(Smith intro via Eleven Warriors)
What?
That's not him? Are you sure?
Well...okay.
Here's another clip of some other dude talking in Columbus yesterday.
If I were a Buckeye fan (and I thank the Lord each and every day that I am not), he doesn't exactly inspire a ton o' confidence based on this press conference (either of the above). Hell, he looks like the 37-year-old assistant that he was until the "Fickell" finger of football fate tapped him on the shoulder. Then again, the guy was thrown into a no-win (or some would say, no-lose) situation.
But you never know. Who would've thought that Lloyd Carr would've gone on to a National Title and Hall of Fame career when he got his unexpected shot? Same guys just step up when the rest of the world counts them out.
Yet Fickell's future in Columbus may not come down to W's and L's.
When asked if he had known of any past or present NCAA violations or any players or coaches who had done the same, Fickell stumbled through the following answer:
“You know I can honestly say that um...where I wasn’t going to say I had blinders on but...very focused at the task at hand and I was not informed of any information until it became public knowledge.”
It was almost as if he was trying to address a second part to that question which wasn't asked: “If the cars and memorabilia and tattoos were so prevelant, how could you not have noticed, too? Everyone else on campus seemed to notice the cars the players were driving.”
So the bottom line is, if Tosu's Troubles turn out to be rampant in the program (and not isolated to the Tat 5), I think OSU is going to need a clean break with the past, no matter how well Luke Fickell does on the field (I'm also looking at you, Gene Smith and Gordon Gee). He'll get the broom in after the season even if Urban Meyer isn't taking their calls.
Finally, while we swear OSU's
No comments:
Post a Comment