Cincinnati Football: Bearcats set to hire new general manager, director of recruiting strategy

Over the last several days, Cincinnati hired a pair of former Ohio State personnel directors in newly-named general manager Zach Grant and director of recruiting strategy Cass Simmons.

Grant was named the Bearcats general manager last week after one season as Ohio State’s director of player personnel. Prior to that, Grant held the same position at Western Kentucky.

After earning Football Scoop’s Player Personnel Director of the Year during his time at Western Kentucky, Grant was hired by Ohio State last year and helped compile a top-5 recruiting class.

Simmons spent last year as the Buckeyes recruiting and personnel assistant before reportedly being hired by Cincinnati as director of recruiting strategy yesterday according to On3.

Cincinnati Football: Bearcats set to hire new general manager, director of recruiting strategy

Grant and Simmons will be instrumental in helping the Bearcats program transition into the Big 12 Conference with a focus on improving player personnel and increasing the recruiting reach.

Cincinnati head coach Scott Satterfield continues to fill out his staff, bringing over assistants from Louisville including quarterbacks coach Pete Thomas and linebackers coach Derek Nicholson.

In addition to former Cardinals defensive coordinator Bryan Brown joining the Bearcats staff, there are six other assistant coaches that recently followed Satterfield to Cincinnati.

Other coaches that left Louisville alongside Satterfield include offensive line coach Nic Cardwell, running backs coach De’Rail Sims, recruiting coordinator Carter Wilson and more.

Cincinnati Football: Pete Thomas, Derek Nicholson join the Bearcats coaching staff

Thomas was originally hired as an offensive assistant coach by Satterfield at Appalachian State before making the move to Louisville and being promoted to quarterbacks coach last year.

Nicholson was a standout linebacker at Florida State from 2006-2007 and spent two years in the NFL before being hired by Louisville as outside linebackers and defensive ends coach in 2014.

Cardwell played tight end at Appalachian State under Satterfield and coached multiple positions at his alma mater before joining Louisville’s staff as an offensive quality control coach in 2019.

After being defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach at Appalachian State and Louisville for over a decade, Brown will remain on Satterfield’s coaching staff as they shift to Cincinnati.