Ohio State Football Needs a New Head Coach Next Year

There is no question that Luke Fickell, interim coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, was put into a tough position when he took over for the fired/resigned Jim Tressel due to his cover-up of the tattoo-gate scandal. 

There is also no question that he has tried to do his best, because he bleeds Scarlet and Gray.  He suffered from having to manage coaches that had been his peers prior to his promotion. That is always difficult. 

He was not able to get his own guys as coaches. He was only able to replace himself. But in my opinion, Fickell is not even close to being ready to be the coach of a team at this level of college football.

His decisions have directly caused the four-loss record that the Bucks have suffered this season. 

The greatest error that Fickell made was not naming Braxton Miller as the starting quarterback from the beginning of spring training.  Miller graduated early so he could participate in spring training at Ohio State.

Senior quarterback Joe Bauserman is a great young man, but Fickell had been around him for many years.  The coach should have known if Bauserman was capable of playing at a high level.

It is clear that, had Miller gotten the majority of practice snaps that the starter receives, he would have been able to generate enough offense to have been competitive in all the games the team has played. 

He has developed very quickly after being named as the starter.  Perhaps the only game the Bucks would have lost would have been the Nebraska game where Miller went down with the injury. 

This error in judgment about the most important position on offense alone is enough to disqualify Fickell from consideration for the job long-term. 

A second issue is the need of Ohio State to eradicate all aspects of the scandal from the school. 

I expect the athletic director, Gene Smith, will be removed soon.  The coaching staff had to see the tattoos on the players and could well have known about the scandal as well.  For that reason, they all need to go.

Fickell has never been a head coach at any level until he was named the top man at Ohio State.  His lack of experience has shown in the inability to make half-time adjustments, his failure to do the quality control function essential to the job and errors during the game that have cost the Bucks yards, often critical timeouts and wins.

The ability to get the best players is critical in college football recruiting.  While the school’s educational and athletic reputation has a lot to do with a families’ decision, the reputation of the head coach is also a major factor. 

The top players want to join a program where the coach has a history of preparing players for the NFL. Fickell does not have enough of a body of work to compete with more recognized name-brand head coaches with which OSU would be competing.

It is essential for Ohio State to get back to the top of the Big Ten (plus two) as quickly as possible.  The
school needs a big name as head coach. There are a number of very experienced and successful coaches that have been mentioned.  The team needs a top recruiter, particularly given the likely loss of scholarships. 

Finally, the boosters and their money are critical to the long-term success of any major college football program.  Will the boosters have faith in Fickle after the disaster that has been the 2011 season? 

I doubt they will.  Their money will go elsewhere.

For all these reasons, I believe that Fickell needs to be replaced.  I am sure he will get a head coaching job in a smaller program soon if not immediately. 

He can be a fine coach someday.  But the team needs a coach ready now, not in the future.

That is what I think.  Tell us what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He edits http://fryingpansports.com and hosts the Internet radio version of News, Notes and Rumors M-Th at 6 PM EST on http://mooheadradio.com/2.0/.  He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library.com/Contemporary/ and a non-fiction work at http://www.merriam-press.com/.