Louisville Hires Lance Taylor as Offensive Coordinator

Scott Satterfield surprised many last season when he announced that he would not replace Dwayne Ledford’s role as Offensive Coordinator. The offense was still very productive but for the second straight season, the team struggled to match their yardage output with their scoring. Satterfield made it clear that he wanted to make some changes with his staff and he made a big one today with the announcement that Lance Taylor would be joining the staff as the Offensive Coordinator.

Taylor was rumored to be a candidate to join Satterfield’s initial staff as the wide receivers coach but he went with Notre Dame instead. He has been very successful there, coaching Kyren Williams to back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons and leading the Notre Dame running game to sold statistical finishes. Williams has been the star for ND but Chris Tyree and others have also played well for Taylor’s group.

It was rumored that Taylor could have been Satterfield’s choice to coach the wide receivers for his initial staff but Satterfield went with Gunter Brewer and Taylor ended up at ND. I’m not sure if one had to do with the other but Satterfield has been looking to add Taylor to the staff for a while. They have a history together as Taylor coached wide receivers at App State in 2009. Even if it was for one season, Taylor’s understanding of this offense combined with his time at ND, Panthers, and Stanford all point to a good influence on the scheme and overall offensive plan.

Satterfield will likely still call the plays as he’s done throughout his career. I know that some fans think that he shouldn’t do so but Louisville has had five offensive coordinators since 2014 and none of them have called a play. The addition of Taylor should remove a lot of the game planning responsibilities from Satterfield and allow him to oversee the full team. Taylor should also be able to bring some new things to the offensive scheme. A good example of this is Chris Klenakis bringing his experience with the “Pistol” offense that he helped run at Nevada. It became a staple of Bobby Petrino’s second stint at Louisville.

The question that still remains unanswered is how Taylor fits into the staff from a structure standpoint. UofL has yet to fill the position of tight ends coach. They also have to assign the duties of coaching the special teams. How Louisville goes about fitting Taylor in as a position coach is probably just as important as him being named the Offensive Coordinator. He has experience as a running backs coach and a wide receivers coach. There are only a handful of ways this can go and most of them will lead to questions from the fans and probably the players. Here’s to hoping they can finish off this addition without ruffling too many feathers.

Lance Taylor is the third coach to join the staff this off season and all three have power five experience. Satterfield has also added Deion Branch in a support role. A good start to the off season that will hopefully show up on the field in the fall.