Nebraska Football: Satterfield’s job appears safe, but is a shift on the way?

For the Nebraska Football team, Matt Rhule has been tasked to develop the young talent, and to install a new philosophy and culture. While the defensive side of the ball is ahead of schedule, fans are understandably frustrated with the offensive development under Marcus Satterfield.

Among the calls for change on the Nebraska Football coaching staff, Rhule made clear that he values stability, and consistency over any type of internal overhaul.

"The answer in life sometimes is always to just change everything. Players want to transfer, everybody wants their head coach to fire everybody. Has that worked out here? Where has that worked out?"

In a profession that involves a yearly coaching carousel, anything is of course on the table. Given his latest statement, and past history with his staff, here are the three most likely scenarios for the upcoming offseason.

Satterfield remains as both Nebraska Football OC and QB coach

Say what you will about the lack of development. His most recent role at South Carolina was in this same capacity.  He has a proven record of improvement from year one to year two in his previous coaching experience. Fans were frustrated by the lack of consistency then, and we are hearing similar themes now.

Year one in Columbia saw an offense that totaled a bottom-tier 321.2 yards per game, and 21.3 points per game. While year two saw a bump to 381.2 yards per game, and 31.7 points per game.

Bottom line, Rhule is likely to try retain as much of the staff as possible, in the hopes that two years of the same system will be better for long term development of the program.

Satterfield shifts to TE Coach

The lack of QB development cannot be overlooked, and Nebraska could look for someone outside of the program to be the quarterback coach for the upcoming season. It is important to note that Rhule has a history of implementing coaching changes within the program to improve team success.

At Baylor, Satterfield was originally brought in as the head of recruiting, while Joey McGuire was the Tight Ends coach. The next season saw McGuire switch sides of the football, to coaching the defensive ends and promoting him to the tight ends position.

If someone else was brought in as a QB coach, it is possible to see a co-offensive coordinator approach just like at Baylor.

Repeat of the Temple Days for Satterfield

A likely scenario is a repeat of what we saw at Temple. He served as the OC/QB coach for two years, but in 2015, Rhule wanted to change the staff. He was then switched to the running backs coach, while remaining as the offensive coordinator. Glenn Thomas was brought in as the quarterbacks coach. This change resulted in improvement. Temple went from averaging 23.1 points per game and 308.4 yards a game in 2014 to averaging 29.8 points per game and 366.7 yards a game.

Currently, Glenn Thomas is an offensive assistant with the Pittsburgh Steelers, it’s no secret that their offensive staff may see a complete overhaul. Be on the lookout for a potential reunion on the offensive staff in Lincoln, Nebraska Football next year.