BIG 12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 8, 2026

Scott Satterfield

Ford Center at The Star

Cincinnati Bearcats

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Next we have Cincinnati Head Coach Scott Satterfield. Your opening statement, Coach.

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Appreciate everybody being here. We're excited about heading into year four for us in the Big 12. We've improved our record each and every year. Excited about this year. I think for many reasons. First of all, the players that we have coming back, starting with our offensive line. I think we got one of the best offensive lines in the country. If you got to have a good position group, certainly want to start with those guys.

Excited about what they're going to be able to bring to our table. Last year we were one of the top offensive lines, and a lot of those guys are back. Not only great players, but they're great leaders on our team and heading that locker room up.

I think probably the next thing, just really excited about Coach Woody is coming in to be our defensive coordinator, so that's going to be a change defensively.

Over the last couple of years, Coach Woody and I were together at Appalachian State for five seasons. Did an outstanding job there and has had a great run at Army the last six years. So excited about what he'll be able to bring to our defense.

Then I think in the special teams aspect we have all three of our specialists back with our punter, kicker, and long snapper. Those guys are some of the best in the country as well. Really amped about this year.

Coming into year four in a great conference, what a great opportunity. So excited about this and ready to get going.

Q. JC French IV, bringing him through the portal from Georgia Southern. We know that a team goes as the quarterback goes. What can you say about his leadership, his effort on the field, what you saw that was worth bringing into Cincinnati?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Yeah, you know, I think we all know, no matter what level or what league you're in, whether it be rec league, high school, college, or pro, you better have a good quarterback.

Certainly went in the portal and then trying to find a guy that fit what we want to do, JC was one of the guys that was out there. A couple of things that we like about JC. He ended up being the all-time leading passer in Georgia Southern school history. He's a guy who has got a lot of great experience in Coach Helton's offense at Georgia Southern, lit it up at times, did a great job with throwing the football.

But then you start digging deeper and calling and talking to people and finding out about his character, his leadership, how he handles himself off the field, and that was critical as well.

You don't truly know until you get him on campus, and we got JC on campus. Very humble, but very confident in his ability. I thought we had an outstanding spring. He came in. We split a lot of time at quarterback position this spring. He kind of rose to the top. He throws an excellent ball. He's a very catchable ball, tight spiral. Can make the throws down the field as well. And also can move around a little bit.

I think for us in our offense, we've always had a quarterback that can move around a little bit, and he is able to do that as well. I'm excited about what he'll be able to do for our team this year. I think he's already taken the leadership role of the quarterback position. He's won the locker room, and that's the reason why we brought him here.

I think we're excited about what JC will be able to bring to our team.

Q. You said this is year four for you guys. What's the biggest strives that you are making in the Big 12 as well as your challenges?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Yeah, I think year four, we've gotten better each and every year in this league. Obviously when you are making a move up, you know, from the group of five at that point to the Power league, there's going to be some challenges. I think we certainly have learned a lot over the first three seasons.

Last year we talked about we just got into a new facility at Cincinnati. It's an incredible facility where we house our football team, an indoor facility, new weight room, training room, many apparatuses that can help aid in recovery. That certainly will help.

This is I guess the anniversary kind of like right now, one-year anniversary, getting in the new building.

Then also learning the lay of the land and the teams that we have to play in this league. This is a great league. There are some great coaches, great players, very competitive. We're having to travel a lot of places throughout the country and playing in some great venues. In this league we all know you have to bring your A-game if you want a chance to win.

But like everybody else, we're trying to put out a great team of individuals that come together and play as a team. I think that's been our charge this whole offseason is to become really connected and tight as a unit. That's what we've been able to do, and it's exciting to see these guys work this summer.

Q. Coach, so much of the conversation today is about wins, championships in this upcoming season, but your impact on these players last much longer than their football careers. How do you define success for your players when football is no longer part of their lives?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Yeah, I think in our program we do talk a lot about life and, you know, what kind of father, what kind of husband are you going to be when you leave football? You're going to put the cleats up one day, and then what kind of impact are you going to be able to make out in society?

I do think the things that we learn within football, the discipline, the accountability, the camaraderie, the teamwork that you have to have, the unselfishness that you have to have. All these traits that I think you learn as a football player will help you in life, you know, and we got a bunch of great individuals in our building that learn from each other, learn from the older guys, and continue to move forward.

There are so many things that we can learn from the game of football that we try to teach our guys.

Q. Are you able to say anything about the letter of inquiry today on Brendan Sorsby, and has this provided a blueprint for Big 12 schools in general to educate their student-athletes?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: No, I can't really make any comments about that inquiry.

Q. You mentioned the coaching changes. When you look at the coaching change, bringing in Nate Woody, with the transfer additions on the defensive side of the ball, do you feel this defense is best equipped to have success in the Big 12 in year four?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Yeah, I think that's one of the things that we needed to get better at defensively. You know, for the last couple of years we were mainly a drop-8 defense, and in this league with so many great quarterbacks, these quarterbacks, man, they pick you apart. I feel like you've got to be able to mix it up and change some things to cause a little bit of havoc for the offense.

With Coach Woody, again, having been with him already for five years, and we have a good working relationship and understanding what he's trying to get done. You also have to look at your personnel. What can they do, and what positions do we need to put them into for them to have success?

Antwan Peek is a great example of that. He's a guy that's played in the secondary. Now we're moving him close to the ball and will be playing that Sam position to be able to have more impact in causing havoc for the offense.

Hopefully we'll be able to create more pressure. I think, again, if you can get the offense off their routine, mixing it up by bringing different pressures, boundary, field, and being a lot more aggressive, I think is what we need to be able to do. With our talent that we have at linebacker position with some of the guys we brought in and some of the guys that are back, like Jonathan Thompson, Simeon, you know, we have some great linebackers that can really put pressure on offense.

We have to be able to utilize those guys, and I think in this defense we're going to be able to do that and obviously be able to mix in some coverages with that as well. That's kind of what we've been doing this whole spring as we approach the summer, is finding different ways to be able to do that.

Q. Going back to Coach Woody, last year, Shiel Wood, Texas Tech, he obviously spent time with Coach Woody. Was seeing Coach Wood's success at Texas Tech, knowing that Coach Woody is one of the innovators to coach three-four, does that make it a no-brainer to bring him into the Big 12 because you already have proof of concept?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Yeah, that's a good question and a good point. Coach Wood, Shiel has done a great job at Tech with their defense last year, but even before that, everywhere he's been. Him and Coach Woody were together at Wofford for years, and there's other guys that are coaching throughout college football that come off that same Coach Woody tree.

Coach Woody has been calling defense for a long time now, and it has great success. He did an outstanding job at Army the last several years. He's a smart coach, and he has experience.

I think anytime you have experience calling defenses, how to stop these offenses -- now, these offenses are so good nowadays and so innovative in what they're doing with their players, you know, how they can match up run-game scheme with their passing-game scheme, you have to have a multiple defense. You just can't sit in the same defense and think you're going to have great success.

You know, certainly what Coach Wood did at Tech, they had some outstanding players there as well last year, and a lot of those guys are back this year, too. But Coach Woody can bring some of that and help our defense and certainly give us a better opportunity to win these games.

Q. This year will be the 129th meeting between Cincinnati and Miami. This is your last year, but how important is it to you that they keep these kinds of games going, these important nonconference, that have so much history?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Yeah, I mean, I think it's incredible the amount of times in history that Miami and Cincinnati have had over the years, not, you know, 45 minutes apart from each other. It's an incredible rivalry, one that our players love playing in, and our fans I think love it as well.

As we know how college football has changed over time and years and guys going in different conferences, and somehow we've been able to sustain the rivalry over all those years.

It will be interesting to see how what happens in the future with it. I certainly believe that in college football you want to have rivalries, you want to be able to play some of the teams that you've been playing for years.

And regional rivalries I think are important for the fan bases, for sure, you know. And so this year we're playing in our soccer stadium in Cincinnati, which will be a very unique venue. It will be an intimate, loud, great environment. I think that we'll all see that and notice that this year when we play that game.

Hopefully we'll be able to continue this rivalry throughout the future. Obviously the higher-ups need to look at it and figure it out, but I think as coaches and players, we love playing in games like that, because everybody is up for it. It's going to bring out the best in both teams.

Q. Last season you opened up the year facing Nebraska at Arrowhead Stadium. This season you open up against Boston College, a powerful team out of the ACC. How are you preparing your team mentally and physically? No cream puff off the top. You go to battle in week 1.

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: We refer a little bit back to what happened last year. We played a Nebraska team, outstanding in Arrowhead Stadium. Probably one of the louder stadiums I've been in. It was packed. A great environment. Came down right to the last play.

No different this year. I think anytime you start your first game against a team like Boston College, a team that's going to have a lot of great players, good coaching staff, and first games has a lot of unknowns, too. What are they going to be trying to do with their new players, any new coaches they may have? There's a lot of little cat-and-mouse going at the beginning of the game, I think, offensively and defensively, trying to figure each other out.

I think the big thing for us is to know that we have to be our best in the first game. That's why this summer and August camp has to be intense, and you've got to be ready to go that first week. Certainly we want to get out to a great game. And unlike last year, when we didn't win the first game, you want to come out and get that first win right off the bat.

I think for us, fortunately, it's in Nippert Stadium. We'll have a great crowd. We'll certainly have a home-field advantage. We have to take advantage of that. Thank you.