Buckeyes' Luke Fickell back in familiar role
May, 7, 2012
By Adam Rittenberg | ESPN.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Like most coaches, Ohio State's Luke Fickell has neither the time nor the desire to look backward.
Fickell isn't going to publish his memoirs about his 182-day term as Ohio State's head coach last year, when he guided his alma mater through an adversity-filled season that produced subpar results on the field. After Ohio State named Urban Meyer as its head coach on Nov. 28, Fickell's life didn't exactly slow down. He coached the Buckeyes through their bowl game, interviewing for Pitt's head-coaching vacancy during the span, before opting to remain with Ohio State as defensive coordinator. When Meyer introduced his staff at a Jan. 15 Ohio State men's basketball game, Fickell received the loudest ovation.
Since then, Fickell has spent most of his time recruiting, with some coaching sprinkled in this spring.
AP Photo/Jay LaPreteLuke Fickell says he learned a lot during his brief stint as Ohio State's head coach.
"From the day after the [bowl] game, I pretty much started moving on into the next page," Fickell told ESPN.com. "Since then, we've had spring break off, so that was probably about the only time you may have had to reflect, but you were so far into everything else. ... Then again, I'm not a person that is going to dwell upon the past."
He might not dwell on what happened, but he hasn't forgotten, either. The unique situation provided lessons for a young coach.
"There's things you take from every experience, but especially that one," Fickell said. "Not just about being a head coach, but being in the midst of adversity. It's everything from how you react and respond to how others around you react and respond to how an 18-year-old reacts and responds, to a 22-year-old. There was an incredible amount of things learned, not just about what things would I do different, but more emotionally."
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Ohio State's Fickell fine playing low-key role
Zac Jackson
August 7, 2012
"Coaching, this is what I love, yes. It doesn't matter if you're ... the head coach or you're an assistant coach, helping these young people has to be one of your passions." — Luke Fickell (Greg Bartram-US PRESSWIRE)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — By now, college football fans know all about realignment and the coach-in-waiting concept.
But the coach-in-really-awkwardly-waiting?
A head coach losing his job and staying on the staff with the new coach is pretty new — and pretty rare. That's the case at Ohio State, though, as last year's coach-by-default is now working as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach under new head coach Urban Meyer.
Fickell is a Columbus native and former Ohio State star. Even through last year's struggles, he remained a popular figure in town and is still very popular amongst his players.
He's just not as popular as Meyer, but Fickell is fine with that.
"You have to find what's exciting and what you have a passion for," Fickell said. "Coaching, this is what I love, yes. It doesn't matter if you're coaching or you're helping out academics, you're a strength coach or the head coach or you're an assistant coach, helping these young people has to be one of your passions.
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Ohio State football: Fickell finds contentment in former role
By Bill Rabinowitz
The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday
August 8, 2012
Luke Fickell was scheduled to speak to the media for the only time this preseason after yesterday?s practice.
When he saw offensive coordinator Tom Herman still holding court with the media, Fickell slipped past almost unnoticed.
No, Fickell is not the coach of Ohio State anymore. More important, he doesn?t seem to mind. Let someone else be the center of attention.
?That?s why I went ahead and went on off,? Fickell explained with a sly smile after returning for his session with reporters. ?Let Tom have them. I?m sure they?ve seen plenty of me and can probably recite what I?m going to say.?
That was pretty true. As the coach who held the Buckeyes together off the field though they floundered on it, Fickell consistently deflected attention from himself. Nothing has changed.
But he has seemingly adapted well to being Urban Meyer?s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. A head coach has plenty of secondary duties that have nothing to do with X?s and O?s. Now Fickell is more back in his element.
?It?s getting back into the things you love to do,? Fickell said. ?Where?s your focus? You can switch sides of the ball, switch positions, and you always have to focus yourself back to what you?re doing.
?If you worry about too many things outside of what you have control over, it?s very difficult. So whatever your job is, that?s what your focus is. The ability to stay on task and do that is the key. That?s maybe what I learned the most.?
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Fickell Happy to Step Out of Spotlight
By Brandon Castel
COLUMBUS, Ohio ? Even Luke Fickell had to chuckle Tuesday when a reporter asked him if this fall felt more like last year or the ones previous.
Luke Fickell
Photo by Jim Davidson Luke Fickell
?More like previous years,? he said with a perfect Luke Fickell smirk.
?It?s just a different feel, different perspective as a coach out there. All the years have been exciting; all the years have been fun. Different challenges for different times.?
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Published: 8/23/2012
OSU's Fickell back in familiar role as head of defense
BY DAVID BRIGGS
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
COLUMBUS -- The coach kept walking as he spotted a crush of reporters in the Ohio State football indoor facility.
Luke Fickell was scheduled to meet with the media for the first time in months after a recent practice, but the cameras could wait. He slipped behind the mass surrounding offensive coordinator Tom Herman and into the locker room.
As the temporary face of a program in turmoil last season, Fickell uncomfortably did the media drill twice a week. This year, someone else could have the spotlight.
"Let Tom have them," he said with a laugh after emerging 15 minutes later. "I'm sure they've seen enough of me. They can go ahead and recite what I'm probably going to say."
A bridge between eras, Fickell appears a man content in his new/old role as an in-the-background leader of the Buckeyes' defense.
Fickell is back as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, the same job he held for six seasons before the scandal that ousted Jim Tressel thrust him into the head chair last season. No longer pulled every which way, the 39-year-old is able to channel his focus toward restoring Ohio State's defense to the nationally elite stature he helped shape over the past decade.
"You've got to find what's exciting to you, what you have a passion for," he said. "That's coaching. This is what I love, being with the defense. I love being with a young group of guys."
The lone holdover from Tressel's final season in 2010, Fickell provides Urban Meyer a stabilizing defensive presence in a time of sweeping change -- exactly what the offensive-minded coach sought when he was hired in November.
Meyer knew from past experience the importance of keeping a top defensive coach from the previous staff. He retained Tim Beckman at Bowling Green in 2001, Kyle Whittingham at Utah in 2003, and Charlie Strong at Florida in 2005. All three helped accelerate the transition and are now head coaches at major college programs.
"There used to be a time -- not in my lifetime -- when you could go build a program," Meyer said. "That really doesn't exist anymore. You've got to go win. That's why from Bowling Green to Utah to Florida to here I've always kept the [same defense].
"To install a brand new offense, a brand new defense, a brand new special teams, that takes time. Momentum is such a key in recruiting and with your fan base."
That's why Ohio State made Fickell one of the highest-paid assistants in the country with an annual salary of $750,000. Meyer hopes a defense that returns eight starters is readymade to carry OSU when necessary.
Before last year, which ended with a Buckeyes team buffeted from every direction allowing 110 points over their season-ending four-game losing streak, Fickell helped fashion some of the nation's top defenses. The Buckeyes ranked 14th or better in total defense every year in his time as co-defensive coordinator under Jim Heacock between 2005 and 2010.
Now, Fickell aims to re-establish that standard. It will be his defense -- Meyer has said Fickell will call the plays -- though he said the unit fans see Sept. 1 against Miami will reflect the philosophies of the new-look staff.
Players said the biggest change is a more attacking style, made possible by a deep defensive line.
"The strength of our defense is going to be up front," said Fickell, a former Buckeyes nose tackle who joined the OSU staff in 2002 as special teams coordinator. "We'd be crazy not to allow them to be aggressive."
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Fickell Finds Comfort Zone With New-Look Buckeyes
By RUSTY MILLER, AP Sports Writer
September 20, 2012
Ohio State defensive coordinator Luke Fickell / (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS (AP) ? Now that more than a year has passed since Luke Fickell was dropped into an almost unwinnable season of controversy, frustration and transition at Ohio State, he?s able to see it as a life lesson.
?You can?t get some of those experiences just reading about it or seeing it or trying to study it,? he reflected this week. ?To actually do it is invaluable.?
Fickell was elevated from defensive coordinator to fill in as interim head coach while the Buckeyes fought off challenges on two fronts: on the field and in a lengthy NCAA investigation.
Under Fickell, in charge of a team for the first time and stuck with one that was assailed by a drumbeat of suspensions, innuendo and sanctions, it was a torturous season. The Buckeyes went just 6-7, losing their final four games, while the NCAA was rapping the program for major violations which took place under the guidance of the coach the previous 10 years, Jim Tressel.
?It?s probably one of the hardest things you could possibly do, replacing THE Jim Tressel and him not having any head coaching experience,? said a lineman he recruited who now toils on the Buckeyes? front wall, Nathan Williams. ?Just the type of man he is, he took that challenge, he stepped up when he needed to and he did the best job he possibly could under the circumstances.?
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