Scott Satterfield

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The University of Louisville has a football problem that has absolutely nothing to do with its 3-7 record.

In Scott Satterfield, it has a coach who did little to convince U of L fans he's not looking for the first flight, bus or Uber to Carolina -- North, South, East, West, Central.

The Cardinals have a coach who tried to argue the level of commitment from highly compensated coaches should be measured differently than the level of commitment expected from unpaid players because "coaches have families."

It has a coach who would not give a simple, "Yes," or "No," answer to the question about whether he informed his boss, Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra, that he planned to drive to Bowling Green, Ky., and talk to South Carolina AD Ray Tanner about the Gamecocks' job prior to their meeting last Friday.

Yes, Satterfield apologized to Louisville fans for the clumsy way he handled this mess. He did it three times, essentially an admission that this was at least a three-apology offense.

The apologies came during an awkward Monday media session that was cut off after 20 minutes.

It left Louisville fans wondering if Satterfield's level of commitment to the program is at less than the Bobby Petrino/Charlie Strong four-season level than the 10-year obsession of Howard Schnellenberger. He didn't convince me that he was on a collision course to conquer the Atlantic Coast Conference here.

Satterfield repeated his explanation that his interest in the South Carolina job was tied to geography. He's from North Carolina. His parents live in that part of the country.

That's understandable. It's also not changing.

Carolina is clearly on Satterfield's mind. He said the location was the only reason he agreed to the interview even though he "wasn't really interested."

When he was asked if he would consider a potential future opening at North Carolina State, North Carolina or Clemson, Satterfield said:

"I'm not going to sit here and say that I wouldn't. But I think (he laughed here) if anything comes out about a job that opens up in the future, it will definitely be handled a lot different …

"… if it is something out there that is enticing, it is going to have to be very, very serious and something you can be out front about and say, 'Listen, man, here is something that maybe, whatever it may be, we're interested in this because of this, this, this. Hey, We're going to take a look and then we'll go from there.'"

That was not the most head-scratching moment of the session, which was cut off with more questions in the chat that would have likely upset Louisville fans.

Asked a simple question about whether he told Tyra about his Friday plans, Satterfield tap-danced.

"Well, we certainly had conversations throughout, really the whole time that I've been here," Satterfield said.

"And the conversations that we have had are obviously between us. Between an AD and a head coach. I'll just leave it at that."

Sorry, but I will take that as a "No," that Satterfield did not inform Tyra -- until one of them says on the record that is not how it went down.

The session ended before I was able to ask a second or third question, I texted Tyra Monday afternoon and asked if he knew about his coach's plan on Friday.

No response -- yet.

Others insist those were not the most cringeworthy answers. Plenty of hands went up after the next exchange.

With the problems created by the novel coronavirus, this has been a daunting college football season. Like many coaches, Satterfield has talked often about the importance of commitment.

He was asked about a potential disconnect with players, who are being asked to focus on commitment while he went through a three-week dance over another job before the end of his second season here. 

Is that, welllll, commitment?

"As players, it's a little bit different than coaches," Satterfield said.

"And I know that sometimes we like to lump coaches in with players. As a player, you're there for three to four years and then you're done.

"As coaches … as players you don't have a family. It's just you. As coaches, I'm just thinking in general terms here, coaches have wives and kids. As a job are they going to be able to be at a job for 40 years. There are a lot of different things involved with coaching."

Maybe that will play with the players (and their families) or with recruits (and their families). Players who risk injury on every snap -- and aren't being paid. 

Considering the Cardinals have a meaningless game against Wake Forest Saturday and national signing day is on the calendar next week, we'll find out.

On Monday, Scott Satterfield had a chance to answer many of the questions he created by his interest in the South Carolina football job. Instead, he created more.

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