UCGrad1992
Legend
Posts: 31,912
Joined: Sep 2013
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I Root For: Bearcats U
Location: North Carolina
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RE: Open Response to Enquirer Sports "Columnist" Paul Daugherty
Ok, because I'm a fair, stand-up guy, the article below was penned by PDik on Friday. There's still some residual snark in his tone. Hopefully Chad can verify that he was actually seen at CHG...
Quote:Paul Daugherty: Luke Fickell building trust in Cincinnati Bearcats
The eye-rolling part of the program comes quickly and steadily gathers steam. “I look at my players as part of my family,’’ Luke Fickell says.
Uh-oh.
“I have six kids at home, and 110 out here,’’ says Fickell, referring to the expanse of two football fields at Higher Ground, the Bearcats training camp just across the state line.
I check my watch, look at my notes. Fickell uses the word “bonding’’. I seek a polite exit. Not another of those interviews.
College coaches have been lovin’ their players since the beginning of time. And leavin’ ‘em just as fast. You could see how a man might get cynical on the subject.
Then Fickell drops a soliloquy on me that restores my faith in faith. Just maybe, the second-year coach is different.
“When guys ask me who I am, I’m a wrestler," Fickell says. “What’s a wrestler? A guy who might wrestle in front of a thousand people, beat his head against the wall seven days a week, cut weight, do all this crazy stuff, just to go out and fight with a guy.
“There’s not a lot of glory. That’s the way I am, that’s the way I was raised. I’ve been there, I’ve had the success. There’s nothing greater than hard work paying off. That’s what I want these guys to experience. Championships are the euphoria of the work paying off. That’s what drives me.’’
UC athletic director Mike Bohn has asked Fickell to be more… what’s the word? Charismatic? Dynamic? “We gotta get you out there!’’ Fickell recalls Bohn saying to him. Out there: Pounding the regional pavement, attending high school stags and eating flocks of rubber chicken. Talking in optimistic paragraphs!
Fickell can do that. All coaches can do that. We’ve had a few at UC recently who excelled at it. Fickell? “I’d rather see a winner than hear one. That’s why you don’t hear me say we’re gonna do this or win this. I’m much more, ‘don’t listen to what I say, watch what I do.’ ’’
His first team wasn’t expected to do much. It met expectations, finishing 4-8. Fickell reflects on that and decides his message wasn’t quite a bullseye. “Trust, love and respect,’’ he says. There wasn’t enough of it.
“You see what you’ve got when tough times hit. That’s where I was disappointed last year,’’ says Fickell. “Not having a good enough relationship (or) the trust, love and respect not only for me, the whole group. We didn’t have those guys that stuck together. That’s what I was most disappointed in.
“That’s what got us last year. The relationships. Guy makes a mistake (in the secondary) gives up a touchdown, we’re pointing fingers as opposed to knowing how hard the situation is, realizing that and moving on. Unless you’re that much more talented than the other guys, you can’t do it with that selfish nature.’’
During the offseason, Fickell broke up what he calls the “little cliques’’ on his team. “I made guys get to know each other a little better,’’ he explains. “We spent pretty much the whole offseason putting guys in different situations. I made them have honest conversations with each other.’’ He put his players in charge of each other’s daily destinies: Getting to class, doing the work, focusing on positive attitudes.
The whole team spent 36 hours at Higher Ground. No cell phones, lots of sitting around a fire, talking. “Finding ways to trust and respect each other better,’’ Fickell calls it.
Will all this kumbaya-ness overcome a lack of veteran talent in a rising and overlooked football conference? Who knows? All Fickell knows is, “you can’t win without it.’’
He won’t go to campus frat houses seeking support, the way Brian Kelly did. He won’t conjure silly slogans, a la Butch Jones. He won’t do anything Tommy Tuberville did. Luke Fickell is very good at being Luke Fickell. “Just the genuine honesty,’’ he says.
“When you pour your heart and soul into something and you’re real, that’s what sells,’’ he says. “If you say that, and if that’s what matters to you, then the money, the different titles wouldn’t be as intriguing to you. That’s what people will see over time’’ with Fickell.
His players didn’t entirely believe him last year. They didn’t trust what he was saying, or who he was. “It takes time for them to see what you’re all about. They’re going to follow when they see it’s about being honest. Like any relationship, it takes time and work.’’ Fickell says.
“It’s about the people,’’ Fickell says. “We have a job because of these 18-to-22-year-olds.’’
PDik Allegedly At CHG
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