ESPN: Louisville's Scott Satterfield to Be Cincinnati HC; Teams Play in Fenway Bowl

Cincinnati reportedly plans to hire Louisville's Scott Satterfield as its next head football coach.

Pete Thamel of ESPN reported the six-year deal will be announced later Monday.

Cincinnati and Louisville are slated to play in the Fenway Bowl later this month. It's unclear if Satterfield will finish out his season with Louisville to play against his new team.

Satterfield, 49, has compiled a 25-24 record over four seasons at Louisville. The Cardinals have made three bowls but have never finished with more than eight wins.

Satterfield previously spent six years at Appalachian State, compiling a 51-24 record and three bowl wins. He is set to replace Luke Fickell, who took the head-coaching job at Wisconsin.

Fickell leaves behind a strong program that has won 57 games over the last six seasons. The Bearcats finished as a Top 10 team in 2020 and 2021, becoming the first Group of Five squad to make the College Football Playoff last season.

Cincinnati will join a revamped Big 12 in 2023 as the conference prepares for the departures of Texas and Oklahoma in 2025.

The program's decision to hire Satterfield may confuse some given his relative lack of success at Louisville. He'll leave the program with a worse record than his predecessor, Bobby Petrino, and with the second-worst record for a Louisville coach since the turn of the century.

At the time he came to Cincinnati, Fickell was one of the most highly sought-after assistant coaches in the nation. It wouldn't have been a surprise if the school dipped its toes into the assistant ranks for a replacement, but it's clear the administration valued head-coaching experience in the search.