Louie the Cardinal, Cole Bentley, entrance Louisville vs. Wake Forest 10-27-2018 Photo by Austin Sullivan TheCrunchZone.com

Cort Dennison & Stephan Field Re-Join Louisville Football Staff

Mark BlankenbakerJanuary 4, 2019

Cort Dennison and Stephen Field, former members of the University of Louisville football staff, are returning to the Cardinals for new head coach Scott Satterfield.

Dennison will serve as the co-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach, while Field has been tabbed the director of recruiting in a move that was announced Friday.

“Cort is one of the top young assistant coaches in the country, and is very familiar with the University of Louisville, having spent four seasons here and coached many of our players,” Satterfield said. “He’s widely regarded as one of the top recruiters in the country after assisting in signing a top-five class in December.

“Stephen is one of the tops in the business, and has established relationships in the state of Florida and in many of our key recruiting areas. He put together one of the nation’s top classes last year and was instrumental in recruiting many of the key young players on our current team and bringing together the best signing class in school history.”

Before coaching one season at Oregon last year, Dennison spent four seasons with the Cardinals (2014-17), where he established himself as a quality young coach and one of the best recruiters in the nation.

A Salt Lake City, Utah, native, Dennison coached the outside linebackers and assisted in bringing one of the highest-rated recruiting classes in Oregon history.

For his abilities, Dennison was named to 247Sports’ 30 Under 30 coaching list in 2017 and 2018. Before moving west, he ranked seventh on InsidetheACC’s Top 10 Recruiters list after the 2017 season. This past season, Dennison was chosen to ESPN’s 40 under 40.

On the field, Dennison mentored Justin Hollins and Jalen Jelks, both who earned first-team all-Pac 12 accolades, with Hollins being the only player in college football with five sacks, five forced fumbles and an interception.

Dennison was the Cardinals’ inside linebackers coach, co-special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator in 2017. The year prior, he was the assistant secondary coach and recruiting coordinator. Dennison joined the UofL staff in 2014 as a defensive graduate assistant (linebackers) before working as the director of on-campus recruiting in 2015.

With Dennison directing Louisville’s inside linebackers in 2017, Dorian Etheridge, a rising junior on the Cardinals’ roster, earned ESPN Freshman All-America honors after becoming the first true freshman in school history to lead the team in tackles (83).

As assistant secondary coach in 2016, Dennison started his career helping the Cardinals complete the year tied for 22nd nationally and third in the ACC with 15 interceptions. The team ranked 14th in the nation in total defense (322.2 ypg) and 37th in pass defense (207.1 ypg).

Before joining the Louisville staff, Dennison worked as a graduate assistant at Western Kentucky in 2013, where he assisted with the linebackers. In 2012, Dennison was the linebackers coach at Edmonds Woodway High School in Edmonds, Wash.

As a player, Dennison was a linebacker at Washington, where he served as a captain and was the team’s most outstanding defensive player as a senior in 2011. Dennison earned second-team all-Pac-12 honors after leading the league with 128 total tackles, including a career-high 15 in the Alamo Bowl against Baylor. Dennison also received second-team academic All-Pac-12 accolades as a senior after earning honorable mention recognition as a sophomore and junior.

Dennison graduated from Washington with a communications degree in 2011 before earning his master’s from Louisville in sport administration in 2015.

One of the most renowned and respected recruiters in the nation, Field helped compile a 22-member class at Louisville in 2018 as the director of high school relations. Nineteen student-athletes signed in December, with eight enrolling in January. The class featured a school-best 11 four-star recruits and a pair of Under Armour All-Americans.

Before coming across the country to Louisville, Field put the Oregon program into the top five of the recruiting rankings. The Ducks opened the early signing period by receiving 22 letters of intent, including from the No. 1-ranked player in the entire country according to ESPN. The class was ranked first in the Pac-12 by all the major recruiting services and No. 5 nationally by both ESPN and 247Sports.

It was the most regarded signing class since 2011. The recent Oregon class signed is considered one of the 10 best in the nation, comparable to those signed by Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M, Louisiana State, Oklahoma and Clemson.

Before taking the recruiting route, Field coached the tight ends and served as the recruiting coordinator at Florida A&M in 2016.

A reputable high school coach in the state of Florida, Field was highly recognized for his ability to develop talent at the prep and collegiate levels, fostering over 100 collegiate athletes during his coaching career. Nearly two dozen former players are or were in the NFL, including 2016 NFL first round pick and current Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Artie Burns.

Field was a highly decorated football head coach and offensive coordinator at North Marion Senior High during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. The 2015 Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA) Coach of the Year and a two-time WHOA Coach of the Year (2014, 2015), Field’s teams broke seven offensive school records and averaged 40.5 points per game.

The West Palm Beach, Fla. native guided his 2015 team to the regional quarterfinals, when his squad led the county in passing, rushing and scoring.

Field was selected the offensive coordinator for the 2015 Offense-Defense All-American game in Orlando, Fla., leading the team to victory on ESPN, and produced six players selected to play in the All-American game, a Marion County record.

Prior to his stint at North Marion, Field served as head coach and offensive coordinator at Miami Northwestern High (2012-14), where he restored the perennial prep power to prominence, guiding them to the playoffs and a regional appearance in his first season.

During his tenure at Northwestern, 46 football players – tops in Florida – signed collegiate football scholarships.

Field also served a three-year stretch from 2009-11 at Hampton (Va.) as running backs coach, recruiting coordinator, run game coordinator and director of operations. There, he coached and developed two of the MEAC’s top running backs, who ranked in the league’s top 10 in rushing.

Before coaching at Hampton, Field was a three-year defensive staff assistant and special teams coordinator at Miami (2006-08). He recruited NFL talents Travis Benjamin, Laron Byrd and Damien Berry.

Before Miami, Field was an assistant coach at Glades Central High in Belle Glade, Fla., serving as the offensive run game coordinator, running backs coach and academic coach. He mentored back-to-back 1,000-yard rushers in Aston Samuels and Damien Berry. In 2006, Glades Central won the Class 3A championship.

He spent a season at Deerfield Beach High, where he coached 1,000-yard rusher Roderick Ferguson, and four years at Miami Central High, where he coached the top two statistical ranking wide receivers in Dade County in 2002 in all-Big East selection Willie Foster and Marcus Daniels, both standouts at Rutgers.

Scholastically, Field was a two-time all-state selection at Palm Beach Lakes High, helping lead them to the only undefeated season in school history.

Field went on to play tight end at Tuskegee, where he later earned a bachelor’s in business management and a master’s degree in liberal studies from Miami.

Field has a daughter, Le’ah Skye Field.