I'm full prepared for the lashing I'm about to take, I totally get it. Fickell is an OSU guy, he's been here forever, I know, all of that, but fellow Buckeye fans, the man was the main coach on the worst defensive unit in Columbus in HISTORY! He is a good recruiter, I understand that, but in 2012 the Buckeyes were giving up points to everone, including 28 to Cal, 22 to a fledgling Illinois that didn't score that many points in another big ten game all year, 49 to Indiana who didn't even come close to that mark the rest of the season. Under Fickell the defense allowed more total yardage than anytime in recent memory, and I'm sorry this just is not good enough for The Ohio State.
I'm ready to take my beating, but this is what's right.
I agree with what you say, but I'd be prepared for a drastically improved OSU D-unit starting next season.
"I'm One Bad Buckeye, and I approve this message."
Why Fickell and not Withers? They were co-coordinators. Why does Withers get a pass?
It seemed like Fickell and Withers didn't agree on what kind of defense to run - attacking or bend/don't break. They finally got it solved.
Let's destroy what they built and start from scratch. That will fix everything.
He's been coaching the defense for ten years and I haven't heard anyone complaining for his head during that time! When Boren came in for us the D started clicking and never looked back. The talent was definitely lacking.
"Lets beat the shit out of Michigan".... Urban. Frank. Meyer.
This
It's hard to say what's going on for sure. Was he great or was it Heacock for the 10 years? Was last year just a case of having a lack of talent and young talent? I don't know. I don't think the answer is to fire anyone, but if the D is bad again this year there's certainly reason to think a change should be made.
Ohio State in November finished in the top 3 in every major defensive category. I'm not sure if you were aware of that... I don't think we should call for Fickell's head. Top 3 in the country is good enough for me.
I am hoping a year together and this offseason Withers and Fickell have had a chance to get on the same page. There needs to be a meeting of the minds between Urban, Fickelll, and Withers. a clear identity needs to be established, and a clear understanding of each one's priorties and authority.
You're right! The defense was horrible! They used the same system! There was no improvement! Fire Fickell! Fire Withers! Fire Vrabel! Fire Coombs! Meyer had a hand in it! He must go! Do I really need to write SarcasmFont?
I thought the defense post-Indiana was pretty nasty, especially the 2nd half of the Michigan game. They just needed a talent boost, some wrinkling of the coaching kinks, and players to stop making boneheaded decisions (angles/wrapping up.)
Don't give up... Don't ever give up.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=323290194&period=3
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=323290194&period=4
6 plays, turnover on downs
2 plays, forced fumble
4 and out
4 and out
2(3) plays, forced fumble
5(7) plays, interception
One Question - How many of the 2012 losses would you consider to be the fault of the Defense/Coach Fickell?
Those games were all efforted by both sides, the days the defense sucked just so happened to be the days the offense brought it. That indiana game could have easily been a loss.
Just a life long Buckeye fan wanting to talk to other lifelong Buckeye fans. Our honor defend, we will fight to the end for OOO HIIII OOOOOO!
it also easily could have been a double digit victory if we get the first onside kick. Meyer was the special teams coach so do we fire him too?
No disagreement that Indiana shouldn't be scoring 29 let alone 49 against our Silver Bullets, however you also need to consider that the D played better as a whole in November than September, and individually players like RDS played much better ala making the tackel instead of going for the highlight. - Does't Coach Fickell get some props for those improvements? And isn't improvement of his/her players over time job one of any coach?
Is this real life?
Class of 2010.
Is this just fantasy...
Wait... we already did this...
No, this is clearly Bizarro World:
The same week that Ohio State flipped or landed three of the top skill position recruits in the country but lost out on a punter, a poster on 11w argues that the DC of the only undefeated team in the country and #2 defense in the nation in November should get the axe.
yes! lets bash the 2nd ranked defense in novemeber! they're terrible coaches who never made adjustments!
I still don't really know how much Fickell was to blame, but I was all over him during our rough stretches of bad D last year.
You have to admit that once Meyer said he was going to get more directly involved in the D at practice and meetings etc, things made a big change.
I think Urban coached-up the D coaches and poured Luke some tough love juice.
I'm confident that the D will click sooner this year even with a lot of guys to replace, and it's pretty clear that they will continue to be more aggressive like they were in the latter half of last season.
D. Anthony
This^
If Ficks did deserve the axe, don't you think he'd be gone by now?
We're going in the right direction, stay the course.
"Success - it's what you do with what you got" - Woody Hayes
I've always felt like the best time to fire an assistant is coming off an undefeated season and a top 3 recruiting class...
really me too i always felt it was the best time to fire the head coach also.
Who gives a damn about what happened last year...I would categorize last year as a growing season. The defense got prgressively better over the past year and given the players that we've picked up over the past 2 recruiting cycles our defense will be positioned to be one of the best in the country! FOORRRGETTABOUTIT!!!!
“The minute we stop expecting greatness from our football program, we become Wisconsin.” Craig Krenzel
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
Good thing you're ready to take your beating
During the month of November (crunch time), the OSU defense ranked 2nd in Total Defense. Not 2nd in the Big Ten, but 2nd in the FBS. Unless you wanted Luke Fickell canned before the plane leaving Bloomington landed in Columbus, this post makes no sense. Were September and October a little rocky at times? Absolutely, but once the Middle Linebacker position was figured out the unit really took off, and most importantly they finished the season playing at their best.
C'mon the defense improved dramatically by season's end. Under Meyer the defense may never statistically measure up to scoring defense and total yardage under Tress. It will simply be on the field more because of the quick strike philosophy when on offense. While the defense needs to build on the impovement from the second half of the season it is not as far off as the total yardage and scoring defense numbers suggest. I think turnover margin will be a more important stat for the defense moving forward. The offense is going to score a lot of points and getting more at bats will be huge. There will be 70-28 type of games even when the defense is dominating.
They turned it around after the Indiana game. We didn't allow Michigan to cross midfield in the second half and our defense overall impressed me quite a bit against Wisconsin.
Just...no. Stop.
It was a new regime. Give it a chance... enough of this "shoot first" mentality. That's more of a problem than the defense itself at times last season.
I'm going to revisit this post next season when and if the defense hasn't improved and we aren't lucky enough to have an offense that can keep us ahead. I anticipate a different sort of response.
Just a life long Buckeye fan wanting to talk to other lifelong Buckeye fans. Our honor defend, we will fight to the end for OOO HIIII OOOOOO!
When and if? It's one or the other. And I'm not really worried about the offense going into next year.
And don't be that guy.
I think about 20 people just starred this page to bring it up if you're wrong. Then again, we just lost 6 of the starting front 7, so I'm not sure comparing the new starters with last year is a good standard.
I respect your opinion even though I think you are terribly wrong. I see no weaknesses with our defense. The Buckeye D is only going to get better each year.
Try not to be a Negative Ned.
Most of us here are still celebrating our #1 class UFM just hauled in. Don't rain on our parade. The timing of this blog couldn't be worse.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
Well, the timing could be worse - like following a National Championship...but other than that, yes this is the worst timed thread I have ever witnessed on this site.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
The defense DID improve Eddie. It was top notch and like the days of old against Whisky and UM. I don't think UM even crossed the 50 on the second half. tHAT is Buckeye D. We had more injuries in one season than I can ever recall. Sure, sure we had weaknesses and holes. But the improvements along with this being the first season a whole new coaching staff had to gel are enough for a pass for now. If it becomes habitual, then lets talk. But with the boys we have coming in, this D will rival Bama soon.
If you continue to contribute such thought-provoking and insightful posts as this one, I suspect you won't be around next season.
We can't stop here; this is bat country...
I always have doubts about a defense losing so many starters, but your assumption that we won't be lucky enough to have an offense that can keep us ahead seems off to me.
last years offense was a mess. They relied on a few plays over and over,never really developed a passing threat, and instituted maybe 40 percent of what Urban wanted to do. And that was good enough to still put up massive points in the B1G.
i see virtually no scenarios where our offense is not improved over last year, and by a wide margin too. I don't think we're going to see nearly as much inconsistency, nearly as many this-drive-unstoppable followed by this-drive-is-horrific moments.
last year was this offense's floor.
itremains to be seen if the defense can continue to improve while losing so much experience, but whether they do or they don't I think the offense is going to make things easy on them next year.
Coach Fickell? Fired? No, not fired, but I would suggest it was a mistake to name him co-defensive coordinator.
Why?
Well because, Defensive Coordinators are supposed to establish the identity of Defense & while Coach Fickell has been here for a while, I think that we were all tired of them blend of Coach Tressel sometimes playing not to lose rather than playing to win, in combination with Jim Heacocks bend but don't break defense. The philosphies multiplied counter productivity with each other, & I personally hate them myself (a shared sentiment).
With that said, Coach Fickell has maintained those elements of his own defensive philosophy & there were times last year when you could tell that Coach Fickell was doing the play calling versus Coach Withers.
Remember the Cal game last year when they ran like 7-8 bubble screens IN A ROW & we were STILL playing a soft zone? That kinda crap = Coach Fickell.
Later in the year, we got it together, but we were playing more Man 1 Over , zone blitzing from the CB & STAR positions, etc. We were much more aggressive & matching up on the outside, saying beat us if you can, rather than, let's try not to get beat.
Obviously some of the issues were in the lack of depth & readiness at the linebacker positions other than RDS (especially on some of the runs we allowed), but we all expect that to change with our 2nd year 2012 guys, & this crop of 2013 guys.
All in all, I love that Coach Fickell is a hardnosed guy, and I would've preferred we kept him on as a positional coach rather than a co-coordinator, but we'll see what we come up with next year.
"Leave...Your...Mark..."
agreed. I also do NOT think he should be fired, but I do think he was in over his head a bit. I dont think he was ready to call plays.
Now that is certainly debatable.
But there is also the possibilty that Fickell could have walked if he wasn't given the "co-D coordinator" title. Wasn't he co-D coordinator under Tressel? And then after putting up with the mess that he was left with after Tatgate? It would feel a demotion and I think Fickell would have walked. I'm glad we have him.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
Did you disagree when Tressel named him co-defensive coordinator in 2005 as well? He was the co-defensive coordinator for 5 years before he became the interim head coach.
What did he do to deserve a demotion once Meyer was hired?
Coach Fickell's philosophy is similar to that of Coach Heacock, & I've never liked his Defensive schemes - I always prefered more aggression. I haven't really been a fan of our scheme since Mark Dantonio was in Scarlet & Gray.
Also, Coach Fickell's elevation then was more of a glorified assisstant rather than calling plays. Coach Heacock was calling plays then. Now there are elements in the D when you can TELL the difference in the playcalling & rhythm of our D.
That being said he endured some of the worst possible circumstances en route to (I believe) our worst season ever. If he wasn't the type of guy he is - one that bleeds scarlet & gray - he would've been out with the rest of the old staff. As it stands, his defensive playcalling & scheme weren't top notch - if they were there would be no need for him to still share a title with Coach Withers.
Like I said, I love Coach Fickell as a player & a person, but I'd rather the bend-but-don't-break philosophy die altogether.
"Leave...Your...Mark..."
That's what I thought, CWERPH, thanks.
Why this, now? It makes no sense whatsoever.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
Hahaha..LOL! Exactly!
“The minute we stop expecting greatness from our football program, we become Wisconsin.” Craig Krenzel
I'll give Fick one more season to prove he can run the show on D. If next season comes and were still giving up 21+ pts to subpar teams then yes get the axes out!!!!
BUCKSFAN is changing his icon.
Holy Shit! Not again?! Hang on people!
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
I agree with Runedie. Fickell is piss weak. The fact that Zack Boren can come in and "get it" more in 4 days than all the players who have been taught and coached by Fickell for months and years speaks volumes. The Defense was poorly coordinated for most of the year...blitzes with no press coverage, slews of big plays, poor tackling, jet screened to death. We did not get our 750k worth. The Buckeyes can and deserve to do better than Fickell.
Who do you think taught Boren the defense and helped him "get it"?
This^^^^ a thousand times this^^^^
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx
well, to be fair, that may just mean that Fickel is a fantastic position coach. Not saying he should have been fired (i disagree with the poster on that point), but the debate as to whether Fickel is over his head or not ready to call plays is a different matter. I wouldnt think anyone would debate Fickel is a good position coach (or a great buckeye who has been loyal to the program or a great recruiter).
Being a great position coach and a poor choice as defensive coordinator are not mutually exclusive.
to Smith:
The same guy who 'taught' Curtis Grant, Marcus, Perkins, and Storm Klein
Also the same guy who taught Shazier it works both ways.
You mean Curtis Grant, the sophomore? Marcus, the freshman? Perkins, the other freshman? You can't realistically expect freshman to just "get it", sophs maybe. Klein wasn't an issue of learning, he was an issue of not being athletic enough.
THIS!!!! This obsession with recruiting means people expect these recruits to come in and dominate from day one, and if they don't then they must be a flop. It wasn't that long ago that if a guy played and did well as a sophomore it was a nice surprise. Football isn't like Basketball where you sign the number one class and those Freshman go out and compete for a national title. It takes a couple years in football. I HATE when people just consider a guy a flop because he didn't tear it up from the get go.
I also can't stand when people champion certain guys over people who have outplayed them simply because they were highly ranked recruits. See Sabino. For 3 years the guy did nothing but make a couple good special teams tackles and everyone always insisted he was going to be Elite.
Also the same guy who taught Carpenter, Hawk, Lauranitis, Rolle, Homan, Grant...You have a flawed argument.
I don't know where this is coming from, Runeddierun1983. Right out of left field, possibly? And coming off of a 12-0 season? Meyer chose to keep Fickell, and that is good enough for me.
We just went 12-0! Hello! I'm just a fan, but I'm satisfied with Fickell on board. Continuity, at this point, is a very good thing.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
HAHAHAHAHAHHAhA!
While I do disagree with firing Fickell I do think there are some changes to be made. For the longest time I feel OSU has played a "bend but don't break" type of defense. This was often the case under Tressell and it worked very well. However, I now feel that the kids Urban is bringing in are more suited to a more agressive style of D. This started towards the end of last year (more blitzing, more press coverage) and I will be excited to see it continue. However, I do think it is going to take continaul adjustments by Fickell to run this type of D as it is not exactly what he was use to. That being said, I think he has no problem making said adjustment and the Silver Bullets will be back again next year.
This is such a silly thread. We lacked a typical OSU Leo (Smith, Gholston,) and a typical OSU mlb (Laurinaitis, Wilhelm). Our defense isn't going to be Alabama caliber with those two very key positions filled with weaker talent. Our offense would also be weak and Hermann would look bad if Bauserman were still the Qb.
This is dumb. Undefeated last year and we all knew there were issues, but we made it. Football is a team game and the team didn't lose, the head coach kept the staff in tact so he feels good about things, we recruited for defensive help, and now we are moving on. What else is there?
No. The defense made tremendous strides, especially after Boren was moved to LB. If no improvements were made, then this would be a valid consideration. But if you look at the Wisocnsin and Michigan games, the defense played great. Personally, seeing Monte Ball get denied the touchdown record was one of, if not the best, moment of the season, because it showed how the team refused to back down, which is a direct result of coaching.
I stepped into the light and then realized it was a "dumpster" (this thread) on fire!!! I'd be laughing with you RunEddie, but your serious about your comments. So, I'll just laugh along with OHHIYO...teeheehee....teeheehee...
An angry fan...rooting for an angry team...led by angry coaches
I find it highly amusing that this conversation is still happening even two months after the finish of an undefeated season.
And the logic of it is also way out there. Most of the critics seem to be falling back on the argument that the defense had a significant drop off from the nationally ranked defenses of the last decade under Tressel. And the solution to this is to fire the one coach left on the staff from that period of success?
I tend to agree with one of the earlier posters. Much of the defensive dysfunction this year came from two co-coordinators with different beliefs. When Urban became more active on that side, he was in essence breaking the impasse. I expect that problem to be in the rearview mirror now.
Which begs the question: would it be better if there was just one defensive coordinator? One guy where the buck stops, on defense?
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
We have one of those, and his name is Urban Freaking Meyer. When the guys' different philosophies weren't reconciling themselves into shutdown performances, UFM poured what someone else called the "tough love juice," and in November we were lights out on that side of the ball.
When it really counted, the rubber met the road. Fickell and Withers are fine, the Defense will be restocked and reloaded for 2013, and the Silver Bullets will again be the pride of Buckeye Nation.
End of story, roll the credits.
Good point, Andy. Noted and taken. ;) And, I concur.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
For the players fickell had and the change in offensive philosophy he did a great job considering the circumstances. Withers changed our db philosophy playing more cover 4 and fickell had run cover 3 bc it fit the grind it out field position style tressel ran. Cover 4 requires the LBs to cover and we didnt have em so we had to adjust, which he did nicely as the season went on. Not to mention, we lost all of our depth at LB (ie bell, newsome, price) guys that would have made a huge difference since our D depends so much on good LB play. Once boren was moved our D performed as good as any. Urban getting involved simply helped fickell understand the approach to use on D to match the type of offense we run now. Seems to be doing pretty well 12-0!!
good thing no decisions are left to pigeon headed posters on here. Fickel is commited to this U thick an thin. Had to iron out a thin,young and inexperienced LB crew,where the solution inevitably was to put a senior FB in.DL played tough all year and at times DB's lagged behind.We had some players hurt at times and still went12-0.come on people.Obviously the creator of this forum will never run a peewee team.
knucklehead
Runeddie, you're not a pizza delivery guy by any chance, are you?
HA!
A team is never made up of one player, just like a staff is never made up of one coach.
i honestly think next year we will have a far more fired up "sec style" amped up defense, the competition for playing time in practice will be insane as well as into the season with the d line and receivers and rb's as well. this is REALLY going to be an angry football team, as urban would say. i really predict a nasty defense next year and guys to be more in control because of their growth in that system. Im really excited on the defensive side of the ball to HOPEFULLY see mike mitchell, and either Apple or Burrows to emerge big time, those guys are both more physical corners, they want to out rough a recevier and disrupt routes and use their long arms to their advantage where they MAYBE, not really, might lack some speed. I also predict SPENCE, WASHINGTON, BOSA & BENNETT to be one of the most devastatingly nasty defensive lines in the country
Gotta give Luke another year at DC. We did see drastic defense improvement the last few games (not sure who gets that credit) but agree he needs to do a better job of coaching up these guys.
BamBamBuck
with this D coming in we have got to figure out DT's and MLB and take away the will of any O to want to run up the middle on us. The Raven's had the luxery at the professional level to do this for years. Bama and FL our doing it at college level pretty consistantly.Urb knows this.Shut it down inside,and flush every thing out.Take away an O's options.Our ends and OLB are ridicuously too fast not to be able to get to the ball.All they got to do is wrap and tackle(something ND DID NOT DO)_
knucklehead
Take this idea and step into traffic. Better yet take a step back and take a look at what you're actually proposing. Fire the DC after a 12-0 season? Fire the DC because of a few close games? Fire the DC who just so happens to be an OSU lifer, a Graduate, a record holding Former Player, and has given more to this university in the last five minutes than you have (or will) in your life time?
No.
Shame on you.
I know there's a game saturday, and my ass will be there.
I fat fingered a downvote. Sorry. I'm gonna catch another post and even it out
An angry fan...rooting for an angry team...led by angry coaches
Runeddie vs. Buckeyeeddie.
A fight for the ages.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
I was attacked last year for defending Fickell last year and obviously the D improved the last half of the year. OSU played Whisky better than Stanford and played better D against Michigan than South Carolina did. Those are 2 pretty good Ds, and OSU was better on D than those units against those respective teams.
Were they a usual OSU D? No, but they certainly did enough to help win games; in fact, they won us MSU, Mich and Wisky, straight up.
Replacing the entire D-line is going to make them reliant on the O early in the year. I think the athletes on the field will be improved, but young players make mistakes by overpursuit etc. Spence, Washington, Bennett and Schutt all got a ton of reps last year, so it isn't like they haven't seen the game at this level. Of course Hale, Miller, Moore etc have all seen the field too, so there is experience.
If anything, Meyer should get the axe; how many punts did we have blocked last year???? kidding of course
kind of purdue too, the offense just provided the drama
The defense was bad last year during certain games... Other games they looked great. I expect Urban's talent that is coming in to make for a better defense. I think due to the talent the defense will be much better and you will see Withers and Fickell as head coaches in the next 2-3 years.
You fire a coordinator when you're losing, not when you're winning.
Really???
we went 12-0. Lots of defensive injuries. New coaching staff trying to gel. Everyone was a bit frustrated including Meyer AND Fickell. Went from giving up 376 yards a game to 269 in November.
dude I hope your boss doesn't look at your work one day and say, you know, you did really well but others think you could have done better, here is your pink slip don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
I appreciate the conversation but I can't agree with your moronic thought process.
"Tough times don't last, tough people do" - Gregory Peck
You do realize that Fickel was instrumental in landing many of the linebackers that signed with us.
Mike Mitchell and Trey Johnson really spoke volumes about their relationships wth him and how it lead them to ohio state.
Those are the two that come to mind, I am sure there a more of those stories out there as well.
~Because we couldn't go for three~
The fact that you proposed this is one of the most ridiculous things I've heard if we had lost alot and didnt progress during the season then i could understand. BUT we went 12-0 with our FB playing, arguably the most critical position in our D, MLB. He's got a great eye for talent ie. hankins and gets the most out of guys that arent always the most athletic or ideal for certain positions. considering he benched grant, had the balls to switch boren mid season and got him game ready in a week is amazing. That, to me, is the sign of a great coach who knows his players and how to maximize them. He's been DC, in some form for almost a decade and was consistently a top D almost every year. The guy developed hawk and lauranaitis, 3 star recruits, into all Americans over much more highly prized 5star players, with much more fanfare. When he turns several of our new recruits into all Americans, has one of the best Ds in the country and wins multiple NCs I hope you create a post admitting your ignorance and disrespect to a man that bleeds for OSU. As an alumni I appreciate his service and the great job he's done for our fine institution. Go bucks!
gotta be a record for most downvotes for a thread, but I respect you for stating your honest opinion
And this
http://auburn.247sports.com/Article/Garner-named-Top-50-recruiter-115744
Luke Fickell – defensive coordinator
Mike Vrabel – defensive line coach
Tope 50 recruiters, one of the most important things for a position coach
The entire staff is accountable. Particularly 1st half of the year, worst tackling Ohio State defense I have ever seen. And I watched some Bill Young defenses here. I think the improvement from the 2nd half will carry over.
WTF?
Did I just read a thread about firing Luke Fickell after OSU had only the 6th true (no ties) undefeated season in it's history? After it's defense literally won the Wisconsin & Michigan games? After arguably the best recruiting haul in it's history? After Fickell recruited 2 of the best LBs in the country? After he was able to keep Trey Johnson out of the jaws of multiple SEC teams? I could go on...you're entitled to your opinion, but man, this gives new meaning to not being able to please all the people all the time...Just WTF???
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
This reminds me of the Browns board. Sometimes the posters there would rather the Browns lose to validate their opinions.
Hopefully, it's not the same here.
i dont agree with this but i though downvoting was for innapropriate comments not a guy giving his opinion, with no malicious intent, technically has something to back it up and in no way is acting like a d-bag, please explain downvoters, he knew he was about to get thrashed in the comments why downvote? thought we were above -45 helmet stickers for an honest post.
the problem is i have seen the op troll several times recently
Not sure if I have the right to yet since I can not vote, but I have to agree...is his opinion kinda redicoulous? Hell yeah it is, but its an opinion none the-less, that if anything has made things interesting around here just when things could get a bit bland (edit: not bland anymore for sure now that Trout commited)from a lack of a little more extreme diversified opinions. It took me a while to even click on his post to bother wasting my time since the title was transparent, (edited) and as I now realize iv'e been sucked in and feel obligated to voice my opinion, obvioulsly he envoked a saught after reaction, but for him to be permananently banned? Especially when many of you downvoters were probably the same ones calling for fickel's head early in the season? (Based on nothing but speculation and probabality, idk maybe u all supported the guy 100%)
Just my opinion...disagree if you'd like, debate me with words and logic, or opinions with facts and theories...
...or go ahead and be a pussy and hit a button because its the easier way to speak your mind. Of course you never had to click a forum topic post with such a poposterous statement.
BammBamm is my dog, Riley is my 4 yr old daughter, and THE Ohio state Buckeyes complete the three most sacred loves I cherish
I love hard nosed statistics like this
The defense was disappointing most of the year and this is a reasonable discussion, especially in February. You just can't have it here.
If you need to regain your helmet stickers, just start a thread kissing the backside of an admin, any admin.
In response to the topic...
I know a lot of us were frustrated with the defense early in the year... and rightfully so, and it' definately a lot easier now to look back and understand the elements behind the defensive struggles.
I can write book on this whole thing and break it down quite nicely... so as I catch myself from doing so here's one analogy, one somewhat quick point...
Urban seems to coach with a vast amount of what I would consider solid fundamental parental qualities. Not only concerning his student-athletes, but his assistants as well. The ENTIRE football program is his child that he takes 100% responsibilty for where his patience will be tested, but he has that patience and dedication to put it upon himself to make sure that the he has done everything imaginable to nuture his cooridinators to complete success. By posessing a passion to discover the root cause... the core of the underlying issues, and then teach, motivate, and inspire, hitting all the angles and making sure things are crystal clear with how to solve these problems. Making sure strategy is fine tuned with resolve and unrestrained effort. Intelectual reasoning, plus tough love, plus leading by example, plus never swaying from your initial decisions. Knowing when to let things slide and let them learn the hard way, and when its time to step in more aggressively to realign things accordingly when things go astray.
Sending a kid to the corner or timeout like my ex does invokes a negative immotion and negative result to the situation while teaching nothing though its the easy quick thing to do. Understanding how to instill the resononing behind why what they are doing is wrong builds character and fundamentals while you earn respect for the right reasons, and they surely pick up on your proudness and dont want to let you down, due to the hard effort you put in and the possitive reinforced confidence instilled.
Firing Fickel would of been the easy thing to do, the ultimate punishment is cast and Urban would dish off the blame of the defense's struggles while washing his hands clean. But if his coaches fail... then ultimately Meyer failed, and he knows the only one to blame is himself. He accepts the challenge to make sure failure is not an option, it will NOT be accepted, and certainly will NEVER be tolerated. A brash decision to fire would of been irresponsible, would of been quitting.
Even with my little time I have with my daughter, I take full responsibility for how she turns out, no matter what, no excuses, because it was my job to build her, teach, love, and nurture... to never lack effort and dedication... resovle and backbone,... while instilling the fundamental tools to succeed. and grow.
BammBamm is my dog, Riley is my 4 yr old daughter, and THE Ohio state Buckeyes complete the three most sacred loves I cherish
Sorry my one point turned into a chapter...:) thank you for reading through for those that do and hopefully I didn't annoy anyone too much!
BammBamm is my dog, Riley is my 4 yr old daughter, and THE Ohio state Buckeyes complete the three most sacred loves I cherish
So your daughter is going to play linbacker for the Buckeyes???
An angry fan...rooting for an angry team...led by angry coaches
Haha...lol...+1....I'd say yes but she'll have to be be a lot older than 17/18 before I willingly accept that much physicality with dudes... ;) although I did witness her slam this little dude that kept annoying her and a group of little girls she was playing with after he started getting touchy and pushy with them...thought I was gonna have to step in but she handled business lol
BammBamm is my dog, Riley is my 4 yr old daughter, and THE Ohio state Buckeyes complete the three most sacred loves I cherish
I voted you up. Your post had an opinion, it had some statistics to support that opinion, and it sparked a long line of statistical arguments over that opinion. By most definitions, that constitutes a good post.
Hey wait! I thought they said you were changing your icon . . .
No. I think the thread resurfaced because someone posted on it again Friday.
Sorry...duplicate posting for some reason.
While I had some serious misgivings early last season, the defense clearly made substantial progress.
But the overriding thing to me which was clearly stated by Urban, was injuries. THAT is why Boren was moved. It wasn't because he sucked on offense. Coaches can't tackle, players are on the field and if they're in the M.A.S.H. unit it usually means you will lose games. The bye before the last 2 games (Wisky, TTSUN) when they got healthy was huge.
Urban will ditch any subpar subordinate. Don't see that happening to Luke. Fickell will leave for a head coaching job at some point.
I agree with a few others here - this post doesn't deserve downvotes as it breaks none of 11Ws commenting laws & was only an opinion...Even if it was an awful, awful, terrible, opinion - it did spark decent debate, & filled in a few minutes of an otherwise boring night for me.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.