Coach Fickell Addresses Posey and Herron Violations, More at Press Conference

Twenty-four hours after Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith announced that stars Devier Posey and Dan "Boom" Herron committed yet another NCAA violation, coach Luke Fickell gave his weekly press conference.

Reporters alternated between asking questions about the multiple-time violators and the Buckeyes' poor performance against Michigan State.

While many fans are calling for Posey and Herron to be removed from the team, coach Fickell doesn't see it that way.

"Those guys were part of who we are right now; they are a part of what we do, and we need each and every one of them, in whatever role they have," Fickell said.

According to the press conference transcript, Fickell was directly asked if Posey and Herron would remain on the football team, regardless of what the NCAA rules.

Fickell's response? "Yeah."

As a head coach, he could have the power to remove multiple-time violators from the team; however, he remains uncertain about this idea.

"Well, this is still something that's undergoing and I don't know. I don't have all of the information that they are going through probably just as of yet. Not that I have seen anything that we wouldn't want a guy around right now."

The press conference then turned to how Fickell handled his players' reactions to the 10-7 loss on Saturday.

"We went ahead and went with our three points of wisdom from John Wooden that said: Don't whine, don't complain and don't make excuses. And I think that's what we have got to be able to do, and it starts from the top down with all of us as coaches...make sure guys don't have excuses in their head, and we are not going to tolerate it, and that's it."

Right now, offensive coordinator Jim Bollman is sitting in the hot seat, being criticized for the lack of production on the field. 

"He [Bollman] understands what we need to do," Fickell state. "We just have to do a better job of figuring out what our guys can do and what our guys can handle, and we will...if we sit and worry about all of the people that criticized us instead of worrying about what we need to do, we can't let it affect us.

You stay together, you play together, you win together, you lose together."