Cincinnati Bearcat football adds key assistant coaches

New University of Cincinnati football coach Scott Satterfield added to his first Big 12 staff Wednesday by hiring Josh Stepp as receivers coach and Greg Gasparato as a linebackers coach.

Stepp comes from Satterfield's Louisville staff where he was tight ends coach and stayed back to call the plays in the Cardinals' 24-7 win over Cincinnati in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl. Prior to last season, Stepp was at Georgia State where he had been promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He also coached running backs and tight ends for the Panthers and is expected to coach UC receivers.

Stepp helped lead a Louisville offense that averaged more than 400 yards per game in 2022. He coached redshirt junior tight end Marshon Ford to honorable mention All-ACC accolades, as well. Stepp was a high school football coach for several years before joining the college coaching ranks. As a quarterback at Newberry (S.C.) College, he set program records for passing yards and touchdowns.

In 2019, the South Carolina native was part of the American Football Coaches Association 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Josh as a member of our offensive staff,” Satterfield said. “He will do a remarkable job teaching, recruiting, and most importantly, mentoring our student-athletes. Josh did an outstanding job for our team at Louisville last year, and he is a coach who has impressed me for a number of years – from his time at Georgia State to when he was a high school coach.”

Gasparato also comes from Louisville where he coached outside linebackers and is slated to do the same for the Bearcats. He coached Cardinal safeties in 2021. His prior experience was a year at Army and he served a couple of stints at Appalachian State where Satterfield coached before taking the Louisville job.

This past fall, his linebackers were instrumental in Louisville tallying 50 sacks, which led the nation. Senior linebacker Yasir Abdullah led the ACC with 9.5 sacks en route to First Team all-conference honors.

“Greg is one of the top young defensive coaches in the country,” Satterfield said. “He was an integral part of our defensive staff at Louisville, coaching safeties and outside linebackers during his time there. Greg is a great teacher of the game. He loves football, and his passion for the game makes him the kind of coach that players want to play for.”

Stepp and Gasparato are the latest former Louisville coach to come north with Satterfield joining quarterback coach Pete Thomas, running back coach De'Rail Sims, offensive line coach Nic Cardwell, linebackers coach Derek Nicholson and defensive coordinator Bryan Brown. Holdovers from the Luke Fickell staff are special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs who also will work with defensive backs and former Bearcat Walter Stewart who will work with the defensive line.

Palazeti Leads Football Sports Performance Staff

Alongside these hires, Bearcats’ Director of Football Sports Performance Niko Palazeti comes from Ohio State and formerly played for ex-UC coach Mark Dantonio at Michigan State. He has previously been at Mississippi State and Maryland and had been with the Buckeyes since 2017 under Mickey Marotti who was UC's strength coach in the Rick Minter/Bob Huggins basketball days.

Palazeti was a three-year member of the Michigan State football team and a two-time Spartan letter winner (2011 and 2012) before injuries prompted him to retire from the sport in 2013.

The Buckeyes held a record of 67-9, won four Big 10 championships and advanced to three College Football Playoffs during Palazeti’s six years on staff.

“Niko comes to us as one of the most highly respected strength and conditioning coaches in the country,” Satterfield said. “His work on the staff at Ohio State was key to the team’s success. He has assembled a great team, and I’m looking forward to watching them interact with our student-athletes when we start our offseason program in the next few weeks.”

Joining Palazeti on UC’s football sports performance staff are:

• Christopher Friend, Associate Director of Football Sports Performance

• Brandon Garcia, Assistant Director of Football Sports Performance

• MyQuon Stout, Assistant Football Sports Performance Coach

• Scott Ethington, Assistant Football Sports Performance Coach

Friend spent the last five years as a member of the Ohio State performance staff. In addition to working with football during his time with the Buckeyes, he oversaw all aspects of strength and conditioning and performance for both the men’s and women’s ice hockey programs. The women’s ice hockey team won the 2022 NCAA National Championship.

Garcia most recently served as the assistant strength and conditioning coach for UNLV football, beginning in the role in 2020. He previously served as a strength and conditioning coach/sports performance assistant for football at the University of Maryland in 2018.

Stout spent the previous four seasons as an assistant strength coach for the Louisville football program. He wrapped up his playing career in 2018, spending five seasons at Appalachian State under Satterfield. He started 38 of 39 games over his final three seasons at Appalachian State, tallying 82 tackles and earning All-Sun Belt Conference honorable mention honors as a junior.

Ethington previously served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for Marshall, beginning in the role in January of 2022. He worked with both the football and softball programs. Prior to Marshall, he was a strength and conditioning intern at Ohio State (2020-2021) and University of Maryland football (2019).

The Bearcats are expected to host several transfer recruits this weekend. Also, official announcements on an offensive coordinator and other player personnel staff should be coming soon.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC Bearcat football adds new offensive coaches to 1st Big 12 staff