I wouldn't say Fick didn't do good enough. Give him a good offensive coach, and this team wins 2-3 more games at this point. He was put in a bad situation, and he certainly wasn't ready; but the record of this team doesn't reflect his performance. That record relects the team, which is obviously very young, and all of the coaches. Our QB's and WR's showed very little progression that appeared to be coached.
Most of this team will be back next year, and Fick should be allowed to have some better staff to help move this program forward. I mean, even Rich Rod got 3 years.
The thing that gets Fick is that he doesn't have the experience to totally make-over a staff, and if he was able to get rid of coaches, I'd find it hard to believe that he could cut Bollman since he has been here so long. Siciliano needs to be replaced too, for that matter. Many of these guys are built around Tresselball; so do you risk replacing them in hopes that someone else will fit, do you totally clean slate and start over, or do you leave everything the way it is? In my opinion, and most of you agree with this; changes need to be made. The game has evolved to a high-paced speed, and the program needs to change. You can't bring in a coach, like Rich Rod, who says I'm going to run this specific offense. You have to bring in a guy who can line up in the I or go 5 wide depending on what talent he has, and at OSU you should be able to mostly do it all.
The key is the play-calling. It has to be unpredictable, not off the wall bonkers no-sense play-calling, just not predictable. Risks have to be taken at times. "Success is when preparation meets opportunity". Not sure who the quote is by, but the point is that we can only take care of preparation. Good coaches do that. They prepare their team for situations such as having to play the 2nd string QB or having to replace players lost to injury, suspension, or graduation.
Our team needs to learn to play with speed and enthusiasm consistently. Our offense has to learn to be effecient and take what's given, and our defense has to learn how to handle an up-beat game. Not to ramble too much, but look back at the last two NCG appearances. We struck first (Ginn KO RET TD and Beanie's big run), but our defense was unable to sustain the counter-punch giving up TD's in both games. Our offense doesn't consistently play at that level, so we are basically unable to win in shoot outs; and the 42-39 game wasn't played at this speed. Although, that Buckeye offense was the closest we've had to playing up to speed. I hate the SEC, but they play the game at a different speed than the B1G. We need to impliment an offense that can play at that speed and a defense that can sustain the response.
I understand Tresselball and agree with aspects of that style. Field positioning, not turning the ball over, and solid special teams are very important. Every team should play with these basic fundamentals, but we need to be able to take the game to the next level. I'm not so sure Fick is the guy that can do that, but that doesn't mean he can't be successful at OSU. I mean, we weren't that far from making the B1G CG this year, and we've seen how badly this team performs at times. We need to focus on being the leaders in the B1G by stepping it up, and we have so many young players with experience that this system can start to be implimented now. Allow these guys to raise the bar over the next 3 years while training the incoming classes, but the changes have to be made now.
I don't think Fick did a bad job, but this program has a shot to progress; and they need to jump on this opportunity. I just hope the school is prepared.
Update: Same plane that came from Gaineville to OSU airport was in Miami when Urban Meyer met with Univ. of Ariz. That meeting took place in Miami.
Go Bucks!
http://thebuckeyeboard.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/TheBuckeyeBoard
