TicketsHead Coach Scott Satterfield Introductory Press Conference Transcription | Monday, Dec. 5, 2022
Opening Statement
"What an honor it is for me to be here. It truly is. I am honored to be a football coach, to be able to help mentor young men. Not a better place to do it than right here at the University of Cincinnati. I will go into that a little bit, but I do want to thank several people right off the top.
President [Neville] Pinto, I enjoyed our time visiting. What an awesome leader for this university. I can't wait to continue our relationship as we move forward. Athletic Director John Cunningham, tremendous leader as well and the vision that they have for this program is why I wanted to be here. I am certainly thankful for those two individuals.
I want to thank my wife, Beth, who has been through everything. As a football coach, you have a lot of ups and downs. Fortunately, we've had a lot more ups. She is my rock. She has been there all along the way. Just a tremendous supporter. It will be a joy for you guys to get around her and get to meet her. I have three children. One is here, Isaac. Isaac is my middle child. He goes to University of Louisville, but he's looking to transfer immediately. We have a daughter who's out west at Grand Canyon University. She's a freshman out there in Phoenix, where it's probably 80 degrees right now. I have my oldest son who's 21, who's in Bozeman, Montana, where it's probably 12 [degrees]. My kids are all over, but obviously a huge part of our lives and love and cherish them and know that they're looking forward to coming here and celebrating with us.
I also want to thank Josh Heird, Athletic Director at Louisville. I especially want to thank my players at Louisville. That's where my heart's at, with those players. We spent four years there, gave it everything we had, poured our heart and soul into those guys. They changed the program. I'm forever grateful for those guys. I also want to thank the players that I coached at Appalachian State. I spent 23 years there as a player and a coach and it helped mold me and build me. My head coach, Jerry Moore, who was there a long time as a Hall of Fame coach and did things the right way. That's where I learned to do it like that. I know you can win that way. In 24 years, he had one losing season. That's incredible. What a great mentor he is for me.
Today is about Cincinnati football. It's about going into the Big 12. I am extremely excited about that. I had an opportunity to meet with the players today. Exciting time. I know they were apprehensive about who's our coach going to be, but for me to go in there and see their faces, man, they are eager, they are hungry and excited. The one thing that I told them that we're going to do is surround them with coaches and men that are going to help mentor them. That are going to pour into them. That are going to love them. They're going to hold them accountable, every day. John mentioned this, but I love it when the players are in the building. I've already had players come to the office. We're working right now. They're already coming by saying hello. I want them there. The relationship that you have, that's what you have to have in this sport, for sure, is a strong relationship with your players and know that you care about them. They're going to give everything they have for you. That's what we're going to have. We're going to have that type of relationship. It's a relationship business. We have to be able to do that. I'm excited about that. Come to Cincinnati with a program that is used to winning, that wins championships. I want to be a part of that. 12 bowls in 16 years. That's tremendous. We want to continue that. We understand we're going into a new era, new conference. The Big 12 Conference, which is an outstanding conference, some great teams in that conference. I look forward to competing with them. I look forward to playing in this stadium right out here and filling that stadium up. I can't wait. I stepped on that field for the first time this afternoon. It's awesome. It is awesome to fill that thing up and to create that home field advantage. I can't wait for that. I know the city is an outstanding city for football and for sports. It's going to be awesome to be a part of that. I was driving in and watching the Bengals play. It was awesome. That was a great game yesterday. To be able to live right here, to be able to go. I've never had that opportunity. I can't wait to experience the city, to get out and about and to experience the restaurants, the nightlife and, of course, these professional teams. It's going to be fun.
I think more than anything for me, it's all about our student athletes. How we can help mentor them. I told them my job is not only to go win football games and help them become even greater than they thought they would, but it's also to help them to see what kind of fathers they're going to be, what kind of husbands they're going to be, what kind of community leaders they're going to be. That's what we're all about, the whole person, not just a football player. That's our mission as coaches and that's when I surround them with a staff that's going to be able to do that. I'm going to look forward to visiting with some of the current staff members that are here right now, that are getting ready for the bowl game. Anticipate bringing some staff members from the University of Louisville and then potentially some others that are out there. We want to surround them with the best coaching staff in the country. We have to do that.
I do want to address this real quick. It's kind of a weird situation, right? I mean, Louisville's playing Cincinnati in a bowl game. I told both teams that I am removing myself from the bowl game. I won't be there, not going to be in that situation. My whole focus right now is putting together a staff and recruiting. I have already started recruiting and we are going to recruit this afternoon. That's what we're going to do for the time until we can sign players and get them here. We have to. You are only going to be as good as the student-athletes that you bring in. That's what we got to do. We're going to hit the ground running, already have. I am excited about that. I just wanted to go ahead and address that because I knew that would be a question that will come up.
Lastly, I just want to say man, we are super fired up. My family and I we can't wait to get started. I appreciate everybody that supports this program. We are going to need your support more than ever as we move forward. There are a lot of opportunities to really impact our program. NIL is one of the opportunities. I think the way college football is now we're going to have to jump on board with that. We would appreciate anyone that wants to get involved with that as well. That's going to help our program."
On his recruiting plan currently
"I am 100% about the currently committed guys. That's what I am going to do this afternoon. We are going to try to reach out to those guys. We want to get them on board. Bring them in, hopefully, this weekend. We will have a big weekend to bring them up for an official visit. They have to get to know me, obviously, and kind of our style of a program that we are going to have. It is a top priority as well as going out and finding other guys that we think will fit our program."
On the importance of the transfer portal
"When they created the transfer portal, I think as a college football coach, you have to embrace it. If you don't, you are going to get passed up in my opinion. It's the world we are living in and we will embrace the transfer portal. We can go out and try to find some guys that will come in here and positively impact our team. I can't really speak on positions I don't know. When I go back and start evaluating the roster, and see where we are at, then then we will kind of prioritize maybe whom we need to bring in. There's a lot, today is the first day that the portal is opened, and I haven't had time to look at it today, but there will be a time when we'll look at that and again, we want to bring in some of the best talent in the country to come here and help us play so we are certainly going to utilize the portal"
On hiring assistant coaches and investment of the leadership in the program
"Yeah, I mean, we certainly have to continue to invest in our program, we have and now we're going to the power five level in the Big 12 And we're going to have to continue to get some of the top coaches in the country. It's a very competitive landscape, and if we want to continue to get those kinds of coaches, then we have to ask guys to be to compensate. So that I have not looked at the on par with anybody else in the Big 12. But it certainly is getting closer to that and to be very competitive, in that you have to be able to have a competitive salary. Right, so that's going to help us to bring in some top talented coaches that will be able to pour into these guys. So, we have to be able to do that."
On if he asked for more investment into the program from leadership
"Yes, it is something we talked about, but quite frankly, I didn't have to ask for it. As I have said before, the administration here wants to be good and football and they know that we have to invest in it. For me that that's one of the big reasons I wanted to be here with the leadership that we have at the helm."
On replacing all-time winningest head football coach Luke Fickell
"I have done that before. Coach (Jerry) Moore was the winningest head coach in Appalachian State history. It's a challenge, right? I mean, everybody expects you to come in and kind of pick up where they left off, but I am not Luke Fickell. I am going to be Scott Satterfield. I am going to do the things that I think we need to do to be successful. It was the same way when I followed Jerry Moore. I have a ton of respect for Luke (Fickell) what he did here was a tremendous, unbelievable job, so it is difficult. We are not playing in the same conference, right? It's going to be a different conference. The competition is going up and so that presents new challenges as well. But like I said, we are going to take it day by day and do the best job we can to get the best players, the best coaches that will be able to compete in the Big 12. That is what we are gunning for, so I don't look at it that way. I look at it as if we're going to do the best job we can do."
On what the expectation for this team is heading into the Big 12
"Well, probably everybody expects us to win every game, right? I mean, we are going to expect to win every game. I think you have to go into that way. We are not going into it saying, 'Hey, we are going here and try to be you know, whatever, pick a number.' We are attacking every single game to go win it and in order to do that and give yourself a chance, then this offseason, you have to be tremendous in the offseason. You have to get great players. We have to have a great winter program. We have to be awesome in spring practice and a great summer in order for us to be able to compete in the Big 12 when we start next season. So, it starts now."
On when he started to pursue this opportunity
"This came about very recently, and again, the reasons that I wanted to come here was it's a championship-caliber program, great leadership, and a great university and athletic department. The opportunity to take a program going into a new conference. I like to challenge myself and the opportunity to be in a great city. I mean, there are so many things here that aligned with what I want, and our family wants and once I had an opportunity to meet with the leadership here, I was like, 'Man, this is the place I want to be.'. Then it was up to them to see if they wanted me and then when that happened, it was go time. I am just excited about the future. I am excited about moving forward with it and the opportunity that we have"
On how his offensive and defensive style will mesh with the players currently here
"I hadn't studied the roster here. I think our style of play we want to be very physical, we want to be a physical team, offensively and defensively, very aggressive on defense. Our teams at Louisville were the top=five in the country in sacks, tackles for loss, and turnovers gained, so that's an attacking-style defense. Offensively, we want to be a multiple offense. We have to find ways to get the ball in the hands of the playmakers and remain physical upfront. We have to be able to run the football and throw the football. We have been done fast tempo before and spread people out. We have also gone three tight end sets. I think in this day and age, you have to be very multiple, whether it be defense or offense, you just can't line up and do the same thing over and over and over. I know the Big 12 presents a lot of different challenges within that. As we get deeper into our team, and we start looking at the personnel then we will cater toward what we have. I think we will know more about that little bit later on."
On continuing to recruit locally
"It's a top priority, especially in this area. Cincinnati high school football is unbelievable. It's one of the best football states in the whole country. So, we have to stake down this area right here. We have to call these high schools and hire people to create a staff that will be able to go out and do that. We already have those relationships so that's going to be a top priority for us. I 100% agree with what they've done over the last 20 years. It has worked very well. There's a lot of pride in this state and in the city, when it comes to high school football. We want to embrace that and continue to bring that on. I can't wait to get out and see the coaches. I was not too far away so we did come up in this area. We have recruited players to come down and play for us. We would have liked to have gotten more from this area, but it didn't work out. We're going to call all the high schools around here and hopefully those guys will come in, embrace us here and want to be a part of this program."
On transitioning into the Big 12
"It's all new. We're going to be playing a bunch of new teams that we haven't really faced. So, we will do a great job of getting into the film and really studying these teams, because you have to get a feel and a flavor for the style of play that happens in the big 12. There are a lot of talented teams. The way you have to go about that is your fundamentals, playing smart football, and also the kind of players that you have playing for you. I don't care what league it is; it still comes down to that. We have to do everything we can here to put the best product on the field and, at the same time, studying the blueprint of successful teams in the Big 12. I want to go back, look, and see hat they've done. Certainly, we're going to do that during this offseason and really studying hard to figure out how we will be able to be competitive in this league."
On his role for the Fenway Bowl
"I am staying away from that. I will be recruiting and building my staff. That is my total focus. U am not doing anything with the bowl. I am not doing any game planning. All I am doing is focusing on our staff, trying to build it out and recruit. The bowl game is actually negative in regard to recruiting. Whenever that bowl was announced, I was thinking, 'Man, this is going to hurt us in recruiting, we can't go out and recruit.' So, I am going to focus on that and in order to do that, some of the guys that I need are going to come up here and help me over the next few weeks. The national signing date is December 21, so it's going to be here very soon."
On Interim Head Coach Kerry Coombs leading the Bearcats in the Fenway Bowl
"Coach [Kerry] Coombs has done a great job so far. In the time since Coach [Luke] Fickell left and since we got here, I've seen how the staff has done an outstanding job. Coach Coombs will lead the team. He will lead everything for the next week and a half as they go to the Fenway bowl. When we get back, I look forward to meeting with the coaches and the staff and figuring out what we need to do as we move forward."
On his message to local high school football programs
"We are going to come see them. We want to keep the talent of this state right here. There's no reason why a talented football player from Cincinnati should go anywhere else. They should be staying right here and coming to play for us. We'll make that known and we'll get out there. To the high school coaches in the area, we will have opened doors here that allows them to come over here and visit with us. We have to be hand in hand with the high school coaches in this area. It's going to be a top priority and if there's a high school player here that can play, we want them to come play for us."
On keeping current players here
"I met with the players today and I don't really know the dynamic of the roster yet, I haven't had time to do that yet. We want these guys to stay here and help us continue to what they've been doing. I have met with a few players already and there will be others that come up, but each one situation is going to be a little bit different. I look forward to it all. If there is a situation with a player that's thinking about transferring, I want them to come see me. We're going talk it out and figure out what the best plan of action will be. Certainly, we want these guys to stay here and help us continue what they what they have been doing."
On his experience with the NIL
"When COVID happened, there was a couple of things that happened within the rules. We allowed the one-time transfer rule, and we allowed the NIL. The NIL in itself is a good thing. Across the country, we have had student athletes that are well known at their universities and also throughout the country, but they couldn't compensate on their names at all. So, I do think that it is a very positive thing. We are certainly going to embrace that. If we have top tier athletes that will go on to the opportunities to make a little bit of money, then we should support them. The teams I have seen throughout the landscape that have embraced the NIL; they are able to get those top tier talented players. If we want to continue to get those players, we are going to have to be able to embrace and invest in that. I think that's certainly something that we will do as we move forward. The one-time transfer rule is a whole other subject. It's a very challenging thing for coaches. Every coach that I have talked to this year, we are all having the same challenges because we are obviously recruiting our own rosters now. We want players to stay. You have to recruit high school players and recruit the portal. There's a lot of dynamics going on in a short period of time, so that makes it extremely challenging."
On NIL affecting the locker room
"It's certainly a concern we all have as coaches. You guys have seen some of the numbers that are out there across the country. There'll be some quarterbacks out there making more than a quarterback coach, which is insane to me. That's the world we're living in right now. Us as coaches, we're team builders. Particularly in our sport, you have 115 guys in a locker room, there's 11 guys that are going to play. But we have to make it a team. We have to play for each other, play for your brothers besides you. So that's what our focus is. I think there's a time and place when the players will talk about their opportunities. Once we get in the locker room, it's ball. We're going to ball. We're playing for each other. From my experience, our players at Louisville that had NIL opportunities, they would even tell their teammates, 'Guys it's ball time now. We're playing ball. We're not worried about the business side of it.', because that is really what it is. You want mature players that can be able to focus on the task at hand which is playing ball and working out and being the best, they can be. "
On the brand-new indoor football facility
It's awesome what we are getting ready to partake in. As you think about recruiting and bringing student-athletes on campus and seeing what you have to offer. They're going to a lot of other universities that have a lot of things that are really nice. For example, the new football complex, that's where they're going to be spending most of their time. They want it to be state of the art. They want it to be extremely nice. We're competing with schools now in this new conference that have a lot of those things. So, it's extremely important. It also speaks to the vision of where we want to go and where we want to be, which is very exciting for me. So, it certainly played a big part in that and, and so again, I'm excited to put a shovel in the ground and get that thing going so we can start using it."
On his pitch to the current roster
"We certainly want them to stay. We want them to be a part of what we're building here. Whenever I get an opportunity to meet with them one on one, we certainly will be able to help that. The pitch is what I told them earlier. We're going to surround them with some great mentors, some great guys that are going to pour into them not only as a football player, but as a man. Their parents will want them their kids to come play for us. We hadn't had any issue about guys leaving our program. Matter of fact, at Louisville, they all wanted to stay. But when a guy has been there three years and maybe hadn't played as much, for us, advice for some of those guys and say listen, we can help you go somewhere. In that regard, I think the portal's being good. But if a guy's a starter and a great player, then all we want to do is make him better and continue to elevate him. Those are things we can do."
On the timeline for filling out his staff
"It's certainly a challenging time right now and the landscape is certainly changing a lot as well. I think we just have to continue to focus on what we can control and, and that is doing the very best we can with our staff and bringing them in, you ask about when, as soon as possible. We have to hit the ground running right now. We can't wait, you wait a day then that's a day gone, that's a day somebody else is talking to these recruits, so we are going to get some guys in here and hit the ground running. The landscape in the Big 12, I don't even know who we are playing next year, right? There's a lot of teams, you are not going to play all of them, so we don't even really know what the schedule is going to look like, who we're playing, but whatever is presented in front of us, then we're going to get a plan to attack that. I don't sit here and I don't worry about things I can't control. I'm going to worry about what I can control, that's putting together an outstanding staff, poured it into our student athletes and getting to work. That's all I can control."
On how fast the deal come together
"It came together quickly and it happened very fast. I think this time of year is always crazy for football coaches and the timings never good. You guys just went through it with Coach [Luke] Fickell, it's not good for the team that you're leaving. It's a lot of apprehension with the team you're going, and it's this time of year bowls are happening. We're trying to recruit, it's so many things that are going on and that part I don't like, it'd be awesome if we said, 'Llisten everybody finish your season, everybody finish your bowls and then all right, now we can start any kind of coaching carousel that's out there.', but it doesn't work that way. Last season, there was coaches that were fired three games into the season, which I think is ridiculous. That's just my opinion. I do think that you should finish your season and the let's see what happens after that, but again, we are in this coaching landscape that is ever-changing, where we're going, who knows, but I do know this, We have to do the very best job we can and put the best product on the field to go compete in the Big 12 so that we can be a part of those 12 teams that are going to be in that playoff and that's our goal. That's our mission. Let's go get it done."
On how important an off-field staff is
"That's huge. You have to have the support staff nowadays, as you think about the portal that we are living in now. In this world, we have to build out our recruiting staff, you have to and that's the one thing that we did at Louisville when I got there, there was one person right now there are seven. We have to continue to invest in that and pour into that, you are only as good as the players you have on your roster. I thought we did a great job with that there and will continue to do that here. That's what we are in the process of doing, building out that recruiting department, bringing in some guys and gals that will really help us bring the top talent here."
Opening Statement
"What an honor it is for me to be here. It truly is. I am honored to be a football coach, to be able to help mentor young men. Not a better place to do it than right here at the University of Cincinnati. I will go into that a little bit, but I do want to thank several people right off the top.
President [Neville] Pinto, I enjoyed our time visiting. What an awesome leader for this university. I can't wait to continue our relationship as we move forward. Athletic Director John Cunningham, tremendous leader as well and the vision that they have for this program is why I wanted to be here. I am certainly thankful for those two individuals.
I want to thank my wife, Beth, who has been through everything. As a football coach, you have a lot of ups and downs. Fortunately, we've had a lot more ups. She is my rock. She has been there all along the way. Just a tremendous supporter. It will be a joy for you guys to get around her and get to meet her. I have three children. One is here, Isaac. Isaac is my middle child. He goes to University of Louisville, but he's looking to transfer immediately. We have a daughter who's out west at Grand Canyon University. She's a freshman out there in Phoenix, where it's probably 80 degrees right now. I have my oldest son who's 21, who's in Bozeman, Montana, where it's probably 12 [degrees]. My kids are all over, but obviously a huge part of our lives and love and cherish them and know that they're looking forward to coming here and celebrating with us.
I also want to thank Josh Heird, Athletic Director at Louisville. I especially want to thank my players at Louisville. That's where my heart's at, with those players. We spent four years there, gave it everything we had, poured our heart and soul into those guys. They changed the program. I'm forever grateful for those guys. I also want to thank the players that I coached at Appalachian State. I spent 23 years there as a player and a coach and it helped mold me and build me. My head coach, Jerry Moore, who was there a long time as a Hall of Fame coach and did things the right way. That's where I learned to do it like that. I know you can win that way. In 24 years, he had one losing season. That's incredible. What a great mentor he is for me.
Today is about Cincinnati football. It's about going into the Big 12. I am extremely excited about that. I had an opportunity to meet with the players today. Exciting time. I know they were apprehensive about who's our coach going to be, but for me to go in there and see their faces, man, they are eager, they are hungry and excited. The one thing that I told them that we're going to do is surround them with coaches and men that are going to help mentor them. That are going to pour into them. That are going to love them. They're going to hold them accountable, every day. John mentioned this, but I love it when the players are in the building. I've already had players come to the office. We're working right now. They're already coming by saying hello. I want them there. The relationship that you have, that's what you have to have in this sport, for sure, is a strong relationship with your players and know that you care about them. They're going to give everything they have for you. That's what we're going to have. We're going to have that type of relationship. It's a relationship business. We have to be able to do that. I'm excited about that. Come to Cincinnati with a program that is used to winning, that wins championships. I want to be a part of that. 12 bowls in 16 years. That's tremendous. We want to continue that. We understand we're going into a new era, new conference. The Big 12 Conference, which is an outstanding conference, some great teams in that conference. I look forward to competing with them. I look forward to playing in this stadium right out here and filling that stadium up. I can't wait. I stepped on that field for the first time this afternoon. It's awesome. It is awesome to fill that thing up and to create that home field advantage. I can't wait for that. I know the city is an outstanding city for football and for sports. It's going to be awesome to be a part of that. I was driving in and watching the Bengals play. It was awesome. That was a great game yesterday. To be able to live right here, to be able to go. I've never had that opportunity. I can't wait to experience the city, to get out and about and to experience the restaurants, the nightlife and, of course, these professional teams. It's going to be fun.
I think more than anything for me, it's all about our student athletes. How we can help mentor them. I told them my job is not only to go win football games and help them become even greater than they thought they would, but it's also to help them to see what kind of fathers they're going to be, what kind of husbands they're going to be, what kind of community leaders they're going to be. That's what we're all about, the whole person, not just a football player. That's our mission as coaches and that's when I surround them with a staff that's going to be able to do that. I'm going to look forward to visiting with some of the current staff members that are here right now, that are getting ready for the bowl game. Anticipate bringing some staff members from the University of Louisville and then potentially some others that are out there. We want to surround them with the best coaching staff in the country. We have to do that.
I do want to address this real quick. It's kind of a weird situation, right? I mean, Louisville's playing Cincinnati in a bowl game. I told both teams that I am removing myself from the bowl game. I won't be there, not going to be in that situation. My whole focus right now is putting together a staff and recruiting. I have already started recruiting and we are going to recruit this afternoon. That's what we're going to do for the time until we can sign players and get them here. We have to. You are only going to be as good as the student-athletes that you bring in. That's what we got to do. We're going to hit the ground running, already have. I am excited about that. I just wanted to go ahead and address that because I knew that would be a question that will come up.
Lastly, I just want to say man, we are super fired up. My family and I we can't wait to get started. I appreciate everybody that supports this program. We are going to need your support more than ever as we move forward. There are a lot of opportunities to really impact our program. NIL is one of the opportunities. I think the way college football is now we're going to have to jump on board with that. We would appreciate anyone that wants to get involved with that as well. That's going to help our program."
On his recruiting plan currently
"I am 100% about the currently committed guys. That's what I am going to do this afternoon. We are going to try to reach out to those guys. We want to get them on board. Bring them in, hopefully, this weekend. We will have a big weekend to bring them up for an official visit. They have to get to know me, obviously, and kind of our style of a program that we are going to have. It is a top priority as well as going out and finding other guys that we think will fit our program."
On the importance of the transfer portal
"When they created the transfer portal, I think as a college football coach, you have to embrace it. If you don't, you are going to get passed up in my opinion. It's the world we are living in and we will embrace the transfer portal. We can go out and try to find some guys that will come in here and positively impact our team. I can't really speak on positions I don't know. When I go back and start evaluating the roster, and see where we are at, then then we will kind of prioritize maybe whom we need to bring in. There's a lot, today is the first day that the portal is opened, and I haven't had time to look at it today, but there will be a time when we'll look at that and again, we want to bring in some of the best talent in the country to come here and help us play so we are certainly going to utilize the portal"
On hiring assistant coaches and investment of the leadership in the program
"Yeah, I mean, we certainly have to continue to invest in our program, we have and now we're going to the power five level in the Big 12 And we're going to have to continue to get some of the top coaches in the country. It's a very competitive landscape, and if we want to continue to get those kinds of coaches, then we have to ask guys to be to compensate. So that I have not looked at the on par with anybody else in the Big 12. But it certainly is getting closer to that and to be very competitive, in that you have to be able to have a competitive salary. Right, so that's going to help us to bring in some top talented coaches that will be able to pour into these guys. So, we have to be able to do that."
On if he asked for more investment into the program from leadership
"Yes, it is something we talked about, but quite frankly, I didn't have to ask for it. As I have said before, the administration here wants to be good and football and they know that we have to invest in it. For me that that's one of the big reasons I wanted to be here with the leadership that we have at the helm."
On replacing all-time winningest head football coach Luke Fickell
"I have done that before. Coach (Jerry) Moore was the winningest head coach in Appalachian State history. It's a challenge, right? I mean, everybody expects you to come in and kind of pick up where they left off, but I am not Luke Fickell. I am going to be Scott Satterfield. I am going to do the things that I think we need to do to be successful. It was the same way when I followed Jerry Moore. I have a ton of respect for Luke (Fickell) what he did here was a tremendous, unbelievable job, so it is difficult. We are not playing in the same conference, right? It's going to be a different conference. The competition is going up and so that presents new challenges as well. But like I said, we are going to take it day by day and do the best job we can to get the best players, the best coaches that will be able to compete in the Big 12. That is what we are gunning for, so I don't look at it that way. I look at it as if we're going to do the best job we can do."
On what the expectation for this team is heading into the Big 12
"Well, probably everybody expects us to win every game, right? I mean, we are going to expect to win every game. I think you have to go into that way. We are not going into it saying, 'Hey, we are going here and try to be you know, whatever, pick a number.' We are attacking every single game to go win it and in order to do that and give yourself a chance, then this offseason, you have to be tremendous in the offseason. You have to get great players. We have to have a great winter program. We have to be awesome in spring practice and a great summer in order for us to be able to compete in the Big 12 when we start next season. So, it starts now."
On when he started to pursue this opportunity
"This came about very recently, and again, the reasons that I wanted to come here was it's a championship-caliber program, great leadership, and a great university and athletic department. The opportunity to take a program going into a new conference. I like to challenge myself and the opportunity to be in a great city. I mean, there are so many things here that aligned with what I want, and our family wants and once I had an opportunity to meet with the leadership here, I was like, 'Man, this is the place I want to be.'. Then it was up to them to see if they wanted me and then when that happened, it was go time. I am just excited about the future. I am excited about moving forward with it and the opportunity that we have"
On how his offensive and defensive style will mesh with the players currently here
"I hadn't studied the roster here. I think our style of play we want to be very physical, we want to be a physical team, offensively and defensively, very aggressive on defense. Our teams at Louisville were the top=five in the country in sacks, tackles for loss, and turnovers gained, so that's an attacking-style defense. Offensively, we want to be a multiple offense. We have to find ways to get the ball in the hands of the playmakers and remain physical upfront. We have to be able to run the football and throw the football. We have been done fast tempo before and spread people out. We have also gone three tight end sets. I think in this day and age, you have to be very multiple, whether it be defense or offense, you just can't line up and do the same thing over and over and over. I know the Big 12 presents a lot of different challenges within that. As we get deeper into our team, and we start looking at the personnel then we will cater toward what we have. I think we will know more about that little bit later on."
On continuing to recruit locally
"It's a top priority, especially in this area. Cincinnati high school football is unbelievable. It's one of the best football states in the whole country. So, we have to stake down this area right here. We have to call these high schools and hire people to create a staff that will be able to go out and do that. We already have those relationships so that's going to be a top priority for us. I 100% agree with what they've done over the last 20 years. It has worked very well. There's a lot of pride in this state and in the city, when it comes to high school football. We want to embrace that and continue to bring that on. I can't wait to get out and see the coaches. I was not too far away so we did come up in this area. We have recruited players to come down and play for us. We would have liked to have gotten more from this area, but it didn't work out. We're going to call all the high schools around here and hopefully those guys will come in, embrace us here and want to be a part of this program."
On transitioning into the Big 12
"It's all new. We're going to be playing a bunch of new teams that we haven't really faced. So, we will do a great job of getting into the film and really studying these teams, because you have to get a feel and a flavor for the style of play that happens in the big 12. There are a lot of talented teams. The way you have to go about that is your fundamentals, playing smart football, and also the kind of players that you have playing for you. I don't care what league it is; it still comes down to that. We have to do everything we can here to put the best product on the field and, at the same time, studying the blueprint of successful teams in the Big 12. I want to go back, look, and see hat they've done. Certainly, we're going to do that during this offseason and really studying hard to figure out how we will be able to be competitive in this league."
On his role for the Fenway Bowl
"I am staying away from that. I will be recruiting and building my staff. That is my total focus. U am not doing anything with the bowl. I am not doing any game planning. All I am doing is focusing on our staff, trying to build it out and recruit. The bowl game is actually negative in regard to recruiting. Whenever that bowl was announced, I was thinking, 'Man, this is going to hurt us in recruiting, we can't go out and recruit.' So, I am going to focus on that and in order to do that, some of the guys that I need are going to come up here and help me over the next few weeks. The national signing date is December 21, so it's going to be here very soon."
On Interim Head Coach Kerry Coombs leading the Bearcats in the Fenway Bowl
"Coach [Kerry] Coombs has done a great job so far. In the time since Coach [Luke] Fickell left and since we got here, I've seen how the staff has done an outstanding job. Coach Coombs will lead the team. He will lead everything for the next week and a half as they go to the Fenway bowl. When we get back, I look forward to meeting with the coaches and the staff and figuring out what we need to do as we move forward."
On his message to local high school football programs
"We are going to come see them. We want to keep the talent of this state right here. There's no reason why a talented football player from Cincinnati should go anywhere else. They should be staying right here and coming to play for us. We'll make that known and we'll get out there. To the high school coaches in the area, we will have opened doors here that allows them to come over here and visit with us. We have to be hand in hand with the high school coaches in this area. It's going to be a top priority and if there's a high school player here that can play, we want them to come play for us."
On keeping current players here
"I met with the players today and I don't really know the dynamic of the roster yet, I haven't had time to do that yet. We want these guys to stay here and help us continue to what they've been doing. I have met with a few players already and there will be others that come up, but each one situation is going to be a little bit different. I look forward to it all. If there is a situation with a player that's thinking about transferring, I want them to come see me. We're going talk it out and figure out what the best plan of action will be. Certainly, we want these guys to stay here and help us continue what they what they have been doing."
On his experience with the NIL
"When COVID happened, there was a couple of things that happened within the rules. We allowed the one-time transfer rule, and we allowed the NIL. The NIL in itself is a good thing. Across the country, we have had student athletes that are well known at their universities and also throughout the country, but they couldn't compensate on their names at all. So, I do think that it is a very positive thing. We are certainly going to embrace that. If we have top tier athletes that will go on to the opportunities to make a little bit of money, then we should support them. The teams I have seen throughout the landscape that have embraced the NIL; they are able to get those top tier talented players. If we want to continue to get those players, we are going to have to be able to embrace and invest in that. I think that's certainly something that we will do as we move forward. The one-time transfer rule is a whole other subject. It's a very challenging thing for coaches. Every coach that I have talked to this year, we are all having the same challenges because we are obviously recruiting our own rosters now. We want players to stay. You have to recruit high school players and recruit the portal. There's a lot of dynamics going on in a short period of time, so that makes it extremely challenging."
On NIL affecting the locker room
"It's certainly a concern we all have as coaches. You guys have seen some of the numbers that are out there across the country. There'll be some quarterbacks out there making more than a quarterback coach, which is insane to me. That's the world we're living in right now. Us as coaches, we're team builders. Particularly in our sport, you have 115 guys in a locker room, there's 11 guys that are going to play. But we have to make it a team. We have to play for each other, play for your brothers besides you. So that's what our focus is. I think there's a time and place when the players will talk about their opportunities. Once we get in the locker room, it's ball. We're going to ball. We're playing for each other. From my experience, our players at Louisville that had NIL opportunities, they would even tell their teammates, 'Guys it's ball time now. We're playing ball. We're not worried about the business side of it.', because that is really what it is. You want mature players that can be able to focus on the task at hand which is playing ball and working out and being the best, they can be. "
On the brand-new indoor football facility
It's awesome what we are getting ready to partake in. As you think about recruiting and bringing student-athletes on campus and seeing what you have to offer. They're going to a lot of other universities that have a lot of things that are really nice. For example, the new football complex, that's where they're going to be spending most of their time. They want it to be state of the art. They want it to be extremely nice. We're competing with schools now in this new conference that have a lot of those things. So, it's extremely important. It also speaks to the vision of where we want to go and where we want to be, which is very exciting for me. So, it certainly played a big part in that and, and so again, I'm excited to put a shovel in the ground and get that thing going so we can start using it."
On his pitch to the current roster
"We certainly want them to stay. We want them to be a part of what we're building here. Whenever I get an opportunity to meet with them one on one, we certainly will be able to help that. The pitch is what I told them earlier. We're going to surround them with some great mentors, some great guys that are going to pour into them not only as a football player, but as a man. Their parents will want them their kids to come play for us. We hadn't had any issue about guys leaving our program. Matter of fact, at Louisville, they all wanted to stay. But when a guy has been there three years and maybe hadn't played as much, for us, advice for some of those guys and say listen, we can help you go somewhere. In that regard, I think the portal's being good. But if a guy's a starter and a great player, then all we want to do is make him better and continue to elevate him. Those are things we can do."
On the timeline for filling out his staff
"It's certainly a challenging time right now and the landscape is certainly changing a lot as well. I think we just have to continue to focus on what we can control and, and that is doing the very best we can with our staff and bringing them in, you ask about when, as soon as possible. We have to hit the ground running right now. We can't wait, you wait a day then that's a day gone, that's a day somebody else is talking to these recruits, so we are going to get some guys in here and hit the ground running. The landscape in the Big 12, I don't even know who we are playing next year, right? There's a lot of teams, you are not going to play all of them, so we don't even really know what the schedule is going to look like, who we're playing, but whatever is presented in front of us, then we're going to get a plan to attack that. I don't sit here and I don't worry about things I can't control. I'm going to worry about what I can control, that's putting together an outstanding staff, poured it into our student athletes and getting to work. That's all I can control."
On how fast the deal come together
"It came together quickly and it happened very fast. I think this time of year is always crazy for football coaches and the timings never good. You guys just went through it with Coach [Luke] Fickell, it's not good for the team that you're leaving. It's a lot of apprehension with the team you're going, and it's this time of year bowls are happening. We're trying to recruit, it's so many things that are going on and that part I don't like, it'd be awesome if we said, 'Llisten everybody finish your season, everybody finish your bowls and then all right, now we can start any kind of coaching carousel that's out there.', but it doesn't work that way. Last season, there was coaches that were fired three games into the season, which I think is ridiculous. That's just my opinion. I do think that you should finish your season and the let's see what happens after that, but again, we are in this coaching landscape that is ever-changing, where we're going, who knows, but I do know this, We have to do the very best job we can and put the best product on the field to go compete in the Big 12 so that we can be a part of those 12 teams that are going to be in that playoff and that's our goal. That's our mission. Let's go get it done."
On how important an off-field staff is
"That's huge. You have to have the support staff nowadays, as you think about the portal that we are living in now. In this world, we have to build out our recruiting staff, you have to and that's the one thing that we did at Louisville when I got there, there was one person right now there are seven. We have to continue to invest in that and pour into that, you are only as good as the players you have on your roster. I thought we did a great job with that there and will continue to do that here. That's what we are in the process of doing, building out that recruiting department, bringing in some guys and gals that will really help us bring the top talent here."