Luke Fickell: Is He Done?

I do get to stay, right guys? Right? Guys?

Honest to goodness I don’t know where to start with this team. Even though I don’t know where to start I do know who to blame. Unfortunately the blame lies within the coaching staff and their decisions. Personally, I have no problems with Luke Fickell, he is a home grown Buckeye who loves this school like no other. He wants to succeed, he wants to be a winner, but he just is not ready. This is not his fault, it is not the fault of the players he has, it is the fault of the man who caused this mess. No, I am not talking about Pryor, I am not even talking about Jim Bollman. I am talking about Jim Tressel. 

We don’t know if Tressel had the plan to groom Fickell for the job, and steadily promote him over the next few years. Was he the heir apparent? God only knows. Jim Tressel resigned in disgrace (thankfully, his disgrace is nowhere in the same galaxy as the former coach of Penn State’s disgrace), and with Darell Hazel gone, Luke Fickell got thrust into the position of head coach. 

There were much more experienced coaches at OSU to put into that position, but I can only assume Gene Smith gave the job to Fickell because between him and the other two coordinators (Bollman and Heacock), Luke is the only one with a legitimate shot at still being a long term head coach, be at OSU or somewhere. Well, in my opinion the experiment is over, way over. Luke Fickell, the great Buckeye d-lineman is in way over his head.

I am sure one day he will be a fine head coach, but he needs to learn the full job of being a head coach, and the pressures that coaching at school like OSU make it a poor place for on the job learning. Being the headman at OSU requires more then just football smarts, you need street smarts as well. You need to be the person dealing with the media and the hordes of people and responsibilities that come with the job. I don’t think that Coach Fickell has these street smarts yet, he may one day, but he does not yet. 

As for football smarts, I know, at least I think I know he has them. He was a great player, and a good linebackers coach, but this has not translated into great coaching. First of all, let’s look at the Buckeyes D (this is the area he is supposed to be a master of). Well they are getting beat. They have come out very flat the last two weeks (and put our struggling offense in a whole).

Summing up the Purdue game: So close, yet so far away

Against teams like Indiana and Purdue, that is unacceptable. Then there are games when they come out and play dominant early in a game only to give up big leads near the end of the contest (see Wisconsin and Nebraska). A defense cannot just play 2 quarters, they need to be ready to play an entire game. Then there is our offense. Our woefully unprepared offense. You can’t tell me that Tressel recruited such bad players. Our receivers can never seem to get off the ball, I need to believe that this comes from coaching. Our offensive coaches need to get this happening. 

A true head coach, even one who focuses on the defense will have his hand on the offensive side of the ball. Maybe people say that once Fickell has own staff in place he will be able to run the offense he wants. Well, I have never heard him say he has problem with the offense, and besides completely giving up on the pass, except in late game situations I have seen no changes in our offensive game plan. Do we trust his hiring? I certainly do not. 

Is Mike Vrabel really improving the linebackers?

As head coach he has made one hire. That pickup was to replace him as linebackers coach (let’s remember Fickell never has had the responsibility of being a total coordinator, he was co-coordinator in charge of linebackers). He brought in his former teammate and buddy Mike Vrabel. Another great Buckeye and Super Bowl Champion. However, with all of his resume as a player, he has never been a coach. His lack of experience with a head set on has shown in our linebackers being completely out of place and missing tackles this season. It is also rather questionable why one of the best athletes on the team, Ryan Shazier took so long to get on the field?

Through all of my rambling, I think it is evident that I believe Luke Fickell needs to be relieved of the head coaching responsibilities. He needs more seasoning. I feel bad for the fact that most people don’t get a second chance at their dream job, and he just got his to early in his career. I don’t know who will be the next coach. Will it be Urban Meyer? Could it be a Stoops? Maybe Gruden? I just don’t know. If the next full time coach is not Luke Fickell, I hope he gets consideration to stay on the staff.