper, Kragthorpe played a lightweight schedule. He went on to win only 3 more games (Southern Miss, Arkansas State, Syracuse). His final UofL record was 15-21. He was fired by Jurich. Charlie Strong was brought in.
SCOTT SATTERFIELD
Satterfield was the second choice (after Jeff Brohm) of new AD Vince Tyra (who had replaced Tom Jurich after a palace coup). He was a hot Appalachian State coach who had amassed a 51-24 record there. He had very good head coaching credentials. He came after Bobby Petrino 2.0, who had bombed, himself, and had given up on his team and on the University and Athletics leadership. Petrino had walked out on fans, team and didn't want to work for AD Vince Tyra. So Petrino just gave up and took his $14M). Petrino left some pretty good player strength at "skill" positions. Satterfield shocked the college football world in going 8-5 in his first season, using the same guys Petrino had, reversing the 2-10 Petrino Meltdown season. Satterfield was named ACC coach of the year for his team's 2019 turnaround. After that, a new harsh reality has set in. His record is 4-8 after the 2019 season.
Satterfield sits at the most critical juncture of his career. He is 48 years of age. He is 63-37 lifetime as a head coach.
Satterfield sits at 12-13 here at Louisville. And he has played a pretty tough schedule.
It's inflection time. The other two coaches fizzled. Badly. They went a combined 4-17 in their remaining 3rd seasons.
Come On, Scott! Show us what you got!
The most direct comparison is to look at Ron Cooper's and Steve Kragthorpe's records, and juxtapose them with Satterfield's at roughly the same point in time.
RON COOPER
Cooper followed UofL legend Howard Schnellenberger, who had put in a 6-5 final year at Louisville (playing Kentucky, Texas, Arizona State, Pitt, NC State, Boston College, Texas A&M, Army and Navy in his final UofL season), and had a pretty well loaded roster set up for him. Cooper bombed right out of the gate. He had been head coach at Eastern Michigan for 2 seasons prior to coming to Louisville. He was a losing coach at Eastern Michigan. He was very young (33 years old). It showed. He faced the likes of Kentucky (3x), Michigan State (2x), North Carolina (2x), Maryland, Penn State (2x), Baylor, Utah, Illinois, Oklahoma in his 3 seasons, as well as several other pretty good teams. He went 1-11 in his last season and was fired by new AD Tom Jurich, and a man named John L. Smith was brought in.
Cooper went on to coach at Alabama A & M for 4 seasons. His record was 23-22 there in 4 seasons.
Cooper through this exact point in his 3rd Louisville season (IOW, one game had been played) had a total UofL record of 12-11. He went on to win only one more game. Against Illinois who would go winless. His final UofL record was 13-20.
STEVE KRAGTHORPE
Kragthorpe had both the good and bad fortune to follow Bobby Petrino (Petrino 1.0), who had gone 41-9 in his 4 UofL seasons, and had simply departed to the Atlanta Falcons in the 'middle of the night', so to speak. Petrino had been set up to go at least one more decent season before poor attention to recruiting would have finally caught up with him. Most expected Kragthorpe to cruise to a 9-3 first season, at minimum. The expectations at Louisville for Kragthorpe were high. Jurich, not to be shown up, had rolodexed his buddy Steve from Tulsa in a nanosecond, to demonstrate he was on top of things and knew exactly what UofL football needed at the time. Kragthorpe was going to change the culture.
Kragthorpe bombed. It was his last head coaching job. He finished with a lifetime head coaching record of 44-43, combined, from Tulsa and Louisville.
Kragthorpe through the same point (that is, just one game had been played in his 3rd season), had a total UofL record of 12-13. Compared to Cooper, Kragthorpe played a lightweight schedule. He went on to win only 3 more games (Southern Miss, Arkansas State, Syracuse). His final UofL record was 15-21. He was fired by Jurich. Charlie Strong was brought in.
SCOTT SATTERFIELD
Satterfield was the second choice (after Jeff Brohm) of new AD Vince Tyra (who had replaced Tom Jurich after a palace coup). He was a hot Appalachian State coach who had amassed a 51-24 record there. He had very good head coaching credentials. He came after Bobby Petrino 2.0, who had bombed, himself, and had given up on his team and on the University and Athletics leadership. Petrino had walked out on fans, team and didn't want to work for AD Vince Tyra. So Petrino just gave up and took his $14M). Petrino left some pretty good player strength at "skill" positions. Satterfield shocked the college football world in going 8-5 in his first season, using the same guys Petrino had, reversing the 2-10 Petrino Meltdown season. Satterfield was named ACC coach of the year for his team's 2019 turnaround. After that, a new harsh reality has set in. His record is 4-8 after the 2019 season.
Satterfield sits at the most critical juncture of his career. He is 48 years of age. He is 63-37 lifetime as a head coach.
Satterfield sits at 12-13 here at Louisville. And he has played a pretty tough schedule.
It's inflection time. The other two coaches fizzled. Badly. They went a combined 4-17 in their remaining 3rd seasons.
Come On, Scott! Show us what you got!
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