Furman's Jimmy Satterfield Enshrined Into South Carolina Football Hall-of-Fame

Furman head coach Jimmy Satterfield (1986-1993 /photo courtesy of Furman athletics)

On April 18 at Hotel Hartness in Greenville, SC, the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame honored its 2024 Hall-of-Fame Class, in what was its 11th such annual celebration of the best talent to ever play football in the Palmetto State.  

Among those honored were a pair Southern Conference legends, as well as a future Southern Conference player, who is headed to Furman University to play for head coach Clay Hendrix's Paladins this fall. 

The Citadel's former Hall-of-Fame running back Stump Mitchell and former Furman head coach Jimmy Satterfield were the latest Southern Conference inductees from the Palmetto State, while future Paladin offensive lineman Steven O'Dell (Broome High School) was one of three honorees from the state's prep ranks to win the Bridge Builder Award.'

In three separate articles, I will take a look at each honoree, and with both Satterfield and Mitchell, I will take a detailed look back at the careers of both. I had the pleasure of catching up with Mitchell, as well as the future Paladin O'Dell on a momentous, warm evening, as South Carolina's media and other dignitaries gathered to remember and celebrate the accomplishments of the latest inductees voted into the state's Football Hall-of-Fame. 

Satterfield, who passed away in May of 2019 due to complications from heart surgery, was honored posthumously, as his son Shaun Satterfield accepted the award on behalf of his late father. He was 79 years old. 

The late head coach of the Paladins helped lead Furman to its greatest accomplishment as an athletics program, leading Furman to a 17-12 win over Georgia Southern in the Division I-AA (now FCS) national title championship game in Pocatello, Idaho in what was his third season as the Furman head coach. Satterfield coached the Paladins from 1986-93, posting what was a 66-29-3 mark during those seven seasons as the head coach of the Paladins. 

Mitchell finished out his distinguished career at The Citadel in 1980, and holds The Citadel's rushing records for rushing yards in a single-season (1,647) and career rushing yards (4,062) and was a three-year starter for the Bulldogs. He spent nine years in the NFL as a running back with both the then Phoenix Cardinals (now Arizona Cardinals) and his last season he spent with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1990. 

O'Dell was among the three finalists honored by the SC Football Hall of Fame with the Bridge Builder Excellence Award, as he was honored alongside Hampton County High School running back Zion Dobson, who is headed to North Carolina Central next season and offensive lineman Josiah Thompson from Dillon High School, who is headed to South Carolina next season. 

Satterfield and Mitchell were honored alongside Xavier Legette (South Carolina/Blanchard Rogers Trophy winner), tight end Ben Coates (Greenwood HS/Livingstone College/New England Patriots/Baltimore Ravens), running back Terry Allen (Clemson/Washington Redskins/Minnesota Vikings), and running back Harold Green (Stratford HS/South Carolina/Cincinnati Bengals/Los Angeles Rams/Atlanta Falcons). 

First up is the late Jimmy Satterfield, which will be followed in the coming days by an article on Stump Mitchell, and finally, Steven O'Dell, who is busy readying himself for his first season of college football in 2024, as he will be suiting up on SoCon Saturdays this fall for the Furman Paladins. 

Jimmy Satterfield: 

A native of Lancaster, S.C., Jimmy Satterfield came to Furman in 1973, as he was hired to be part of Art Baker's staff, and it would be one that would ended up turning the Paladin football program into one that would become the gold standard by which to be compared on the SoCon gridiron.

In what was his third season as the head coach, Furman would break through and win the program's only national title, defeating Delaware (21-0), Marshall (24-13), Idaho (38-7) and Georgia Southern (17-12) to claim the title and was part of what was a 13-2 season.

In his 21 years of service to the Furman football program, Satterfield was a part of 16 winning seasons, which included nine Southern Conference titles, and of course, the 1988 national title, which was the first-ever for a Southern Conference program. The 66-29-3 record as a head coach ranks second in program history behind only Dick Sheridan for winning percentage (.689). 

Satterfield would become known as one of the top coaches of the triple-option offense in all of college football, and he would start his career as an offensive backs coach under Art Baker in 1973, which followed a nine-year stint at Eau Claire High School, where he was both assistant and head coach, and two seasons as the head coach at Irmo High School. 

During his time at Eau Claire, he posted a 30-4-1  record and helped the Shamrocks to the 1970 Upper State championship. He would also serve as the Shrine Bowl head coach and in his two seasons at Irmo, helped lead the Yellow Jackets to a 19-4 mark. 

In 1978 when Dick Sheridan took over as the Paladins' head coach following Art Baker's departure to become The Citadel's head coach, Satterfield would be promoted to offensive coordinator. Satterfield would play a key role in helping Furman to its first of a league standard 15 Southern Conference titles, as the Paladins would finish with an 8-3 record. 

That '78 season, which featured a high-powered running attack, would be a key ingredient to Furman's success over the next seven seasons, as the Paladins would claim five more league crowns and claim four wins over NCAA Division I-A opposition, defeating South Carolina (28-23, 1982), Georgia Tech (17-14, 1983), North Carolina State (35-31, 1984) and North Carolina State (45-24, 1985). 

Satterfield was also a part of Furman's first three Division I-AA playoff appearances as a program during his time as the offensive coordinator, and saw the team's transition from its former home (Sirrine Stadium) to its current on-campus home (Paladin Stadium), which has served as the team's home stadium since 1981.

The centerpieces of Satterfield's ground attack in 1985 were running back John Bagwell and quarterback Bobby Lamb, as well as current head coach Clay Hendrix, as Furman became the second SoCon program to ever play for a national championship, dropping what was a heartbreaking 44-42 decision to Georgia Southern in Tacoma. 

After Sheridan stepped down to take over as the head coach at North Carolina State in 1986, Satterfield assumed the head coaching role, and the Paladin football program didn't miss a beat, and would help elevate the program to new heights a couple of years later.

The 1986 season would see the Paladins return to the Division I-AA postseason, and led by an offense that paced the Southern Conference in total offense (364.3 YPG), rushing offense (258.0 YPG) and scoring offense (29.8 PPG), while the defense also led the league in all four major categories: scoring defense (14.6), total defense (233.0 YPG), passing defense (120.6 YPG), and rushing defense (112.3 YPG). 

One of the main highlights of the season was a 17-17 tie with Division I-A Georgia Tech, however, the Paladins would finish the season with a 4-2-1 in the league standings, which was behind Appalachian State (6-0-1) and Western Carolina (5-2-0) in the league's final standings. It would still be enough, however, to qualify the Paladins for a fourth playoff appearance in the past five seasons, however. 

Unfortunately, in the opening round of the playoffs, the Paladins would run into Division I-AA juggernaut Eastern Kentucky, dropping what was a 23-10 contest at Paladin Stadium. Satterfield's first full season as a head coach was a success, however, as the Paladins finished with a 7-3-1 record in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Paladin football. 

Furman would duplicate that third-place finish in the league, however, it wouldn't include a playoff appearance for the Paladins. Furman would finish the 1987 season with what was a disappointing 6-5 record, however, the Paladins would begin their charge towards a national title a year later in what was the final game of the '87 campaign, rolling up what was a resounding 58-13 win in Charleston over arch-rival The Citadel, as the win would end up helping start Furman’s momentum towards what would result into the program’s only national title just a year later. In the win over the Bulldogs, Satterfield’s offense would end up rolling up what was a school record 676 yards of total offense en route to the lopsided win.

Projected to finish fourth in the preseason at the SoCon Media Rouser in 1988, the Paladins would go about using those low expectations in the preseason as the proverbial chip on the shoulder it needed to propel it towards greatness. 

The Paladins would finish off what was a 13-2 record by defeating Georgia Southern, 17-12, in the national title game. Jeff Blankenship’s INT of Georgia Southern quarterback Raymond Gross with 17 seconds left helped put the finishing touches on what was a memorable moment for Satterfield and the Furman athletics program as a whole. 

While Satterfield was a noted savant of teaching the option offense, the ‘88 Paladins were known mostly by their prowess on the defensive side, which led the nation in scoring defense (9.7 PPG), while finishing the season as both the league champion in rushing defense () and total defense ().

Pacing that stellar play on the defensive side of the football was defensive end Kelly Fletcher, who paced the league with 14.5 quarterback takedowns from his defensive end spot. 

The next season under Satterfield, the Paladins looked well on their way to turning the national championship trick once again, however, an injury to starting quarterback Frankie DeBusk in Furman’s 24-10 opening round win over William & Mary proved to be too much to overcome. 

Though the Paladins would come from behind to defeat Youngstown State, 42-23, the following week, the Paladins would eventually run out of steam in the Division I-AA semifinals, and what once looked to be a magical repeat performance produced only a cold winter heartbreak in snowy Paladin Stadium, as Stephen F. Austin would end up stealing a 21-19 win over the Paladins, as Furman completed Satterfield's third season as the head coach with a 12-2 record.

The '89 Paladins recorded 39 sacks during the campaign, including a school-record 16 quarterback takedowns from defensive end Kelly Fletcher. With that record-breaking season, Fletcher was able to follow in the footsteps of linebacker Blankenship, taking home the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year honor as well as garnering the South Carolina State Player of the Year.

Also worthy of note was the performance of Furman center Steve Duggan, who was literally the centerpiece of Satterfield's option attack--the fulcrum by which the machine was reliant upon. Despite missing four games due to injury, Duggan would become the first Paladin since 1951 to garner the SoCon's Jacobs Blocking Award, which is given to the SoCon's top offensive lineman. 

Many in the Furman community will tell you that Satterfield's 1989 Furman team was the best in school history, and should it have found a way past SFA in the Division I-AA semifinals in Greenville, it would have set up the ultimate rematch between the Paladins and the Georgia Southern Eagles in the national title game. Oh what might have been! The Eagles would go on to defeat the Lumberjacks, 37-34, in Statesboro, finishing the 1989 campaign a perfect 14-0.

The 1990 Furman team would end up being Satterfield's final Southern Conference championship winning team. The Paladins would welcome quarterback Frankie DeBusk back to the controls of the offense, and with All-American running back Carl Tremble 

The Paladins finished off a '90 season that saw them finish with a 9-4 mark, including a 6-1 record in Southern Conference play. 

The 1990 Paladin offense was among Satterfield's more explosive and versatile units, with the Paladins taking a few more chances in the passing game, and by now, Donald Lipscomb had emerged as one of the league's top deep threats, and his ability to stretch opposing defensive units on the regular made the Paladins tough to stop.

It would be a season that would see DeBusk set a then Furman record with 2,035 passing yards en route to being named the SoCon's Offensive Player of the Year. 

The Paladins would have to wait until the final game of the season to claim the Southern Conference title, as once again The Citadel came to Greenville with a good team and one that itself was playing for a league title under the direction of head coach Charlie Taafe.

However, in front of the third-largest crowd in program history (18,190), the Paladins were able to pick up what was a 30-17 win and clinch their third-straight Southern Conference crown, which includes the program's second-straight outright Southern Conference title. 

In the playoffs, the Paladins would open in impressive fashion, however, would have to do so away from the friendly confines of Paladin Stadium, taking on the Roy Kidd-led Eastern Kentucky Colonels--a team that was arguably known as the gold standard of FCS football in the early 1980s, including winning the 1979 and '82 Division I-AA national titles, respectively. 

The Paladins went from playing in front of one of the largest crowds in its program history to one of the smallest in its short playoff history, as just 4,528 fans were on hand on a chilly afternoon at Roy Kidd Stadium to take in the contest between the Paladins and Colonels. 

Playing before a large EKU crowd on-hand at Roy Kidd Stadium in Richmond, KY, as the 12th-ranked Paladins took on a Colonel team that sported a 10-1 record and ranked No. 5 in the nation, entering the playoffs as one of the primary Division I-AA title contenders. 

In Satterfield's first season as the head coach in 1986, the Colonels came to Paladin Stadium and handed Furman a season-ending, 23-10, setback in the opening round of the Division I-AA playoffs.

Some four years removed, Satterfield and the Paladins would exact revenge in a big way, as the Paladins delivered a 45-17 beatdown of EKU, amassing 586 yards of total offense, which included 292 through the air and another 294 yards on the ground, using a near perfectly balanced offensive attack that the Colonels couldn't account for the entire afternoon.

Satterfield utilized the the downfield passing game, particularly the deep ball, which  quarterback Frankie DeBusk and wideout Donald Lipscomb utilized with some element of surprise to rip open the normally sound Colonel defense. In fact, DeBuskj had one of his best passing days as a Paladin signal-caller, completing 13-of-19 passes for 292 yards and a touchdown. 

Furman's 294 yards on the ground came despite the fact the Colonels entered game surrendering just 79.8 YPG on the ground. The 586 yards of total offense accounted for Furman’s most dominating effort on the offensive side of the ball for the entire 1990 season.

Following the win over the Colonels, the Paladins made their way west to Reno, Nevada to face off against the Nevada Wolfpack at Mackey Stadium. The Chris Ault-led Wolfpack featured the Pistol Offense, which was one of the most potent attacks in all of Division I college football (FBS or FCS). 

Like the matchup with EKU a week prior, the game between Furman and Nevada would turn out to be the second all-time meeting between the two, with Furman having claimed a 35-12 win over the Wolfpack in 1985 at Paladin Stadium.

With the offense like the one the Wolfpack featured, they could never be completely out of a football game. When Furman assumed a 28-7 third quarter lead following a Brad Stephens 40-yard scoring reception from quarterback Frankie DeBusk with just 1:16 left in the third quarter, it must have given Paladin fans and maybe Satterfield himself a reasonably comfortable feeling, especially since the Paladins had knocked Nevada starting quarterback Fred Gatling out of the game with an injury.

It would turn out to be 'fools gold', as Chris Vargas came off the bench to rescue the Wolfpack, leading three unanswered touchdown drives to tie the football game, 28-28.  

When Gatling was in the game running Ault's offense, his version of the Pistol Offense became known as the "Gatling gun" offense. Vargas had his own strengths and skill-set, too, as it showed and though he had played plenty during the season for Nevada, the Paladins looked ill-prepared to stop Vargas. 

The game would turn out to be a shootout between two different, but outstanding offensive minds, in Furman's Satterfield and Nevada's Ault.  Satterfield favored the ground and the option game, scheming up a defense as well as any coach to put them in a place where he wanted them to bust the big run. 

Ault's pistol offense was revolutionary, and often utilized matchups due to the peculiar presentation of having the running back lineup up a good seven yards behind the line of scrimmage behind the quarterback in shotgun. In fact, the Wolfpack going under center was a foreign concept. 

The offense was also the first to utilize the versatility of a really athletic quarterback that could not only throw, but offered a running threat, and a running back that could not only run, but was a viable receiving threat downfield. It was as tough as any offense in the nation to stop. 

The Paladins still should have been safe holding a 28-13 fourth quarter lead, however, a 1-yard scoring run by star running back Ray Whalen and a Ross Ortega 13-yard scoring pass from Vargas and successful two-point conversion on a 2-yard scoring catch from Joe King from Vargas would tie the football game, 28-28, with just 16 seconds remaining in the game. 

Much like the 2023 playoff loss at Montana, failures in the special teams department proved to be costly for the Paladins in that 1990 clash with the Wolfpack, as Furman's final two punts of the game covered just 15 and 22 yards, respectively, setting up Nevada in excellent field position to ultimately tie the game.

The game would head to overtime, and it would mark the longest game in Division I-AA playoff history at the time, as the overtime procedure was still in its infancy at that point in time throughout the entirety of college football. The overtime game for Furman was the first in its history that it had dealt with the college football tie breaking procedure.

Glen Conally had a chance to win the game in the first overtime, however, his 47-yard field goal attempt fell just short, as the Wolfpack faithful on-hand at Mackey Stadium held its collective breath. The game remained tied, 28-28, at the end of one overtime. 

In the second overtime, the Paladins used a Billy Stockdale 13-yard run to re-take the lead, 35-28, following Glen Connally's PAT. 

However, the Wolfpack seemingly had new life following Connally's potential game-winning miss, and with its first possession since that miss, answered Stockdale's TD with a Whalen 1-yard plunge, tying the contest 35-35, sending the game to yet another overtime. 

In the third overtime, Vargas connected with Tremelle Taylor for a gain of 17 yards and would set up Whalen's fourth touchdown of the game--another one-yard scoring run--as Nevada won a classic 42-35 triple-overtime game against the Paladins in thrilling fashion.

For Satterfield and the Paladins, however, there was only heartbreak. The epic offensive duel saw the Wolfpack roll up 611 yards of total offense, post 31 first downs and record 114 snaps in the game. The Wolfpack attempted an amazing 67 passes and rushed it 39 times.

The loss to Nevada was a discernible turning point in Furman's golden era of football and Satterfield's Hall-of-Fame career as the head coach. The Paladins would never reach the postseason again in Satterfield's final three seasons at the helm of the program, entering into a slow decline from the lofty standards reached by reaching the mountaintop of Division I-AA football in 1988.

The 1991 season would see the Paladins lose their edge and fall victim to a bit of bad luck, too, as the 'Dins finished 7-4 and missed the Division I-AA playoffs for the first time in four years. The Paladins lost rare consecutive home games to Marshall (L, 35-38) and Appalachian State (L, 26-23 3OTs). 

Marshall's 38-35 win over the Paladins marked the third time in the past four regular-season matchups that the Thundering Herd was able to upend Furman. The 38 points scored by the Thundering Herd marked the most by a Furman opponent since the facility opened a decade earlier.

Despite the loss, Furman played well defensively, out-gaining the Herd, 353-258, but special teams once again factored into a close loss, as Troy Brown's 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown a little over five minutes prior to the half gave Marshall all the momentum heading into the halftime locker room. 

The 26-23 loss to App State marked the first game in Southern Conference history to be decided in overtime, moving the Paladins' record in overtime games all-time to 0-2, with both having needed three overtime periods to decide the outcome. 

Those two setbacks meant that for the first time in three seasons the Paladins would not be the Southern Conference champions. In fact, it marked the first time since 1979 that the Paladins had lost consecutive home games. That should give one an idea of just how tough the Paladins were to defeat at home under the likes of Hall-of-Fame coaches Dick Sheridan (SCFHOF class of 2017) and Jimmy Satterfield were to knock off at home. 

 While the Paladins lost the opportunity to win a Southern Conference title with two league setbacks, it still had a chance at the postseason late in the season. 

Furman had a chance at one of the biggest upsets in college football history-to-date slip through its grasp, facing off against Bobby Ross and the defending national champion Georgia Tech in Atlanta at historic Bobby Dodd Stadium. 

The Paladins led the Yellow Jackets almost the entire game, and were leading 17-16 after the Paladins stopped a two-point conversion run by the Yellow Jackets quarterback Shawn Jones, which would have given the Yellow Jackets a one-point lead, however, with the stop by the Paladin defense, it preserved the narrow one-point advantage for Furman. The Paladins got the ball back with 3:04 remaining and faced a key third-and-nine play at their own 29 yard line. 

The Yellow Jacket defense, however, would give it one more chance to win the game, as defensive tackle Marco Coleman broke through the Furman offensive line and sacked Furman quarterback Hugh Swilling, forcing him to cough up the football with only 1:41 remaining. Georgia Tech would take over at the Furman 21.

From there, Georgia Tech would move the ball to the 19, which was well within the range of All-America place-kicker Scott Sisson, who had kicked a field goal from a similar distance to knock off then top-ranked Virginia and help keep the Yellow Jackets' national title hopes alive a year earlier, where he would easily connect on a 37-yard attempt that split the uprights to allow the Yellow Jackets to assume a 19-17 lead with just 21 seconds remaining.

If you would have given the option of just taking the loss at that point to preserve a season-ending injury to quarterback Hugh Swilling, he likely would have taken it. Hall-of-Fame coach Satterfield was, but soothsayer he was not, and on the ensuing Paladin possession and with Swilling under center trying to conjure a game-winning Hail Mary with only seconds remaining.

As Swilling let go of a desperation pass, he was crunched simultaneously by Tech defensive linemen Marco Coleman and Coleman Rudolph the junior signal-caller pass, and when he hit the ground, sustained a broken right wrist.

Swilling's season and Furman and career as a Paladin would end on that one play, as the junior signal-caller would not return for his senior season in 1992. The loss to the Yellow Jackets was Furman's third of the season, meaning there was no margin for error in the Paladins' final two games at home vs Chattanooga and on the road at bitter rival The Citadel.

The Mocs would provide a worthy challenge in the final home game of the season, as the Mocs always gave the Paladins a struggle, and the final Saturday home game of the season was no different. 

The Paladins started Philly Jones under center against the Moccasins, marking the first time since 1973 the Paladins had started a freshman under center. With everything on the line, the diminutive signal-caller known for his running ability would do enough to keep the Paladins' playoff hopes alive for at least one more week, as he helped the Paladins engineer a much-needed, 24-21, win over the Mocs on Senior Day at Paladin Stadium.

The win had a price to be paid, however, and like the week before at Georgia Tech, the Paladins would see their starting quarterback go down to injury on a passing play, sustaining an injured right shoulder in the third quarter and exited the game for good midway through the fourth quarter. 

The win would improve Furman's four-year mark to an impressive 41-11-0 over a four-season span, but weighing heavily on Satterfield and staff heading into a playoff-deciding season finale at The Citadel was the status of its starting quarterback, and would could be done if Swilling wasn't available for the regular-season finale at Johnson Hagood Stadium against The Citadel.

The Bulldogs had already suffered four losses on the season, and came into the game knowing that they likely couldn't qualify for the postseason, but keeping Furman from making it back to the Division I-AA playoffs while exacting its revenge and taking out nine years of frustration all in the same process, was likely and even greater reward to play for.

With that said, before a stadium record crowd of the 21,623 fans on hand at the Boneyard, the Bulldogs posted a 10-6 win in a game that was a defensive struggle all afternoon, with neither unit giving way to the other's potent ground attack.

The loss saw Satterfiled and the Paladins suffer just their third four-loss regular-season and third three-loss league slate since 1978, as the Bulldogs ended Furman's season in Charleston, downing the Paladins, 10-6. Wild celebrations ensued in the aftermath of the big win by the Bulldog fans, who charged the field, while Furman's players stood with a look of disbelief. 

The game served as Furman's largest margin of defeat all season, dropping a total of four games by a combined 12 points, and Furman's previous eight defeats against Division I-AA competition dating back to the start of the 1989 season came by a combined grand total of 27 points, which is computes to an average of about 3.3 PPG. 

The loss marked another turning point for both Satterfield and Furman and the dynasty it had established as the king of the Southern Conference gridiron. It would be the beginning of the end for the legendary head coach and one that is still revered for the run he helped lead during his eight seasons as the head coach.

The 1992 and '93 seasons would be a pair of Furman football campaigns that would witness both change and adversity, as the Paladins were finally in rebuilding mode after having enjoyed more than a decade of being either a Southern Conference title, or playoff contenders, or  in some seasons, both.

The '92 season would see a noticeable decline, as the Paladins struggled to a 6-5 season, which included a 21-0 home loss to perennial national power Georgia Southern, as well as a 48-6 setback on the road at Marshall, marking the worst margin of defeat to a Division I-AA foe since the league re-classified in 1982, while marking the worst margin of defeat to a non-FBS or Division I-A program since 1972, when the Paladins lost by a 50-point margin to Carson-Newman (L, 7-57) in the regular-season finale. 

Impressively, however, Satterfield led the Paladins to a 13th-straight above .500 season, despite somewhat of a talent decline, especially on the offensive side of the ball, in comparison to the rest of the league. 

Things only declined further in 1993, as the Paladins finished 5-5-1  record, which included an embarrassing early home tie against Wofford (T, 14-14), which at the time, didn't require overtime since it was both a non-conference and non-postseason game.

The Paladins would more than make up for that disappointment, however, and it would be in Satterfield's final home game as the head coach in which they would do so. Facing off against Marshall Thundering Herd--a team that would go on to finish as the national title runner-up to Youngstown State--the Paladins welcomed the second-ranked Thundering Herd into Paladin Stadium 

The Paladins conjured up a defensive effort similar to that of the late 80's, holding the high-powered Thundering Herd offense to just three points--their lowest total in some 39 total games--and also limited Marshall to less than 300 yards of total offense (292) en route to the win. 

There was also a palpable emotion from the 12,130 fans on-hand on that sun-splashed, cool late fall afternoon at Paladin Stadium, as most had sensed it was Satterfield's last home game even though it had to be officially be announced that Satterfield wouldn't be back for another season. 

Like many so often have done, with the most recent example in today's college football world being Alabama's Nick Saban, Satterfield had simply become burned out with the everyday burden and overall strain of the day-to-day job and its demand. He decided to dedicate more time to his family and would announce his decision to step away at the conclusion of the 1993 regular season.

Marshall star running back Chris Parker did finish the contest with 121 yards on the ground, however, he averaged just 3.8 yards-per-carry. Parker entered the contest having averaged 7.1 YPC.

Todd Donnan and the Marshall passing attack were also rendered ineffective by the Paladin defense, holding him to 170 yards passing on an 18-of-30 performance, with an INT. 

Furman's stellar defensive effort was led by the eventual Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week and senior linebacker Milan Sterling, who finished the game with 15 tackles, two tackles-for-loss, an INT and a pass deflection, saved his best performance during his Paladin career for his final home game. 

Braniff Bonaventure came off the bench for the Paladins in the second to engineer a pair of scoring drives, which were capped off by a pair of one-yard scoring plunges from Bonaventure and Rod Green. For his efforts in Satterfield's final home outing of his career, the Maple Leaf Bonaventure garnered SoCon Freshman of the Week honors.

While the Paladins improved to 8-1 all-time against Marshall all-time in Paladin Stadium and finished off a 5-0-1 home record, it also marked Furman's highest ranked foe it had defeated since Satterfield's first season as a head coach in Greenville, which saw the Paladins knock off top-ranked Nevada-Reno, 35-12, at Paladin Stadium in the 1986 Division I-AA Playoffs.

Satterfield's final game as the head coach would unfortunately result in a 45-42 setback at Chattanooga in front of a small crowd at Chamberlain Field. Despite that loss to the Mocs, most will remember the triumph that Satterfield had against second-ranked Marshall in his final home game of his legendary coaching career.

Satterfield returned to the sidelines as a head coach some three years later, leading the Lexington High School Football program, as he would help build the program into a perennial state title contender. He would coach Lexington from 1996-2003, where he would complete an outstanding coaching tenure and when he retired in '03, had spent 40 years as a leader of men at both the prep and NCAA Division I collegiate levels, including 21 as a head coach at the prep and collegiate levels, respectively.

Satterfield's final seven seasons as a head coach offered a return to the place he started, which was the prep level where he previously enjoyed success at both Eau Claire and Irmo high schools before joining Art Baker's coaching staff at Furman in 1973 as an offensive assistant. 

During his 13 seasons as a prep head coach at Eau Claire, Irmo, and Lexington, he led each program to a state playoff in every season he led one of those three programs at that level, including his final eight seasons at Lexington. He also led both Eau Claire and Lexington to state runner-up finishes, as well as winning eight conference titles in his 13 seasons at the prep level.

All told, his eight seasons as a head coach at Furman and 13 as a high school coach saw him post an outstanding mark of 188-63-8 mark, with his most important cherished and important accomplishment being first in his leadership of young men in preparation to move forward in life.

Satterfield was also inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall-of-Fame in 2015, and with his recent posthumous honor, joins former Furman head coaches Art Baker (2020) and Dick Sheridan (2017) to be honored in recent years. Both Sheridan and most recently passed away within the past calendar year.

On the field, there's no greater accomplishment than winning a national championship, and for Satterfield, leading Furman to its greatest athletic achievement is something to be cherished forever, offering a legacy to his ability as a leader and head coach long after his death. 

The '88 title was also a key moment in Southern Conference Football, as Furman became the first Southern Conference member to ever claim a national championship, helping blaze a trail for the likes of App State, Marshall, and Georgia Southern to follow suit in the very near future. 

Stay tuned in the coming days as I take a look back on Stump Mitchell's Hall-of-Fame career at The Citadel.