Ohio State football: Fickell challenges players? reactions
Coach wants to avoid complacency
Tuesday August 30, 2011
By Bill Rabinowitz
The Columbus Dispatch
Luke Fickell has been Ohio State?s football coach for less than three months. His first game at the helm remains four days away.
But even in this early stage of his Buckeyes coaching career, something of a Fickell philosophy has emerged. Its main tenet: Toughness is forged through challenges; comfort is counterproductive.
He wants his players in unfamiliar situations. He wants them to have to think on their feet. He believes his players know he cares about them by demanding their absolute best.
?To me, it?s all about being tested,? Fickell said. ?I tell them every day the reason I act the way I do in practice is that I want to put pressure and heat on you. Because if you?re worried about what I?m thinking, how are you going to react in front of 106,000?
?Does it drive them nuts sometimes? I know for the guys I coach, it did. ?Why are you on me so hard?? I want to see how you react. I want to see how you handle 106,000 booing you or hollering at you.?
Fickell was former OSU linebacker Bobby Carpenter?s position coach. Carpenter would agree with Fickell?s assessment.
?Coach Fickell is a stern, no-nonsense kind of coach,? Carpenter said. ?What he says is how it?s going to be. There?s not going to be any gray area.
He?s going to hold everyone accountable.
?He was a difficult coach to play for as a position coach because he was very demanding. But I improved dramatically under him.?
Carpenter said Fickell didn?t dismiss input from players. But once Fickell made a decision, he didn?t deviate.
Carpenter said he didn?t make it easy for Fickell. He continually challenged Fickell and his techniques. Now he sees that Fickell was right.
?He helped mold me into the man I am today and the player I am today,? Carpenter said. ?It?s through a firm hand. Some guys don?t always want to hear that or understand that, especially in today?s society when people want to do their own thing and don?t want to be criticized. He?s going to coach guys and hold them to a high standard.?
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