Thoughts On Fickell: My Take

Saving 1 timeout at a time.

First of all let me remind you all I am a 1997 graduate of The Ohio State University. For those of you who may not realize this, 1997 is the same our current Head Coach Luke Fickell graduated from the great university. I did not know Luke Fickell personally, but I went to every home game, a couple of road games, and the 1997 Rose Bowl, a game in which Fickell showed his unbelievable toughness by playing the game with a torn pectoral muscle. He was “the man”. Because of our going to OSU at the same time I can honestly say I feel a kinship to Coach Fickell (though I am sure he does not feel the same way about me), and I hoped he would succeed as a coach, and one day become our head coach, I just don’t think that one day is now. Coach Fickell was a very good linebackers coach and a good co-defensive coordinator. However, he has never actually been in charge of a side of the ball by himself. As co-defensive coordinator he was basically in charge of linebackers, and worked with Jim Heacock on calling plays for the defense. I believe he needs more seasoning as an assistant coach, or if he is going to be a head coach right now or next year, it needs to be at a smaller school, not a school the size of and with the pressures of The Ohio State University.

Let’s take a look at how he has looked so far. Against Akron, he looked like Cooper. I say Cooper because like in the Cooper years we crushed teams that we were supposed to crush. Even with the suspensions Fickell looked to be making all the correct calls (though I thought maybe we would see a little more Braxton Miller in the game). It seemed people began drinking a little of the proverbial kool-aid. Then came Toledo. Make no mistake they are a good team, but elite they are not (look at their Boise State game as proof). We had the same suspensions, nothing new, and we looked awful. In the end our talent and depth was too much for Toledo to handle and we squeaked out an all too close win.

After that game, the Fickell-aid lost a little sugar. People began questioning him. With a seemingly ineffective Bauserman, why were we not using Miller? What was going on? We just didn't get answers, there may have been a slight injury, but no one really knows for sure. Some thought that the Buckeyes may have been looking past Toledo to Miami (something an experienced head man would work on not happening), but guess what the Miami results showed this was not true. Our team looked woefully unprepared for the game. In the first half our D looked slow, and throughout the game we couldn't tackle at all. I have heard reports of over 30 missed tackles in the game. Now, in the second half our D played better, and Fickell as a defensive minded coach should be given credit for this, and I do offer him credit for this. However, except for a few Jordan Hall bright spots, the Buckeyes offense, was well offensive. We looked like a really slow high school team. Our quarterback situation looked as confusing as any I had ever seen, and I am Redskins fan who has just dealt with the Rex Grossman vs John Beck discussion. Don’t even get me started on the timeout issue. We had 3 timeouts left at the end of the game.

Headed straight towards Bauserman

We only get 3 a half and they don’t carry over to next weeks game vs Colorado. We should have, no we needed to use them. Our defense was on the field way too long, they were rightfully exhausted. Maybe burning a timeout to let them rest a couple of extra minutes would have helped get a crucial stop and allow our offense back on the field. As bad as our offense played, maybe just maybe a big play could have happened that would have given us fans a shred of hope, instead Miami moved the ball down the field and scored a clinching TD. I just don’t understand why he did not use those timeouts. I also just don’t understand how we looked so bad. We have terrific athletes on our team. I know Tressel has always been a great recruiter. He brought in speed and ability. I know he didn't just recruit receivers who can’t catch. To me it comes down to coaching. 

Are these young Bucks, and yes I get they are a young team, but they are a team that was predicted to still compete for a Big Ten title, after the showing in the Miami game, I would be hard pressed to make that prediction again. I know I have been harsh towards Coach Fickell, but as the coach of a team like OSU he will hear much worse. I have no ill feelings for the man, but I do hope that he is not our head coach next season. Frankly, I hope I am wrong. Hopefully we rebound this week against Colorado, then upset MSU (I think right now even after MSUs loss to ND that would be an upset). After that we get the rest of the suspended players back. Maybe with a full team (obviously sans Pryor) Coach Fickell shows us he is still the man, and I will happily say, I was wrong. However, if this does not happen, and my confidence is not high, I think he won’t be back. He should be coaching, he has a passion, and I would love if whomever the next coach of the Buckeyes is offers to keep him on as D-coordinator/assistant head coach, but he just doesn’t have the experience to be the head man yet.