Scott Satterfield Lambasts College Football Leadership
The 2020 college football season is careening towards cancellation, and Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield did not pull his punches when discussing the leaders across the sport that played a role in its seemingly inevitable downfall.
Addressing the media via teleconference following the conclusion of the program's sixth day of fall camp, he was not happy with the lack of a concrete and uniform plan across the sport in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Some of the leadership in some of these leagues and conferences are lacking in the fact that when we set a plan - this is what we're moving forward with - then let's stick to it. Until we don't need to stick to it anymore," he said Monday morning. "That's the frustrating part."
Just moments before he was made available, the Big Ten reportedly made the move to cancel the 2020 season just days after assigning dates to their updated scheduling model. Seemingly sudden decision making such as this is what primarily has Satterfield up in arms.
"We're playing with these 18 to 22-year-old's minds by some of these leagues doing this yo-yo," he said. "This is what we're gonna do one day, then two days later we're gonna do this right here. That's not leadership. We had months to plan out: how are we gonna come back, how are we gonna do this."
Satterfield went on to say that resorting to shutting down the upcoming season was the "easiest thing to do" and not indicative of true leadership.
"You plan your work, and then you make slight adjustments when you need to make adjustments," he said. "And you make adjustments and then you keep moving forward. The very easiest thing to do is to say we're shutting down."
He also made a note to say that it is unfair for programs such as Louisville who have abided by COVID-19 precautions from the beginning.
"We've done everything everybody's asked us to do. All the medical advice - we stuck with it. We're adamant about it," he said. "Initially our kids didn't like it, but you know what? They want to play. They're doing it, and they're sticking to it. It's paid off and it's worked out. Then all of a sudden we get negative talk coming in this weekend, and it's hurtful."
The NCAA hasn't given the sport any favors either. After weeks and months of continuously kicking the can down the road, on August 5 the Board of Governors finally set an August 21 deadline for the three divisions to make decisions on whether fall sports seasons and national championships will be held this year.
Despite all the speculation surrounding other leagues, Satterfield thinks that based on what he has heard, that the ACC will press onward.
"What we understand is that the ACC is moving forward," he said. "We're relying on our medical group that is over the ACC, and what they are projecting to us is that we're moving forward with everything."
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