University of Cincinnati: Bearcats
The University of Cincinnati began their football program in 1957 and through 1969 the program competed in the Missouri Valley Conference and won two conference championships. The program later shifted and joined the Conference USA where they would spend nine years. Now after spending nearly a decade in the American Athletic Conference the Bearcats are officially making the move to the Big 12 Conference for 2023.
This past football season the Bearcats were able to finish 9-4 overall and made their appearance in the 2022 Fenway Bowl, They lost 24-7. The Bearcats were led by Head Coach Luke Fickell but the program is entering the Big 12 with a new face. Fickell left for the University of Wisconsin.
Scott Satterfield becomes the 43rd head coach in program history.
Coach Satterfield spent the last four season with the Louisville Cardinals. This past year he led the Cardinals to a 7-5 record. He also became the first coach to lead a school from the Football Championship Subdivision to FBS in 2014. Satterfield said that experience will help him lead Cincinnati into the Big 12 conference.
This year the Bearcats are looking to improve their defense. Defensive tackle Jowon Briggs said he’s excited to move down the line and help get this defense up to par entering the new conference.
“I started at nose (tackle) last year and now I’m playing defensive end,” Briggs said. “It’s a lot of fun being out here a little bit more and you know to add on to that this defense is a lot different. This defense is a lot more aggressive, go and get up field, attack. Kind of create those seams whereas, in some different defenses an inverted seam would be a bad thing. This one you want the seam, you want to make something shake up there at the line because it makes it easy for guys to play target practice.”
Another change in the Bearcats offense: Evan Prater making the transition from quarterback to wide receiver.
Coach Satterfield mentioned that Prater is doing well with this transition, has powerful hands and has fully emerged as an offensive weapon. He also stated that he expects a lot out of the WR room this season with potential starting slot receiver Aaron Turner.
