The Coaching Search: Luke Fickell

Following the excellent work by guest poster Ty Kelly, we here at the BBC wanted to kick off a new feature looking at the coaching candidates that may be getting a look-see by the University in the coming year.  Of course, we’re not going to limit ourselves just to the reasonable candidates, we’ll be taking a look at every name that comes down the pipe.  This will give us an opportunity to explore all the different angles that OSU might be looking at with the candidates.

It’s important, though, that we start this feature with our personal favorite for the position.  I think you already have a pretty good guess who that is.

Luke Fickell was named Interim Head Coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes on May 30th, 2011.  This was the brightest silver lining to the darkest cloud imaginable.  That happened to be the same day that Jim Tressel formally resigned from the same position.

Years before this situation arose, many Buckeye fans had speculated about how the program would move forward from the Tressel era.  Clearly continuing the on and off field success would be important.  The name that continually came up in regards to a replacement (then believed to be stepping in once Tressel retired) was Fickell himself.

Much of the discussion regarding Fickell was firmly in the realm of wild speculation, though there were a number of factors that supported the belief.  One of the biggest had to do with the success of the players who played for him.  Names like AJ Hawk, Bobby Carpenter, James Larenitis, Marcus Freeman, and Anthony Schlegel roll across Buckeye fans’ tongues with ease.  All of them were possible due to Fickell’s skill.

In 2005, Fickell was promoted to co-defensive coordinator of the Buckeyes.  Many people believe that this is the point that the OSU defense turned a corner and became a much more aggressive unit overall.  In the two years prior to Fickell’s promotion, the Ohio State defense gave up 229 points (2003: 11-2 season) and 219 points (2004: 8-4 season).  After Fickell’s promotion, the Buckeyes never gave up more than 186 points (last season).  In fact, the 163 given up by the Bucks in 2009 was the lowest since 1998 (144).

The defensive statistics since the Woody Hayes era are quite interesting and educational.  There’s a lot of fact behind the idea that Fickell has made significant improvements in the play of the Buckeyes.  Consider the averages of total points scored against the Buckeye defense in each of the following eras:

A couple of interesting things jump out.

1. Jim Tressel’s defenses were the worst among the three Ohio State coaches until Fickell moved up the ranks.  Only then did Tressel’s become the best.*
2. Earle Bruce’s numbers are artificially low, having played around one or two fewer games on average than Tressel.
3. If you calculate averages for each set of 6 years since the start of Earle Bruce’s career, no set of years is better than the one’s Luke Fickell spent as Coordinator (2005-2010, 174.17).  The only 6 year set that comes close is 1993-1998 at 178.17 – Fickell saw the field in the first four.

Fickell does not have the Head Coaching resume possessed by a number of other coaches we will feature on this list.  Fickell has never held a head coaching position during his career, something that may reflect negatively on him in trying to make the position permanent.

On the plus side, he does have one season to demonstrate he can do the job and has clearly indicated that doing it the right way will be more important than anything else.  I think he’s on the right track to negating his lack of experience in the job.

Playing Career:
Nose Guard, Defensive Line, Ohio State Buckeyes (1992RS, 1993-1996).

Pedegree:

• Graduate Assistant: Ohio State 1999-2000
• Defensive Line Coach: Akron 2000-2001
• Special Teams Coach: Ohio State 2002-2003
• Linebackers: Ohio State 2004
• Linebackers/Co-Defensive Coordinator: Ohio State 2010

Awards and Honors:
2010 AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year Award
Fickell is the first OSU coach to win this award, and the fifth Ohio State Head Coach to have been honored by the AFCA. Previous AFCA award winners include Carroll Widdoes, Woody Hayes, Earle Bruce, and Jim Tressel. It is certainly no small honor to be included in that company.

Reasons Ohio State could hire Fickell:

• Fickell is a born and bred Buckeye.  He “gets” the things that are important to the fanbase and the school – especially the Michigan rivalry.
• He has learned under two previous Ohio State head coaches, and has excellent ties to the school.
• The athletic department already knows him very well, so there are fewer unknowns about his personality and ability.
• Many of the players were personally recruited by Fickell, and all of the players know him on some level, making for a less severe transitional period.
• His press conference on Monday was a work of art.  While clearly uncomfortable with the role, Fickell demonstrated that he had a plan for the future, and had only the players’ and team’s best interests in mind.
• He also demonstrated a tenacity and toughness that will clearly help make him a very effective coach.

Reasons Ohio State wont hire Fickell:

• Fickell is too closely tied to two coaches who have left the university on very negative terms: John Cooper and Jim Tressel.
• The NCAA may view Fickell (and the rest of the current staff) as culpable in the events surrounding Jim Tressel’s resignation, which could adversely affect the university.
• While Fickell is a fantastic defensive coach, he has no obvious coaching experience with the offensive side of the ball.  A solid offensive season can eliminate those fears.

*That’s not exactly fair to Tressel. Tressel’s pre-Fickell numbers are over only 4 seasons, including his two worst (2001, 2004). Though, it also includes one of Tressel’s better defenses, 2002 which gave up only 183 total points all season (14 games).