(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
Posts
5 comments:
"Change is inevitable"? Is this his way of informing the fan base that they should not expect to win all their games since they will be under a microscope and have to play by the rules going forward??
Or he could be referring to the NCAA hammer about to strike. :)
Or that in an effort to fool the NCAA, they are going to shut down their athletic department and move it to an entity called "Old OSU". They will have all the records and stuff. And they will recreate an entity called "New OSU". when the NCAA hammer comes down, they will say, "Well those sanctions belong with Old OSU, so you can't punish us".
If someone would have popped a balloon in the back of the room, he would have wet himself and then run and hid under the bed. St. John Chrysostrom, he is not.
@Mikoyan - isn't that how the Old Coke -> New Coke -> Classic Coke process unfolded?
Post a Comment