Louisville football coach Scott Satterfield weighs in on Josh Heird as U of L's new AD

Louisville football coach Scott Satterfield voiced his support for Josh Heird after he officially became the program's athletic director Friday morning.

There's already a relationship established between the two, which makes for an easier adjustment for Satterfield. For the past two years, Heird has served as the sports administrator for football as well as men's basketball, men's and women's golf, baseball and swim and dive.

"The one thing that I know from having worked with him is just the integrity that he leads with, the respect that people have for him, the way he approaches everybody and he's very fair," Satterfield said of Heird. "Sometimes it's not what you want to hear, but he's fair with it, and I appreciate that straightforward approach. I just think it's gonna be an outstanding hire for us."

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The injury-riddled Cardinals football team went 6-7 in 2021 after falling to Air Force, 31-28, in the SERVPRO First Responders Bowl — its second-straight losing season.

After being announced as the interim athletic director in December, Heird reaffirmed Satterfield as U of L's football coach, which hasn't gone unnoticed by Satterfield.

"He's seen how we've operated the last few years, you know, part of those two years, were in COVID," said Satterfield, who's going into his fourth season as the Cardinals' head coach this fall. "It was hard to operate as it was for everybody."

Heird maintained his stance on the football program Friday.

"We have to be committed to football being good," he said. "We're going to continue to evolve and try to create and provide the resources they need to win football games."

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Some of those resources have recently gone to helping with recruiting. Satterfield credited his new athletic director with helping to boost the Cardinals' recruiting efforts during his time as the interim.

In April, the staff added John Herron as the recruiting coordinator and Clay Colvin was promoted to serve as the recruiting coordinator for creative media.

Two months later, Louisville's current recruiting class of 2023 is No. 7 in 247Sports' team rankings.

That group includes verbal commitments from four-star recruits in quarterback Pierce Clarkson, cornerback Aaron Williams, defensive lineman Adonijah Green and wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr., who is believed to be the Cards' highest-rated commit in ESPN's 300 rankings since its inception in 2006.

Moore Jr. is the fourth-ranked wideout in 247Sports' composite rankings and the 55th-rated player in the class of 2023.

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For context, the past four Cardinals recruiting classes had a combined four four-star signees, including class of 2022 signees defensive lineman Popeye Williams and wide receiver Devaughn Mortimer.

"I think you've seen in the last six months our recruiting is the best it's ever been in the history of Louisville football and Josh has been a big reason for that already, even when he wasn't the full time AD," Satterfield said. "I think now that he is, we'll just continue to move forward and continue to go to new heights."

Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Alexis_Cubit.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville football: Scott Satterfield supports new AD Josh Heird