LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The days have been a blur for Scott Satterfield.

They start with early wakeups at the Hilton Garden Inn, then a drive of less than a mile to the Howard Schnellenberger Football Complex. In a sparse office that features little more than a tin of Christmas cookies and an unopened gift basket, he’s been immersed in recruiting, meeting players, watching film, assembling a staff, greeting boosters and recruiting some more. Then he drives back to the Hilton at night, living out of the single suitcase he brought here on Dec. 4.

It’s a bit lonely, with his wife and three children back home six hours away. Lonely but busy.

On the few occasions when the Louisville coach has had some downtime, he’s jumped in his Jeep Rubicon and toured his new home. Satterfield has driven around neighborhoods looking at houses and schools, thinking about where to relocate the family. The former Appalachian State coach has checked out the downtown, a far bigger and busier urban center than the place he’s spent most of the past 28 years of his life — Boone, North Carolina, population 19,205. He’s gained about 10 pounds eating out, especially enjoying the steak he had recently at Le Moo in the Highlands neighborhood.

Satterfield described his first two weeks on the job thusly to Yahoo Sports on Wednesday: “Meeting and eating.”

And, when time allows, driving. Guided by his Waze app, Satterfield is steadily learning the difference between the Watterson Expressway and the Gene Snyder Freeway, both of which circle the city. He’s learning the West End, South End and East End — there is no North End, just the Ohio River which serves as the border to Indiana. Mile by mile, he’s wrapping his arms around a big job in an unfamiliar setting.

If there were a Waze app for the football journey from 2-10 back to being a contender in the Atlantic Coast Conference, it would not show a short route. It’s going to be a haul.

“I just want to get going,” the 45-year-old Satterfield said. “We just want to go. But this will be a marathon, not a sprint. You’ll go crazy if you’re not patient. We’re in a business where a sense of urgency is key, but you always need to keep the big picture in mind. We know where we’re headed, but it’s going to take a little time to get there.”

That’s because Bobby Petrino left behind a mess at Louisville. A program propped up by the brilliance of 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson abruptly collapsed when he went pro, exposing glaring deficiencies in talent, toughness and leadership. The rebuild is substantial enough that Satterfield envisions winter conditioning and spring practice being devoted more to building culture and coaching effort than implementing schemes and strategy.

The Petrino shortcomings expand from there — he was lousy with the media and disconnected from local high school coaches, two of the reasons he had virtually no advocates when the going got tough this past season. When Satterfield made a point of visiting several local high schools during his first week on the job, inviting the coaches to attend spring practice, the reaction was giddy surprise.

“They were pumped and excited that I was actually in the schools,” Satterfield said. “They were very receptive. It’s not my fault what happened in the past.”

View photos Louisville fired Bobby Petrino on Nov. 11 after a 2-10 season. (AP) More

One of those visits was to Manual High School, not far from the Louisville campus, and it helped land running back Aidan Robbins — a 6-foot-3, 225-pounder who committed to the Cardinals when Petrino was the coach, then looked at BYU and Colorado State before re-committing to Satterfield.

Robbins was one of just four signees Louisville announced on Wednesday — a natural byproduct of a new coach being hired just two weeks earlier. It’s quite possible that the Cardinals had the quietest signing day in the country.

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