Now that OSU is 5-3 and has a shot at playing in the title game

• FatHobbit

  

  What would it take for you to want to keep Fickell as the coach next year?
• Tiernan

  As I just said in another thread...I think there will be tremendous public pressure on Smith to retain Luke if the team wins out and plays in the tiltle game (win or lose that one). He's a hometown boy and folks love that kinda story...struggling team works hard and perserveres to come back and have a winning season. He wins both the title game and Rose Bowl...done deal he stays!
• OneBuckeye

  

  ^ I agree. It would be a tough descision for Smith to make, and we all know how good he is at handling those. I just hope for Luke's sake he mixes up the offensive side of the ball if that happens. Bollman and Siliciano need walking papers. The only one I would want to retain is Dick Tressel.
• FatHobbit

  

  I'd be perfectly happy if we win out and play in the title game. Obviously I'll want them to win if they're in it, but I'd be content to keep Fickell if he manages to make the first B1G title game with the mess he inherited. Assuming the NCAA doesn't ban us from a bowl this year. (According to the dispatch a bowl ban means a title game ban as well)
• vball10set

  Regardless of how the season plays out, IMO, this job's too big for Luke Fickell. I'd like to see him coach a mid-major for a few years, and then come back and coach the Buckeyes.
• queencitybuckeye

  If anyone thinks one of the "big name" coaches could have come in this season and had this team in a substantially better position, they are delusional IMO. Has Fickel made rookie mistakes? Yes. Does he need to make changes in the staff? Probably. Does he merit serious consideration for the job? Absolutely.
• vball10set

  Make no mistake, I think LF has done as good a job as he could with what he had to work with, and the circumstances he had to work under. However, I do think a coach with considerably more experience would have won another game or two, but this is just my opinion. This has been a great experience for Coach Fickell, and a great audition for him on a grand stage as well--I look forward to him coaching back at his alma mater in the not too distant future.
• Automatik

  

  vball10set;954706 wrote:Make no mistake, I think LF has done as good a job as he could with what he had to work with, and the circumstances he had to work under. However, I do think a coach with considerably more experience would have won another game or two, but this is just my opinion. This has been a great experience for Coach Fickell, and a great audition for him on a grand stage as well--I look forward to him coaching back at his alma mater in the not too distant future.

  This pretty much sums up my stance.
  
  I have nothing against Fickell, but he's still a newb and it has showed several times. I definitely think he will have a successful coaching career from here on out.
• se-alum

  

  To this point, I want Fickell back next year. He is a hell of a recruiter, and will only get better as a head coach. He still needs to lose 2 games to have a record as bad as Tress' first year, and Fickell inherited a huge mess. If you run the guy out of town now, the chances he ever comes back is pretty slim, imo.
• OneBuckeye

  

  ^ agree. Not to mention he is a great defensive coach. Remember when Heakock (sp) was was the D - co-ordinator and fickell was just the LB coach? We ran the same vanilla defense every game. Bend but don't break. Fickell made the defense more unpredictable and agressive. My DREAM scenario is to keep Fickell as DC and assist HC and bring in Urban. If it is urban I think he would be at OSU 5 years max. By thenFickell will be more than ready to take over.
• se-alum

  

  OneBuckeye;954723 wrote:^ agree. Not to mention he is a great defensive coach. Remember when Heakock (sp) was was the D - co-ordinator and fickell was just the LB coach? We ran the same vanilla defense every game. Bend but don't break. Fickell made the defense more unpredictable and agressive. My DREAM scenario is to keep Fickell as DC and assist HC and bring in Urban. If it is urban I think he would be at OSU 5 years max. By thenFickell will be more than ready to take over.

  He worked under Tress for nearly 10 years, I don't know that a few years under Meyer makes him anymore ready. He absolutely will need to make changes on the offensive coaching staff if he is retained.
• Steel Valley Football

  I hope he's gone.
• lhslep134

  

  Fickell is a defensive guy, so I think he puts a lot of faith in Bollman to run the offense. Get rid of Bollman, get a legitimate offensive guru to run the offense, and I'm perfectly okay with him staying.
• FatHobbit

  

  se-alum;954715 wrote:To this point, I want Fickell back next year. He is a hell of a recruiter, and will only get better as a head coach. He still needs to lose 2 games to have a record as bad as Tress' first year, and Fickell inherited a huge mess. If you run the guy out of town now, the chances he ever comes back is pretty slim, imo.

  I agree with all that. I think if he wins out in the regular season I can live with whatever growing pains he might have. I might even be able to live with a Penn State loss. To make the title game after all the off season drama with a true freshman qb would be a pretty great accomplishment. However we still have to finish the season before I'm going to make up my mind.
  
  Also, I was looking at the standings and I think there is a pretty good chance Stanford will be playing in the Rose Bowl. I think we might be better off facing a lessor opponent this year and I would love to get a bowl win.
• sleeper

  

  Win out, win the Title game, and win the Rose Bowl(which most years is a bigger than the National Title).
• jordo212000

  

  I wouldn't be opposed to him as long as he fires the entire offensive staff
• se-alum

  

  FatHobbit;954801 wrote:I agree with all that. I think if he wins out in the regular season I can live with whatever growing pains he might have. I might even be able to live with a Penn State loss. To make the title game after all the off season drama with a true freshman qb would be a pretty great accomplishment. However we still have to finish the season before I'm going to make up my mind.
  
  Also, I was looking at the standings and I think there is a pretty good chance Stanford will be playing in the Rose Bowl. I think we might be better off facing a lessor opponent this year and I would love to get a bowl win.

  I actually would love to play Stanford in the Rose Bowl. It would be a good barometer as to how good our defense will be next year, and if we're going to lose to someone, I prefer it be the Heisman trophy winner, and best college QB in the last decade.
• Automatik

  

  jordo212000;954824 wrote:I wouldn't be opposed to him as long as he fires the entire offensive staff

  I could possibly live with that.
  
  The win over Wisconsin still doesn't dismiss the fact that the offense, at times w/ the Walrus calling the shots, was damn near unwatchable.
• FatHobbit

  

  se-alum;954826 wrote:if we're going to lose to someone,

  I prefer to win, and I don't think we're at Stanford's level yet.
  
  
• vball10set

  I don't think he'll feel like he's been "run out of town", as I believe he's known from the beginning that this year was strictly for him to have the opportunity to audition for a HC job on a national stage. Due to the limited time frame to hire a new head coach for the 2011 season was imminent , OSU needed an interim coach, an Ohio guy that was familiar with the program who would understand and accept the terms and conditions of his hire. Luke Fickell fit the profile, and will benefit greatly from this opportunity. I don't think, and this is strictly my opinion, that he was ever "in the running" for this job on a permanent basis--at least for the next few years.
• Mulva

  

  I'd say win out and either a) win the title game or b) lose the title game but rebound with a bowl win.
• osudarby08

  

  I dont care if our defensive staff is retained. Can the entire offensive staff minus Stan Drayton (the guy came here this year from Univ. of Florida, and he has a great recruiting ties in Florida). I still can't get over that Bollman and Sciliano(spelling?) are not only still here, but we are paying them to be terrible. I think high school freshman football teams have a more creative playbook than the Buckeyes.
• LJ

  

  I want to see Fickell as HC with Glen Mason as his O-Coord/Mentor
• LJ

  

  Also, people keep dogging on the fact that Braxton wasn't the starter until week 4.
  
  Has it occured to anyone that he is 1 of 3 true freshman starting QB's in FBS? I think no matter who the coach was Braxton's timeline would be about the same.
• Terry_Tate

  

  That game Saturday night completely changed my mind about Fickell. He had them fired up and ready to play. If he comes back I want a new OC, which I think would happen. But for me to really be sold they have to beat Michigan. He does that and I'm fine with him returning. 9-3 this year ending on a 6 game winning streak and id say that's damn good with what he had to go through.