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DT Luke Fickell (HC Wisconsin Badgers)

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OhioState001 said:
The last two years our defense has been bad but it improved as the year went on. Can't say that this year. We didn't improve and that's the most disappointing thing.
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We didn't just not improve, it has ended with two absolutely horrific performances. And it wasn't just getting beaten physically. Mental lapses, missed assignments...that's the kind of stuff that you NEED to improve as the season goes on. I'm simply astounded with how many people have been running free, wide open against this secondary.

Like I said, everytime it looked like the defense was taking a step forward, they took one or two steps back. Solid effort against San Diego State, gouged by friggin' Cal. Two excellent performances against Ped Aggy and Purdue, Illinois moves the ball on them. Nice effort against IU, embarrassed by scUM and then lay an egg against sparty. There's been no advancement on that side of the ball.

Two years running the defense has been seriously subpar. At tOSU, that should cost jobs.
 
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I do not know this for a fact but I doubt if Urban would let Luke or Withers go. The only way they leave is if they get a HC at another school IMO
Also, I think the reason that Luke gets most of the blame for our defense is because he is more visible on the sidelines plus he is a guy that is always talking to the media. I have never seen a quote from Withers regarding game planning or anything else.
 
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LitlBuck said:
I do not know this for a fact but I doubt if Urban would let Luke or Withers go. The only way they leave is if they get a HC at another school IMO
Also, I think the reason that Luke gets most of the blame for our defense is because he is more visible on the sidelines plus he is a guy that is always talking to the media. I have never seen a quote from Withers regarding game planning or anything else.
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Luke (not by choice) shouldered a heavy load as an interm coach and did not have a winning season. From that moment on, he had a tainted legacy. He will forever be scrutinized hard from the media.

I fail to put all the blame on Fickell. He was our ST coach in 2002-03 when we had arguably the best kicker in OSU history. He was also the LB coach in 04 and became the LB/Co-DC coach from 05-10. Think about those tough silver bullet defenders that walked through Ohio State from 05-10: Hawk, Jenkins, Carpenter, Schlegal, Laurinaitis, Freeman, Coleman, Russell, Homan, etc.

The guy knows how to coach up some great defensive players, linebackers in particular. If you want to blame him, then blame should also go on Withers because we have a track record for Fickell here; but we don't have a clue as to what good Withers can provide at Ohio State. Lets not forget Coombs. He is a good coach and a great recruiter but again all we can do is base him on the last two seasons of DB and ST play; both of which have not been strong for the Buckeyes.

Lets remember something when talking about this defense. Going into the B1G CG, the Buckeyes were a nationally Top 5 Rush Defense and #1 in Sacks. The weakness was in the backfield. Sounds to me like its mostly a backfield coaching issue. Im not going to have surgery done on my broken arm if my leg has a bullet in it. You attack the immediate wound and go from there. That said, Im not sure what taking out Fickell will do.

Maybe next year we have 1 HC, 1 DC, and 1 OC, non of this "co" crap.
 
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SEREbuckeye said:
Luke (not by choice) shouldered a heavy load as an interm coach and did not have a winning season. From that moment on, he had a tainted legacy.

I fail to put all the blame on Fickell. He was our ST coach in 2002-03 when we had arguably the best kicker in OSU history. He was also the LB coach in 04 and became the LB/Co-DC coach from 05-10. Think about those tough silver bullet differenders that walked through Ohio State from 05-10 - Hawk, Jenkins, Carpenter, Schlegal, Laurinaitis, Freeman, Coleman, Anderson Russell, Homan, etc.

The guy knows how to coach up some great defensive players, linebackers in particular. If you want to blame him, then blame should also go on Withers because we have a track record for Fickell here; but we don't have a clue as to what good Withers can provide at Ohio State. Coombs also is a great coach and recruiter but again all we can do is base the guy on the last two seasons of DB and ST play. Neither of these have been something strong for the Buckeyes.

Lets remember something when talking about this defense. Going into the B1G CG, the Buckeyes were a nationally Top 5 Rush Defense and #1 in Sacks. The weakness was in the backfield. Sounds to me like its mostly a backfield coaching issue. Im not going to have surgery done on my broken arm if my leg has a bullet in it. You attack the immediate wound and go from there. That said, Im not sure what taking out Fickell will do.

Maybe next year we have 1 HC, 1 DC, and 1 OC, non of this "co" crap.
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I think you need to remember that Withers is also the Assistant HC in addition to being co-defensive coordinator. I do not know if that was just about money to get him on staff or if he has more responsibility than Luke.
 
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LitlBuck said:
I think you need to remember that Withers is also the Assistant HC in addition to being co-defensive coordinator. I do not know if that was just about money to get him on staff or if he has more responsibility than Luke.
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They both are Assistant HC's, I believe. But I get what you are saying, and I agree. Withers and Coombs are just as (if not more) responsible as Luke.
 
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My feeling is that Coombs is there primarily has a recruiter. Lacking that, I have a hard time seeing his value to the program.

As for the sacks and rushing numbers, I do give a lot of credit to our DL. It was the one consistent performer on defense for this team. It's almost like a mirror image of some of Earl's mediocre defenses where strong LB and DB groups were consistently let down by poor DLs.

In any event, I think those rushing and sack numbers are distorted and due in large part to teams recognizing what a shambles our backfield was and turning very pass happy.
 
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ORD_Buckeye said:
My feeling is that Coombs is there primarily has a recruiter. Lacking that, I have a hard time seeing his value to the program.

As for the sacks and rushing numbers, I do give a lot of credit to our DL. It was the one consistent performer on defense for this team. It's almost like a mirror image of some of Earl's mediocre defenses where strong LB and DB groups were consistently let down by poor DLs.

In any event, I think those rushing and sack numbers are distorted and due in large part to teams recognizing what a shambles our backfield was and turning very pass happy.
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Buckeyes finished the season #7 nationally in Rush D. One might think its because other teams just began passing on them. Heres how the Buckeyes compare to the other top 10 Rushing Defense, in terms of opponent rushing attempts.

#1 MSU - 389
#2 Louisville - 378
#3 Stanford - 400
#4 Rutgers - 380
#5 Cincy - 377
#6 Wisky - 380
#7 OSU - 430
#8 Va Tech - 413
#9 Ga Tech - 374
#10 Utah St - 497

Spin the stats the way you want to, but other than Utah St no other Top 10 Rush D has had as many rush attempts against them as the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes have had 41 more attacks on them than #1 MSU, 30 more than Stanford, and 50 more than Wisconsin.

So its not like opponents are shying away from rushing against the Buckeyes. Up until Langford last night, the unit hadn't given up 100 yards to any single rusher all season. The Buckeyes are just THAT good against the rush. This says to me that the DLine and LBs are doing their jobs in terms of containing the ground attack, something Fickell and Vrabel know how to coach. The secondary is where the question marks lay, which brings us to Withers (Safeties) and Coombs (Corner Backs) as the secondary was only passed on 299 times.
 
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SEREbuckeye said:
Buckeyes finished the season #7 nationally in Rush D. One might think its because other teams just began passing on them. Heres how the Buckeyes compare to the other top 10 Rushing Defense, in terms of opponent rushing attempts.

#1 MSU - 389
#2 Louisville - 378
#3 Stanford - 400
#4 Rutgers - 380
#5 Cincy - 377
#6 Wisky - 380
#7 OSU - 430
#8 Va Tech - 413
#9 Ga Tech - 374
#10 Utah St - 497

Spin the stats the way you want to, but other than Utah St no other Top 10 Rush D has had as many rush attempts against them as the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes have had 41 more attacks on them than #1 MSU, 30 more than Stanford, and 50 more than Wisconsin.

So its not like opponents are shying away from rushing against the Buckeyes. Up until Langford last night, the unit hadn't given up 100 yards to any single rusher all season. The Buckeyes are just THAT good against the rush. This says to me that the DLine and LBs are doing their jobs in terms of containing the ground attack, something Fickell and Vrabel know how to coach. The secondary is where the question marks lay, which brings us to Withers (Safeties) and Coombs (Corner Backs) as the secondary was only passed on 299 times.
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Oh how I wish that number was closer.:pissed:
 
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Poor tackling technique, bad pursuit angles, and terrible man to man coverage, have been a problem for going on three years. What we see in the games is the residual of what was done in practice that week. I have not been a fan of the defensive staff for the last two years, but how can you bitch at 24-0?
 
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TooTallMenardo said:
I seem to remember things getting heated between Coombs and Meyer on the sideline against Michigan. Maybe it was just the magnitude of the game, but it was hard not to notice.

Either way, I don't think there should be Co-DC's after this season.
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This. In my job I have ONE Base Commander, ONE Group Commander, ONE Unit Commander, ONE Position Leader, ONE direct supervisor.

This isn't hard to understand. You have leaders, and then you have assistants. IMO, a Coordinator is a position which requires leadership, not assistance. You get one man to do the job and shoulder the load. Under him are position coaches that assist him. This makes for ownership of a unit and a clean chain of command that the players can take their instructions from.

Having two coordinators muddles everything. You have two different guys with two different backgrounds, leadership approaches, and personalities.
 
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