With the majority of recruiting complete, University of Cincinnati head football coach Scott Satterfield finds himself in need of a defensive coordinator as the man who was associate head coach last season, Bryan Brown, has departed for Lane Kiffin's staff at Ole Miss.

Brown will be the co-defensive coordinator/secondary coach at his alma mater where he was a Rebel defensive back from 2003-2006. He also spent time on the Ole Miss coaching staff after his playing career until joining Scott Satterfield at Appalachian State. He then followed him to Louisville and Cincinnati.

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According to 247Sports.com, Ole Miss has the No. 15 incoming recruiting class and the No. 1 class of transfer portal players. UC's transfer portal class is currently ranked No. 25.

In his last season at Louisville before coming to Cincinnati, Brown's defense led the nation in sacks with 50. The 3-9 Bearcats, despite having Deontay Corleone, Jowon Briggs, Malik Vann and Eric Phillips plus talented linebackers, were held to 18 sacks this past season.

It's the second straight year UC lost a coordinator before spring practice. Last season, Tom Manning was hired from Iowa State to be the offensive coordinator before leaving to be tight ends coach for the NFL Colts. He was replaced by Brad Glenn from Virginia Tech.

Who's the next coordinator?

As always there will be some in-house candidates as well as some worthwhile names to look at around college football. In no particular order, here are some compelling names:

Ties to Satterfield

Greg Gasparato

Gasparato briefly came with Satterfield from Louisville to be UC's outside linebacker coach. In late February, he left to become defensive coordinator at Troy. The Trojans were third in the NCAA in sacks this season with 47, 12th in rushing defense and 14th in total defense. Gasparato became Troy's interim head coach when Tulane hired Jon Sumrall. He coached Troy in the Birmingham Bowl where they lost to Duke 17-10.

Nate Fuqua

Fuqua came to UC from Georgia State and was the co-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach this past season for the Bearcats. He served at Georgia State from 2017-2022. His 2021 team set a school record with 38 sacks. The Panthers also defeated Tennessee in 2019 and he was a Broyles Award nominee for top assistant in 2017. The former nose tackle coached at Wofford before that and is in the Terrier Hall of Fame.

Cort Braswell

Braswell was the inside linebackers coach for the Bearcats last season after serving as Army's outside linebackers coach in 2021-2022. Braswell was hired after the departure of Gasparato to Troy. He was outside linebackers coach at Appalachian State in 2020 and was a defensive quality control coach on Satterfield's first Louisville squad.

Scot Sloan

Sloan was defensive coordinator last season for Appalachian State, which went 9-5 and beat the Miami RedHawks 13-9 in the Cure Bowl in Orlando. He previously was with Satterfield at Appalachian State as co-defensive coordinator/recruiting coordinator/secondary coach between 2010-2017. From 2018-2021 he was at Georgia State as defensive coordinator/safeties coach and he was co-defensive coordinator at Army in 2022 in addition to coaching safeties.

Nate Woody

Woody has been Army's defensive coordinator for four seasons after serving as a defensive analyst for Michigan and Jim Harbaugh in 2019 and was defensive coordinator/outside linebackers coach at Georgia Tech in 2018. From 2013-2017 he was with Satterfield as Appalachian State defensive coordinator and before that was in the same capacity for Wofford between 2000-2012.

Chad Staggs

Skaggs last season was defensive coordinator for 7-6 Georgia State, which defeated Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Before that he was defensive coordinator for three seasons at Coastal Carolina and was interim head coach in their TicketSmarter BIrmingham Bowl appearance. He has also served as a defensive coordinator at Furman and Charleston Southern. On UC's current staff, tight ends coach Josh Stepp and offensive coordinator Brad Glenn have previously coached at Georgia State.

Derek Nicholson

Nicholson briefly came with Satterfield from Louisville to Cincinnati as linebackers coach before leaving to join the Miami Hurricanes. The 'Canes went 7-6, losing to Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl. Nicholson was with Satterfield's Louisville staff from 2020-2022 and spent four years at Southern Miss before that, as a defensive line coach and later as co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach. Nicholson was a standout linebacker at Florida State making the Dick Butkus and Chuck Bednarik Award watch lists in 2008.

Bearcat ties

Mike Mickens

Mickens was a Bearcat cornerback from 2005-2008 and has served as a Cincinnati assistant as well as at Indiana State, Idaho and Bowling Green. He's been at Notre Dame since 2020 and is the cornerbacks coach for the Irish as well as the defensive pass game coordinator under former UC defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman. Notre Dame was 10th in the nation in interceptions this season and No. 5 in total defense. Mickens has coached in nine bowl games.

Kerry Coombs

Coombs is in his second stint with the Bearcats. He was with Brian Kelly and Butch Jones from 2007-2011 until joining the staff of Urban Meyer at Ohio State between 2012-2017. He spent two seasons with the NFL Titans before returning to Ohio State as defensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021. The 2020 Buckeyes won the Big Ten championship and advanced to the College Football Playoff National Championship game. Coombs has coached numerous NFL draft choices.

Walter Stewart

Possibly a player's favorite, Stewart has been an outside linebackers coach under Fickell in 2022 and defensive line coach under Satterfield in 2023. Before UC, Stewart coached defensive lines at Temple, Northern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky and Florida A&M. He played defensive line for the Bearcats between 2009-2012.

Colin Hitschler

Hitschler is the co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach at Wisconsin under former UC coach Fickell. He previously was with the Bearcats between 2018-2022 serving first as a quality control coach, then as safeties coach leading the likes of James Wiggins and Bryan Cook. Before UC, he spent four seasons at South Alabama. He also has had NFL experience as a player personnel assistant with the Chiefs in 2010 and a training camp assistant with the Eagles in 2009. In 2022, On 3 listed Hitschler as one of the "rising-star assistants you need to know". Wisconsin finished 7-6 with a 35-31 loss to LSU in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa.

Intriguing name

Jim Leonhard

Leonhard was defensive backs and defensive coordinator at Wisconsin from 2017-2022. When Paul Chryst was dismissed at Wisconsin, Leonhard was the Badgers interim coach. He left after the head coaching job was given to former UC coach Luke Fickell. Leonhard is currently a defensive analyst at Illinois. The former safety played 10 years in the NFL.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC football without a defensive coordinator as Brown goes to Ole Miss