One Fan’s Opinion- Luke Fickell

This weekend, we got another great email from our friend Jessie Weiland, who’s a master at tweets and so forth.  Great take on Ohio State’s current head coach and how Buckeye fans should be treating him.

Let me start out by saying I can not speak for Luke Fickell. I have never talked to him, but I am simply throwing out a theory here.

First off, Buckeye Nation, how dare you. All the slander and hatred towards a head coach is making me believe we don’t have true fans. Being a fan of a Football team is a lot like a relationship – it takes unconditional love.

That means supporting and loving your team: win, lose, suspensions, controversy, scandals and all the rest that we – the Buckeye Nation – have to endure. I am passionate, loud, and borderline annoying when watching the games, and have a deep emotional spot in my heart about Ohio State, but I’m never angry at just one person.

Alright, so let’s get to Luke Fickell, and why people are about to run me out of town for talking “good” about him.

I want you to imagine yourself as the Assistant Head Coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Imagine you’ve grown up in Columbus your entire life, and have been an Ohio State fan as well. If you’ve never lived in Columbus, let me describe it for you. Ohio State University – EVERYWHERE. Buckeyes – EVERYWHERE. You can’t even drive anywhere in Columbus, and pretty much the entire state of Ohio, without a car donned with some sort of Ohio State decor. Ohio State flags are about as sacred as the United States flag – always flying together. This was Luke Fickell’s childhood. He was taken to his first Ohio State v Michigan game when he was 8 years old. To feel that passion, that desire, that love for a team at such a young age makes him a true fan. Then you go through high school. Absolutely dominating in wrestling, going 3 years undefeated like a machine, and get the starting nose tackle position at The Ohio State University. Your dream school – the place you grew up. You go to college, have a Rose Bowl Victory, a record 50 consecutive starts (he seems to like records), and then your coaching career begins.

Let’s fast forward a bit. So you’ve moved up the ranks in coaching and now you are the Assistant Head Coach at a school you’ve formed a relationship with. A school you always dreamed of being a part of for the rest of your life. And then, the flood gates open. Controversies, lies, suspensions, betrayal, cheating, and before you know it…..You get to be the new head coach.

So let’s stop pretending right there and get back on an outside point of view here. Luke Fickell finally has his dream job. He’s said being head coach at Ohio State always has been his dream and desire, and ultimate goal. But for it to be so sudden, so shocking, so unexpected – it didn’t really seem like reality. He had some pretty big shoes to fill. Jim Tressel was the angel of Ohio State. He could beat Michigan, and got us a National Championship. He got us to BCS bowls, he got us a Heisman winning quarterback, and finally beat an SEC team in a bowl game. I don’t care if it’s vacated or not – we still won. Then he disappears, resigning. Our star quarterback expected to start after a five-game suspension also left us and joined the supplemental draft for the NFL.

…Whoa, wait. What?

So now Luke Fickell has the incredible and almost impossible task of bringing back total strength to a team on life support – morale wise.

Ohio State fans expect nothing less but excellence. Ohio State fans hate losing. Ohio State fans demand a star program. This isn’t a bad thing – it’s called passion. Even I expect excellence and greatness. It’s an Ohio State tradition. So when we’ve had issues with our traditions and our excellence is in jeopardy – Ohio State fans start the riots. The angry blame-game. And it’s all on Fickell right now. (And Jim Bollman)

Fans need to remember that Luke Fickell is also a fan. All the things I just stated above, all relative to him. He was undefeated in High School. He hates losing. He knows what it means to be a Buckeye fan. He was one before anything else. He knows how it feels to be frustrated after a loss. Now he has to deal with the fact that when Ohio State looses, he has a huge part in it. I don’t know about you readers out there, but if I became head coach of The Ohio State University after a huge change and controversy, and I was partly responsible for a loss, I would have my soul crushed and stabbed with a cleat. Guess what? I’d have to put it behind me and get ready for the next game. That has to be exhausting. Sure, there may be some flaws in his coaching, maybe he plays it too safe when he should pull out the big gun plays. Maybe he should go for it on fourth and one, but I think we need to stop shoulding all over ourselves and support Luke – not loathe him.