Eleven Warriors

Fickell is my guy. Has a national championship on his resume. Has coached for a future HOF coach, played for a HOF coach. won the AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year Award. An award bestowed to Coach Tress, Coach Hayes, and Coach Bruce.

Beyond being a buckeye, Fickell has had a top 10 defense for almost the past decade. All of you wanting to toss him under the bus because of the first 3 games of the season need to step back from the ledge (not saying OP is saying that). Bottom line is, he is coaching for a new head coach, with almost an entirely new defensive staff, and working an entirely new offensive scheme (which matters if you don't think it does).  There is going to an adjustment period.

I for one can't wait until the defense figures it out and we are rolling teams by the end of the year.

Fick did win the AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year award, and he was also the co-DC from '05-'10, alnog with being the Linebackers coach...I don't think he deserves all the credit for those defenses, but the linebacker play from that time period is some of the best that OSU's ever experienced.

Oh, I agree.  I'm just not ready to say that it's time for a new DC just yet.  Since both Fick and Heacock were co-DCs, I'll extend him some credit.  Admittedly, the LB play this season has been abysmal, if it doesn't improve it will make his seat very warm.

It's also worth mentioning that this team didn't have good LB play last year, either.  We're trying to break in a new MIKE (who's a true Sophomore), and two OLBS: one with a high ceiling but is still prone to underclassman mistakes; and one who's never been seen to have lived up to his potential.  Honestly, if these guys get better in coverage, this defense will be leaps and bounds over where it's looked in the past three games.  Tackling will be fixed, it's the coverage that scares me.

You can coach a kid up all you want. But you can't make the tackles for them. I like shazier, but how many tackles did he miss Saturday because he was looking for the big time hit? And when cal started reeling off the big plays, you were looking at a tired defense. Because for some inexplicable reason braxton was channeling his inner bauserman the entire 3rd quarter. 3 and outs will suck the wind out of a defense, no matter how deep they are. Not to mention drive saving penalties. Calling for fick to be out of a job is ludicrous. And to say heacock was responsible for the defensive excellence during tressels tenure is not fair to fick. He had just as much, if not more, to do with it than heacock. Cal had our d on its heels with a solid mix of run and pass most of the day. I for one was pretty excited to see the pass rush serve up some punishment. But when it came to crunch time, the d found a way to seal it.

I like the thought of Sunseri, but I don't see him leaving UT... I'd like to see any DC from the SEC with the exception of Vandy, Ole Miss, or Arkansas.  I want an aggressive coordinator.

Coaches can only coach.  We don't give up 28 to Cal without those two long TD runs and that had nothing to do with coaching.

Hey, I love Fickell, and if I had it my way the guy would be our coach for a long, long time.  But I do think that he will test himself as a head coach some time soon.  If he leaves, I hope that Pagac comes back.  The guy was awesome, the start of it all in terms of modern Buckeye defenses.

Sounds like they're emphasizing tackling more this week.  Naturally, Coach Meyer reminded the players that putting the opposing player on their butt is the first priority over stripping the ball.

I also saw that Coach met with every player who committed a personal foul, and some of them had sand pit duty because of it.  I like it!

Heacock is the man but I beleive his last few years he moved to the booth and Fickel was down on the field running the def. and did play a big part in those top def.  Also isnt Fickel listed as the Bucks Co- defensive cordinator now?

Fick is a great recruiter and a decent assistant coach. But he's had basically 16 games with the ability to call plays and he's been horrendous at it. I would love for him to stay a buckeye for life, but we will absolutely not win a NC with him as the play caller.

Ya, considering we are 101st in passing defense and it really has very little to do with tackling, it's safe to say there is a scheme issue.

It's easy to see when we give up big chunks on third down and Nate Williams or Noah Spence is short zone for the out route and neither are fast enough or athletic enough in space to get out there with a receiver. Then we see that happen again. Then, for the 8th time in a game we give up a third down, we are still seeing defensive ends in coverage. Not to mention playing soft zone on short yardage situations, refusing to play on up man coverage, etc. It's more than clear he's a poor play caller.

AllDay, have you seen the tackling? Its not just the linebackers. Its the safeties too that are missing tackles. Have you seen this team get beat deep? No. Its all underneath and then the missed tackle and the oppenent goes for big yards. Bigelow did not catch anything further than 10 yards. Yet he ended up with big plays. That is a lack of tackling, not a scheme problem. If your player was right there to get the tackle yet he doesn't, how is that the play callings problem?

You can spell out defensive stats but the reality is the players are in position to make plays, they just are not!

Edit: FYI, I am not saying Fickell is without fault! I am saying it is purely not his fault and that everyone is to blame. To say he should be fired it an overreaction! He probably isn't calling every play right but for the most part, the scheme is sound. The players have to make it work and based on last weeks tackling, they didn't!

Tell me which plays were throws longer than 20 yards? and I mean the throw goes for longer than 20 yards. All the long pass plays I have seen were less than that and because of poor tackling went further! The QB doesn't have long enough time to throw the ball 20 yards deep. Have you not read the articles on end over the last 3 weeks about the opponent throwing the ball quick? Have you not seen all the opponents with the 3 step drop.

Point being, most of the yards left on the field are more so due to poor tackling than scheme. Bigelow was hit behind the line of scrimmage on that 81 yard play. You are going to tell me that was Fickells fault and bad play calling?

Exactly Phxbuck but don't you think tackling and fundamentals are being taught by all the coaches? Its not just Fickell that is dropping the ball. I see on running plays players getting shoved out of position. I see teams blocking defenders with ease. This is not a schematic issue. This is a fundamentals issue. If a player has the opportunity to get his hands on the ball carrier, he should be able to make the tackle.

well true but also need help from the students too. It goes both ways. Right now, I think all sides are failing and need to produce at a greater level. Getting back to fundamentals is a good start and if that is what they are doing, then I think Fickell should get more of a pass. If this continues then a change will probably have to be made. It is just hard to put all this on one guy, who is not the HC, after 3 games especially when the team is 3-0.

Great point Cajun! The coaches can put the player in the spot to make the play, it is up to the player to make it. I'm sure even the best coaches call the wrong play from time to time, but it is up to the talent to make up for those faults. If a coach can call the correct play for each and every down, then superior talent wouldn't be so necessary. You could plug in a decent player and just make sure he can tackle right. But it doesn't work that easily and sometimes the elite players need to make the play.

Not to mention, some of those tackles should have been fixed back when these guys were in high school. These are very talented players, I am surprised at how bad some of those attempts were. These guys are definitely better than that.

Theres nothing wrong with the coaching, the players are putting too much effort in stripping the ball and not following thru with tackles. they will get better and all will be fine..

Didn't Heacock call the D-line stuff? I thought Taver Johnson called the DB stuff?

Fick has togo. Scheme and prep not good at all. Soft coverage of DB's is ancient. End can move laterall. Ugly ugly ugly. Sorry but upset

I think all fans of top notch elite football programs are spoiled. Texas, Florida, Alabama, USC etc.

I agree Rale, also no one seems to mention Withers at all for some reason.

lol.... lets just throw all the coachs & players under the bus and call it a day

Go Buckeye fans

Look guys I come from a background where someone is always accountable. I love my kids but it doesnt mean I dont hold them accountable and expect more out of them when they under perform. It isnt all flowers in the real world, these guys play to win. I get it and I m loyal in good and bad times. I never threw all coaches under a bus but I do believe Fickell is way overrated. Love him as a player and love him as a buckeye but not as our DC. I bleed scarlet and grey and it consumes so much of my life and I believe he is out of his league. Sorry for opinion. This D unit is only unit carrying over old scheme. Everyone else has new system. Go Bucks.

No Comment. Daddy always said that if you can't say something good about somebody, than don't say anything at all, so: No Comment.

To one of the OP's original questions, I think one name that could become hot over the next couple years is Oregon State's Mark Banker. It depends how the rest of the year plays out, but so far it's been quite good. They shut down Wisconsin and stunned UCLA at UCLA.

Fickell is a great guy but he didn't get it done as interim headcoach and he's not getting it done as DC or asst DC, whatever his title.  The old saying "A new broom sweeps clean" applies here. I almost wet myself when Urban Meyer took the job and he needs to pick someone that he thinks will get the Defense up to snuff, because they suck right now. I don't care who the pick is, let's just get on with it. Out with the old and in with the new. Go Bucks! 

First of all, Heacock was horrendous. I don't care if we won games against boring B1G offenses when he was here. By and large, we got outplayed by the more talented offenses we faced in big games (07 UF, 08 LSU, 09 USC could have all even been far worse, and none of them were elite offenses). Fickell has too much Heacock and not nearly enough Dantonio. If not for MD, we do not beat Miami in the NCG. I'm so sick of watching us play zone coverage I could puke. We have the horses to play man, and we should also be blitzing far more than what we do. There's no reason UAB should be screen-passing us to death like they did. 

I am interested to see what Vrabel does as he progresses, as I believe he could be an excellent DC. I also am selfishly hoping Simon doesn't pan out in the NFL, as Meyer has said he has a spot on his coaching staff whenever he wants it. Simon would be the ultimate line coach, and he's smart enough to get to DC level at some point. 

Other than that, I'd love to see us go after Sunsieri. I also wouldn't be upset if we threw big money at Manny Diaz. I know he's in line to be a HC soon, but we could probably pay more than most of the schools he'd be up for a job at even as HC though.

^ not according to Meyer" if our corners are as good as we think they are" when explaining we need to tighten things up on the outside.

Is Monty Kiffin available? Would we have to accept Lane in the deal in some way, maybe as the guy who holds Urban's headset?

^^^  I agree 1,000

Guys mentioning Urban on special teams with more true freshman than any other team in America, and comparing it to the worst D in the big Ten by far (see stats)  is ludicris. Our D needs to improve greatly to get to average. I think we will, but critic is going to happen when it is blaringly obvious.

^ critique