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Fickell interview on Cincinnati Fox 19

I cannot get Fox 19 here on the East coast.😎

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He had a pretty great interview with Lance today

https://espn1530.iheart.com/featured/lan...orts-talk/

So what's the scuttlebutt? Anyone able to give a cliffnotes version of the interviews?

(02-10-2020 11:06 PM)Sweetness Wrote:  So what's the scuttlebutt? Anyone able to give a cliffnotes version of the interviews?

Nothing new or astonishing. Biggest reason he cites over and over is family. Primarily talking about his own, but also the relationships he has with the team, people he works with etc. He talks about how getting a "championship" is still unfinished business. He really doesn't say much about MSU at all, beyond how Dantonio is a friend and mentor. He said Dantonio pretty much left him alone, at least for the last few days, to make his own decision.

As he's said before, he restates how UC fans should expect this stuff to keep coming every year. It means he's doing his job and they should worry more when/if it stops happening because that means the program isn't getting it done.

Chad Brendel had a pretty good take on Mo's show on 1530 today. MSU didn't bring their A game thinking that Fickell would be ready to jump in the boat no matter what Beekman threw out there. If Fickell was their top choice, why did they wait to talk to him until all other candidates had said no. MSU athletics probably wasn't expecting to have to come to Cincinnati to make their pitch.

(02-11-2020 12:01 AM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(02-10-2020 11:06 PM)Sweetness Wrote:  So what's the scuttlebutt? Anyone able to give a cliffnotes version of the interviews?

Nothing new or astonishing. Biggest reason he cites over and over is family. Primarily talking about his own, but also the relationships he has with the team, people he works with etc. He talks about how getting a "championship" is still unfinished business. He really doesn't say much about MSU at all, beyond how Dantonio is a friend and mentor. He said Dantonio pretty much left him alone, at least for the last few days, to make his own decision.

As he's said before, he restates how UC fans should expect this stuff to keep coming every year. It means he's doing his job and they should worry more when/if it stops happening because that means the program isn't getting it done.

Great summary. For me, Fickell's rhetoric is very different from previous coaches. He doesn't offer hollow promises we've heard from his predecessors about staying. He shoots straight about great success generating great interest and suggests we all want that for the program to grow.

Paraphrasing here, I heard him tell one interviewer yesterday that OSU used their success to re-invest in the program. He immediately said he wasn't comparing our program to theirs but using it as an illustration. My takeaway: whatever re-negotiation takes place now won't only be about pay for himself and his coaches, it will be about engaging the University and our donors to invest in a new football locker room and advancing the cause for a permanent practice facility, all in the spirit of creating a sustainable top tier football program. In doing that, Fickell can leave the program much stronger than he found it, if that's in another year or when he gets the gold watch.

In this way, the outcome of the past week's roller coaster ride for fans is even better than anyone could have anticipated.