Scott Satterfield assembling best Louisville football staff in history

Louisville football is still adding pieces to their coaching staff, but all signs point to it being the most talented staff in school history.

Two months ago, had someone told you that Jeff Brohm chose to stay at Purdue over coming home, yet the overall vibe around the Louisville football program was one of positivity, you would have been inclined to call them a liar.

However, that is exactly the case for the program under newly-minted head coach Scott Satterfield. Although he has been living out of a hotel room and dieting mostly on fast food on the rare occasions he is away from the Howard Schnellenberger complex or not on the road, Satterfield is quickly resurrecting a fan base in desperate need for some positive news.

Though he preaches about changing the Louisville culture and doing things the right way, Satterfield needed some help in order to right the ship on Floyd Street. And, that help? Well, it might come in the form of one of the best- if not the best- coaching staffs in the entire county.

Although the Cards aren’t filling the vacant assistant coaching positions with names that are going to turn too many heads nationally, Louisville is making quality hires that appear to be perfect fits in the Ville.

Here is what the current coaching staff (unofficially) looks like, and the vacancies that Louisville is still looking to fill:

Head Coach: Scott Satterfield (Appalachian State)

Offensive Coordinator/ Offensive Line: Dwayne Ledford (NC State)

Quarterbacks: Frank Ponce (Appalachian State)

Defensive Coordinator: Bryan Brown (Appalachian State)

Co-Defensive Coordinator: Cort Dennison (Oregon)

Defensive Line: Mark Ivey (Appalachian State)**

Inside Linebackers: Dale Jones (Appalachian State)**

Safeties: ShaDon Brown (Colorado)

Tight Ends/Special Teams: Stu Holt (Appalachian State)

Recruiting Coordinators/ High School Relations/ NFL Liason: Steven Field (Oregon)** and Pete Nochta (Louisville)

Strength Coach: Mike Sirignano (Appalachian State)

Open: Running Backs, Wide Receivers

** = Not confirmed by the University of Louisville

This staff may be the best top-to-bottom in school history because of what it brings to the table. First of all, they bring a great track record, and all come to Louisville on the rise. In the past few years, the Cards have brought in assistants like Peter Sirmon and Brian VanGorder who came to the Cards on the heels of unsuccessful seasons. Scott Satterfield brings in a group of coaches on the rise, willing and eager to prove themselves.

Offensive line specialist Dwayne Ledford comes from NC State, where he was nationally acclaimed. He had three different players earn all-ACC honors last season, including the Remington Award winner for center of the year. He turned a line that was one of the worst in the country three years ago into a strength.

Frank Ponce and Bryan Brown come to Louisville from Appalachian State, where they are considered two of the best young minds at their respective positions. Brown saw App State’s defense rise to No. 3 in the country in yards allowed in 2018, and was considered to be in the running for the Mountaineers’s head coaching vacancy.

Ponce is a quarterback guru, but also figures to continue to build the pipeline from south Florida to Louisville. Recruiting is the other major area where the Cards figure to improve right away. Ponce has roots in the Miami/ South Florida area, and heavily recruits from the same schools Louisville has had success with, like Miami Northwestern. Recruiting is only going to continue to get better after Cort Dennison and Steven Field officially join the Louisville staff as well. After bringing in one of Louisville’s best recruiting classes ever, the two moved to Oregon, where they secured a consensus top-10 class, including the number one player in the country.

Dennison and Field return to The Ville, where the Cards’s high school relations figure to take a huge step up. They are two of the brightest up-and-comers in the game, and to steal them right back from an excellent Oregon program is huge.

The Cards also add Stu Holt to the fold as the Special Teams Coordinator and Tight Ends coach. Holt was instrumental for App State, particularly in the ground game, and brings the most tenured resume to the coaching staff.

It’s hard to argue that this isn’t the best coaching staff ever assembled in Louisville. In 2006, Bobby Petrino had his brother, Paul, and Jeff Brohm on staff, as well as big names like Mike Cassity and Joe Whitt Jr. But this staff likely brings more to the table top-to-bottom. Ponce, Dennison, Ledford, and Brown are all names who have been highly successful at every stop, and are some of the hottest up-and-coming names in the country. Add to that the experience of Satterfield and Holt, and you have a recipe for success.

It is extremely encouraging to have this staff in place given what we saw under Bobby Petrino. The last staff filled in coaching vacancies by hiring under-qualified guys and over-paying them. Petrino employed his son and two son-in-laws, and developed a reputation for not being a fun person to work for. He drove away his two best assets in Todd Grantham and Cort Dennison, and was forced to replace them with names that ultimately cost him his job and Louisville one of their worst seasons in program history.

Now, Satterfield brings a family environment, and makes his programs a place where coaches want to come and work. Louisville presents an opportunity to recruit to and work in some of the best facilities in the country, and an opportunity down the road to contend for ACC titles and college football playoff berths.

The Cards should round out the rest of the staff shortly, and look for Satterfield and company to add some more impressive young minds to compliment what is already in place. The Cards look to be in great hands for the foreseeable future under Satterfield and this staff.