Ohio State’s Ryan Day is the only other first-year head coach at a Power Five school. Power Fives usually hire head coaches with previous experience running a program. Six Power Five Programs have head coaches in their first position at the top level of college football. That includes two in the ACC.
Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins and Louisville’s Scott Satterfield are entering their first seasons as power five head coaches. Collins and Diaz will be linked for a few reasons. Both are former coordinators at Mississippi State under now Florida head coach Dan Mullen. Diaz was set to succeed Collins at Temple.
Miami football schedule includes three teams listed as on the rise https://t.co/DQHe0RC3up
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Satterfield has spent the majority of his coaching career at Appalachian State. He was a quarterback for the Mountaineers from 1991-95. Satterfield has coached there since 1998 with the exception of being the QB coach at Toledo in 2009 and offensive coordinator at FIU in 2010-11. This will be his first season in the Power Five.
Satterfield spent the last six seasons as the head coach at App State and lead the Mountaineers to a 51-24 record. One of those losses was 45-10 defeat to Miami in 2016. That was Diaz and Richt’s first season in South Florida. Diaz’s Hurricanes defense held Satterfield Mountaineers offense to 276 yards.
The two will match strategy again in their first seasons leading their programs on November 9 at Hard Rock Stadium. Miami will be favored. The Hurricanes host Georgia Tech October 19 in another game they will be expected to win. Diaz should rise up this list exponentially a year from now.