Luke Fickell was right, and has the right, to be mad at anything, including coach talk, that gets in the way of Ohio State-Michigan. Watch video
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Five months and 10 days after he first stepped to a podium as the head coach of Ohio State, a little nervous, a little out of his comfort zone in a jacket and tie, Luke Fickell may have had his defining moment as the Buckeyes' head coach on Wednesday.
Back at the same podium in the same room, he was relaxed. He was in coaching attire, a red Ohio State top. And he was a little mad.
Asked what he had been told about his coaching future, with the pending hire of Urban Meyer being reported even more fervently, Fickell bristled. "I know there's a game at noon on Saturday," Fickell said, "and my [butt] will be there."
Put it on a T-shirt. Ohio State-Michigan, Nov. 26, 2011, where will yours be?
For a guy who played the final game of his Ohio state career, the 1997 Rose Bowl, with a torn pectoral muscle unrealized by almost everyone, it was OK, for this moment, to stop suffering in silence.
Now, there's no reason to feel sorry for Fickell. At 38, he knows football, and he also knows the coaching game. This is how it works. Ask if Fickell has been treated fairly, and he's not concerned about fair. What would fair even be? Before his 40th birthday, he got a season in his dream job and was paid $775,000 for the effort. That'll look good on the resume and be one for the memory banks.
He'll be a head coach again, somewhere, and who knows, maybe it will even be back at Ohio State after Meyer's time is done. He could stay on the Ohio State staff as an assistant when Meyer is announced as the new boss.
After grabbing the helm in the storm in late spring, after others had been tossed overboard, Fickell was left to steer the Buckeyes through this season.
At 6-5, he's been far from perfect. Those who know Fickell best saw his sideline demeanor as stoic or unflappable, like a veteran head coach who reads the same way in victory or defeat. Frankly, fans might have preferred a little more visible fire when things didn't go well. He didn't use every timeout correctly, started keeping the captains a secret, saw his team start flat the last three games after the season's big win over Wisconsin.
With four Big Ten losses by a combined 19 points, including one loss on a blocked extra point and another after blowing a 27-6 lead at Nebraska when quarterback Braxton Miller got hurt, the Buckeyes certainly could be 8-3 or even 9-2. With a miraculous win over Wisconsin and another against Toledo not locked down until the final minute, the Buckeyes also could be 4-7.
Meyer would have been the same guy whether the Buckeyes were headed to the Rose Bowl or the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. Maybe there was nothing Fickell could have done to stop that train. Fans should remember that he grabbed the wheel in the first place, and wonder what would have happened if someone like Fickell wasn't there as an obvious replacement when Jim Tressel was forced out.
What can he do now? Stand up for the Ohio State-Michigan game.
"It's not about that," Fickell said to a coaching question. "And I'm gonna have enough respect for this football game to make sure it's about this football game."
In this football game, Fickell's team still will start only one or two seniors on defense, and a true freshman quarterback on offense. They'll play an offensive style that he inherited, not that he chose. The starting left tackle missed two of the losses, the starting running back missed three and the obvious No. 1 receiver missed four.
With their recruiting legs cut out by uncertainty, Fickell and the staff missed on targets they may have typically landed. We saw Fickell coach this season, but we didn't really get a chance to see what Fickell could do.
It's hard to argue with Meyer. But for the Michigan game on Saturday, with Fickell probably torn up inside in a different way, the Buckeyes should want that guy at the podium on Wednesday.
Fickell knows Ohio State. He knows this rivalry. He has the right to be mad about anything that gets in the way of that.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2011/11/amid_the_meyer_furor_luke_fick.html
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