Friday Open Thread – Luke Fickell’s Tenure

Starting on Monday, we will begin to preview the upcoming 2011 season and all the challenges that face first-time Head Coach Luke Fickell. Think about that for a couple minutes — Fickell is a first-time head coach taking over arguably the most high-profile job in college football. He literally has ZERO EXPERIENCE POINTS as a head coach. The word daunting is daunted by that challenge.

So for this week’s open thread, let’s discuss Coach Fickell’s future. This week’s poll is “How long do you think Luke Fickell’s Tenure” as the Head Coach of THE Ohio State University Football Team. How long do you think it will be? What season outcomes have to happen for him to be coaching OSU in 2012? I’m firmly in camp “Waiting For Urban” but if it turns out that Coach Fickell isn’t a long-time fit, who do you want and why? Or why would you like to see Fickell stick around?

Let your thoughts be known!

[poll id=”9″]

Comments

  1. Look, no one knows what we’re getting here, other than a great defensive coordinator/linebacker coach. If he proves to be a good head coach, and if he is smart enough (I think he is) to find and utilize a good offensive coordinator, I think we have the pieces to dominate for YEARS to come. The guys is a dyed in the wool Buckeye. For goodness’ sake, he was a four year starter and captain and won a Rose Bowl. If he does well, under all the Hell we’ve gone through and will go through this season, he deserves a chance.

    Unfortunately, I think our retarded AD and Board of Regents will want whatever Big Name is out there free — Meyer or Gruden or Leach — someone like that will get the chance, and it’s unfortunately going to be at Fickell’s expense, literally, because they’ll inherit a good, possibly GREAT team from him.

    Whoever comes in is an idiot if they don’t keep him around — if he’d settle for going back to Def. Coordinator.

    Just my $0.02.

  2. @Miller – I absolutely agree that he deserves a chance. I just wonder if his association (no matter how clean he is) will always appear tainted. It’s unfair but I think the muckity-mucks will hold that against him.

    But, like you said, he is dyed in the wool a Buckeye and I think that he does get offered the DC position if they bring someone in and I think he takes it.

  3. Not many people remember this, but Lloyd Carr was brought in on interim status after Moeller went all alky on UM and was fired. Carr didn’t have Fickell’s rising superstar status, either; nor league-favorites Heacock and Vrabel running the defense.

    I still don’t know enough about Gene Smith to guess what he’ll do. Andy Geiger would have given Fickell at least a couple of seasons.

  4. He needs to win 10 games and beat scUM…. if he does he will get an extension. His leash will be short though even if he gets an extension. An 8-4 or 6-6 season here or there in the next 5 years and Urban Meyer still without a coaching job would be too much for OSU to ignore.

  5. I don’t know that it’s a given that they go for a Big Name. That’s more Michigan’s thing. Was Jim Tressel a big name? That worked out pretty well (on the field anyway). John Cooper wasn’t really a big name and that worked out well (until the last two games of almost every season anyway).

    I think the checklist for keeping Fickell looks something like this:

    – No embarrassing losses (that means don’t lose to teams we shouldn’t lose to and if there are losses, they better be close ones)

    – Beat Michigan

    – Win bowl game

    * Automatic second year if we’re in the B1GCG

    * Automatic three-year deal if we’re in the BCSCG

    * Automatic five-year deal if we win the National Title

  6. @Jason- So what your saying is come February we will hear about OSU giving Fickell a 5 year deal at 2.5 mill a year woohoo

  7. Truth is the results of the penalties phase and the current ongoing investigations will probably have more effect on if Fickell keeps his job and who the next coach could be if he doesnt then how the team does this year on the field.

  8. If we struggle in any way at any point this season people will start calling for his head. Remember, they called for Jim Tressel’s head every season whenever we had a bad game or whenever the offense struggled. Tressel survived because he had a national championship and multiple conference titles. Fickell will not have that to fall back on. Its too bad, I want to see him succeed.

  9. Fred Jones says

    Everyone is talking about this whole Pryor NFL fiasco. Now you seemed to be focused on whether or not the NFL did the right thing. Let’s get back to those Ohio state allegations.
    If what Pryor says is true Ohio State should be in a lot more trouble and everyone is brushing over that. Pryor and his mom getting money, cars and God knows what else is as bad as what Miami has allegedly done and everyone is brushing over that. This is so clear it’s pitiful.
    Gene Smith has bamboozled his way out of this with his buddies in the NCAA. I think this “agreement” with the NFL was all set up so that one can simply ignore all of Ohio States allegation and that is BS.
    As far as athletes getting paid is everyone crazy? How would you enforce this? I work for a company…My company makes a butt-load of money…shouldn’t I get a majority of the profits? That is crazy. There is no way athletes should get paid. When in fact they are already. They are not “slaves”. As David Cornwell would have you think and just for the record I am black and i am a former college athlete. Some get room and board, food, all those other perks, and especially an education. Most people in America are not fortunate enough to get that.
    Besides there is no way to determine who…how much…what sports(and they all should get paid if one does)…how to tax it…etc…etc… so stop with all this talk.
    These kids aren’t some naive flowers that are so overwhelmed by these sports these are kids playing on a sport in college.
    So stop all this other talk and please someone investigate the “real” Ohio state I am so tired of everyone pretending that they have been so good all of these years because Tressel was such a great man…coach…recruiter. These kids over the years knew what they could get if they came to Ohio State that is why so many of them came here. Ohio State is just as bad if not worse than Miami.
    It’s amazing to me that now the media is simply ignoring that fact.

  10. @Fred Jones- So what you are saying is Coach Fickell will get a 5 year contract…. got it 😉

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