Luke Fickell talks about his one year as head coach of Ohio State Football

The Ohio State football program was in a rough spot back in 2011. Jim Tressel had just gotten fired due to the tattoo scandal. They ended up being coached by Luke Fickell that season. The season wasn’t a successful one, as they finished a poor 6-7.

Fickell only led Ohio State that one season, as Urban Meyer came in the year after. It was an impossible situation for Fickell to have been thrust into. We know what kind of head coach he is now after leading Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff in 2021.

Fickell was on Ryen Russillo’s podcast recently and was asked about his time in Columbus leading the team. Among things he said, one of the things he said was that he knew he was only going to be the head coach for one year. The administration told him that he had no chance of being the guy beyond 2011.

He also said that it was a miserable time for him. He said he didn’t enjoy the 6-7 month period he was thrust into that role so suddenly. He wished he could have stayed defensive coordinator, but they asked him to step up into that role. Fickell said he did the best he could.

One thing that struck me is that Fickell said he didn’t end up being himself in that role until about a month into the season. Prior to that, he tried to be as close to Tressel as he could. He didn’t realize until a month in that he needed to just be himself to be successful.

Fickell never had a chance to be great in that one year as the head coach of the Ohio State football program. It’s a shame honestly. I know that he should be a top target for the Buckeyes if Ryan Day ever ends up either leaving for another job or getting fired.

You can listen to the full interview here. Fickell starts talking about Ohio State at about the 30-minute mark.