Russ Huesman

Nearly every spot on new University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Russ Huesman’s staff has been filled, and most of his assistants already know their way around campus.

Of the eight coaches who have agreed to help Huesman with the Mocs, one played at UTC, two were UTC assistants earlier in their careers, one is from Chattanooga and two were retained from former coach Rodney Allison’s staff.

“I had a lot of these guys in mind as people I’d like to hire long before this process even started, and I was glad I was able to get them,” Huesman said. “It’s a lot like recruiting: You don’t want to miss out on anybody that you want.”

The coaches will be introduced at a news conference at 1 p.m. today at McKenzie Arena.

Wednesday night, Huesman, the former Richmond defensive coordinator and a 1983 UTC graduate, hired UT-Martin associate head coach Marcus Satterfield as the Mocs’ offensive coordinator. Satterfield, from Greenback, spent his freshman year at Chattanooga State before playing three seasons at East Tennessee State. He began his coaching career at UTC, where he was an offensive assistant from 1999 to 2001.

“One place I always had circled as very important to me is Chattanooga, and I’m definitely ecstatic about this opportunity,” Satterfield said Thursday night. “In a way I feel like I’m coming home.”

After leaving UTC, Satterfield coached at Tennessee for two years before spending a year at Richmond as the wide receivers coach. From there he coached at Western Carolina for two years before joining Jason Simpson’s staff at UT-Martin. Last season, his third with the Skyhawks, Satterfield coached the quarterbacks and receivers and was the passing game coordinator.

The Mocs’ defensive coordinator is Mike Elko, who held the same position at Hofstra for the past two seasons. Elko was the linebackers coach at Richmond before going to the New York school.

“Mike and I worked together for (two) years,” Huesman said. “He was my right-hand man. He’s very sharp, and a lot of the reason we were successful was because he was there.”

The other new UTC assistant with Richmond ties is Chattanooga native Will Healy, who was the backup quarterback on the Spiders’ national championship team this season. Healy, who graduated on Dec. 10, will serve as an offensive assistant for the Mocs and said he’s excited to have to opportunity to begin his coaching career in his hometown.

“It’ll be an awesome experience, and I’m thrilled to death to stay in Chattanooga and get to work with Coach Huesman,” Healy said. “It’s pretty neat that just a few weeks ago I got to play in the national championship game and now I’m a coach at UTC.”

The Mocs’ offensive line coach is Russ Ehrenfeld, a UTC teammate and roommate of Huesman who coached at Tennessee State last season. Ehrenfeld and Huesman were graduate assistant coaches together at South Carolina in the early 1980s.

Carter Cardwell returns to UTC as a defensive assistant after coaching at Sewanee for five seasons. Cardwell coached at UTC from 1997 to 2002.

Two of Allison’s assistants, Jason McManus and Fred Tate, have been retained by Huesman. McManus will remain the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator and Tate will continue to coach the defensive line.

Huesman also has hired Marcus West, who played for him at Memphis, as a defensive assistant. West was a two-time All-Conference USA defensive tackle and signed as an undrafted free agent with the Indianapolis Colts in 2006. He played in NFL Europe and the Canadian Football League before coaching last season at Division III Wartburg College in Iowa.