Louisville football coach Scott Satterfield says he's sticking with Cardinals, squashes talk around South Carolina job
Football coach Scott Satterfield confirmed Saturday in an interview with The Courier Journal that he is staying at Louisville.
It came hours after his name resurfaced regarding the South Carolina head coaching job after a Friday afternoon interview. He said he had no intention of leaving the university nearing the end of his second season.
Satterfield confirmed that he spoke to South Carolina on Friday, but he described it as a "conversation," not an interview. He is from North Carolina, and with his parents just two hours away from the University of South Carolina's campus, Satterfield said he felt an obligation to at least listen.
"I think, again, my intentions were never to leave or go anywhere else, but I thought I owed an obligation just to listen because of where it’s at. That’s it," Satterfield said. "Nothing else to read into that. I had no intention of entertaining it, I just wanted to listen to see what they had to say. That’s the bottom line. I don’t want it to offend anyone. We are committed to this program."
Satterfield said that South Carolina reached out to him, and he kept Louisville athletic director, Vince Tyra, in the loop.
"I’ve kept Vince abreast to everything," Satterfield said. "I’m not trying to hide anything from anybody. I’m not that person."
Louisville is 3-7 and will face Wake Forest on Dec. 12. The season has been a regression from the Cardinals' 8-5 campaign a year ago that ended with Satterfield winning ACC Coach of the Year and a Music City Bowl victory.
Satterfield signed a six-year contract worth $3.25 million a year in 2018. According to his contract, Satterfield has a $5 million buyout through Dec. 31, 2020. If he does not leave, the buyout drops to $3.5 million if he terminates his contract after Dec. 31, 2020, but before Dec. 31, 2022. After Dec. 31, 2022, his buyout drops to $2 million.
Cameron Teague Robinson CTeagueRob@gannett.com; Twitter: @cj_teague