http://www.elevenwarriors.com/2012/10/15045/meyer-presser-recap-purdue#more

“I’m not happy at all with what's going on on defense with players and coaches.” –Meyer

There are conversations about making other personnel changes on defense, but Meyer said Ohio State is limited in making them.

^^ this gets back to the point I made earlier. If Urban had his druthers, he'd have hired a different defensive coach, but Fickel was part of the deal. Not at all blaming this all on Fickel--they just don't have the defensive players right noww--but wouldn't be surprised Urban is a bit miffed he doesn't have HIS guy running that defense. Though he'll never say that publicly.

ricola;1296226 wrote:^^ this gets back to the point I made earlier. If Urban had his druthers, he'd have hired a different defensive coach, but Fickel was part of the deal. Not at all blaming this all on Fickel--they just don't have the defensive players right noww--but wouldn't be surprised Urban is a bit miffed he doesn't have HIS guy running that defense. Though he'll never say that publicly.

So you're claiming that not only was Meyer "forced" to keep Fickell, but he was also "forced" to make him Co-Defensive Coordinator in charge of calling the plays? Was he also told he had to keep Vrabel?

ricola;1296226 wrote:^^ this gets back to the point I made earlier. If Urban had his druthers, he'd have hired a different defensive coach, but Fickel was part of the deal. Not at all blaming this all on Fickel--they just don't have the defensive players right noww--but wouldn't be surprised Urban is a bit miffed he doesn't have HIS guy running that defense. Though he'll never say that publicly.

History is not on your side my friend. At each of his previous 3 coaching stops Urban Meyer has kept the defensive coordinator at the school before he was there. Was he forced to do it at each of the three other schools too? I'm thinking this history shows that Urban has a tendency to do that.

Now if your argument is that he was the "head coach" not just the defensive coordinator maybe you have a little more ground to stand on, but I'm still not buying it. Fickel was only a stop-gap and not a true head coach. Pretty much the old regime was in place last year still. Fickel might have had the title, but he was little more than a defensive coach effectively.

The fact that he is "Co" - Defensive Coordinator indicates to me that Ricola is probably right here. Both Fick and Vrabel will be gone after this season.

Really embarrassed about our defense. It's a very young, raw, and injured defense that would only succeed if they played in the SEC East. I bet we'd be given up 2.3 points per game if we played the typical SEC East schedule.

Tiernan;1296290 wrote:The fact that he is "Co" - Defensive Coordinator indicates to me that Ricola is probably right here. Both Fick and Vrabel will be gone after this season.

No it doesn't . Ohio State has has co d coords since Heacock took over a few years ago.

sleeper;1296292 wrote:Really embarrassed about our defense. It's a very young, raw, and injured defense that would only succeed if they played in the SEC East. I bet we'd be given up 2.3 points per game if we played the typical SEC East schedule.

49 points to INDIANA.

sjmvsfscs08;1296304 wrote:49 points to INDIANA.

Your point? Indiana would win the SEC East.

LJ;1296303 wrote:No it doesn't . Ohio State has has co d coords since Heacock took over a few years ago.

Different Head Administrator.

I actually hope you and F4F are right and me & Ricol are wrong. I respect what Fick and Vrabel did for OSU last year and am pulling for both of them to succeed with Urbie. But my gut tells me otherwise.

Tiernan;1296434 wrote:Different Head Administrator.

I actually hope you and F4F are right and me & Ricol are wrong. I respect what Fick and Vrabel did for OSU last year and am pulling for both of them to succeed with Urbie. But my gut tells me otherwise.

I'm not saying that Fick and Vrabel are performing well. I'm not really judging them at all in my post, just saying that Fickel being kept as the d-coord was nothing out of the norm for Urban when he enters a new program.

But beyond that, I have been skeptical about Vrabel's performance as last year he was in charge of the LB's which were a weak spot, and this year he is the D-Line, and despite the talent started off the first few games underperforming then had a couple good games. Then against Indiana seemed to struggle again.

I'm not sold on Vrabel, and not really sold on Fickel either.

We're kinda on the same page F4F, just different paragraphs.

Our major difference here is that I gotta believe even if Gene Smith didn't make it a "mandatory stipulation" for Urbie to keep Fickell he made it a "strong recommendation" and once Fick was on board he went to bat for his BFF Vrabel.

Now maybe I'm seeing things but I sit at Home games where I can pretty much watch the entire bench area and there is little if any conversation btwn Urbie and Fickell during games unless Urbie is perturbed about something and the relationship looks strained at best.

sleeper;1296315 wrote:Your point? Indiana would win the SEC East.

Indiana would win the SEC championship. Not just the east. SEC east is a step below the MAC though.

Didn't realize Urban kept the D coordinators at his previous 2 hires. But I think it was very apparent they weren't going to cut Fickel loose after stepping up to be the interim after Tressel was let go, even though it was apparent he wasn't ready for that job. he was a faithful Buckeye and was rewarded by being kept on. Just saying if Urban had his pick of D coordinators, doubt he would have picked Fickel. The defense is very average (and that's being kind) this year. True, they don't have horses they have had in years past, but don't think they're getting the best out of what they got. and the buck stops with the head coach--and he doesn't like what he's seeing on the defensive side-including the coaching.

ricola;1296559 wrote:Didn't realize Urban kept the D coordinators at his previous 2 hires. But I think it was very apparent they weren't going to cut Fickel loose after stepping up to be the interim after Tressel was let go, even though it was apparent he wasn't ready for that job. he was a faithful Buckeye and was rewarded by being kept on. Just saying if Urban had his pick of D coordinators, doubt he would have picked Fickel. The defense is very average (and that's being kind) this year. True, they don't have horses they have had in years past, but don't think they're getting the best out of what they got. and the buck stops with the head coach--and he doesn't like what he's seeing on the defensive side-including the coaching.

Previous 3 hires (BG, Utah and Florida). Which is why I don't think he was forced to keep Fickel. It certainly looks like a pattern, as this is now the 4th time in a row he kept the d-coord.

Fly4Fun;1296574 wrote:Previous 3 hires (BG, Utah and Florida). Which is why I don't think he was forced to keep Fickel. It certainly looks like a pattern. as this is now the 4th time in a row he kept the d-coord.

Not to mention that Fick and Vrabel are great recruiters, which is a huge part of a college coaching staff.

Fick and Vrabel will both be looking for work this off season. I'm almost sure of it.

I wouldn't say the talent level on this team is great. Outside of Braxton--very average. If that is what Fickel and Vrabel recruited in here, i'm not impressed. I like those guys, but not seeing great results from their coaching--or recruiting for that matter.
I'm guessing Fick was "part of the package" of Urban coming on. He (Urban) probably had no problem with that--especially since he kept the DC's at previous places. But also saying I'm guessing he probably knows good defensive coaches out there he may have brought on if Fickel wasn't staying. In any event, Fickel and the defensive coaches have not likely done much to impress UM to want to keep them around for years to come.

I'll be curious to see if Vrabel even keeps coaching if Urbie cuts him loose. I think he was enthused to help out his buddy Fickell but his lack of experience will not make him very marketable with Top 20 programs and I doubt he'd want to coach MAC level or lower. He's probably more suited to coaching in the NFL.