In this article, journalist Dave Biddle from bucknuts.com recaps last weekend’s loss to Michigan State. Specifically, the article focuses on what Biddle pins as the team’s ultimate downfall, coaching. While pointing out that he is an advocate of current head coach, Luke Fickell, Biddle acknowledges that it is extremely unlikely that Fickell will be back to lead the Buckeyes next year. He is sure to call attention to the fact that Fickell was put in an awkward position and is doing all he can to make the best of a bad situation. However, even if Fickell is viewed as a genuine guy in a rough spot, Biddle makes it clear in the rest of the article that the dismal play by the Buckeyes cannot be tolerated, and there must be a coaching change. Biddle gives an outline of the coaches that he expects to be considered for the job as well as a list of pros and cons for each coach. He ends by encouraging Ohio State football fans to begin an open discussion about who our next head coach should/will be. So, we would like to extend this question to our classmates and the rest of buckeye nation. What do you think of the current coaching situation? And who do you think would be a good fit for head coach at The Ohio State University?
Group 1
What We Learned: MSU 10 OSU 7
Welcome to our premium postgame feature What We Learned. Here we go following Ohio State’s 10-7 loss to visiting Michigan State in the Big Ten opener for both teams on Saturday.
It’s difficult for me to write this, because I was certainly rooting for Luke Fickell to do well enough to earn the job long term, but it’s just not going to happen. It’s absolutely not all his fault – he was dealt a bad hand – but it is reality. He’s not going to be back in 2012 unless something miraculous happens the rest of this season. (Read: go undefeated the rest of the way, which will never happen.)
Urban Meyer is the logical choice to replace him, but it might not be the slam-dunk that many imagine. Does Meyer definitely want the job? Would Ohio State be willing to pay his assistant coaches what he would like? Keep in mind, SEC assistants make a lot more than Big Ten assistants. Does OSU have any concerns about Meyer, such as his health, or that he doesn’t tend to stay in one place very long? Those are all questions that beg to be answered.
Others that are sure to be mentioned: Nebraska head coach and former OSU player Bo Pelini, Boise State head coach Chris Petersen, South Florida head coach Skip Holtz (although maybe not after his team got smoked by Pitt on national TV Thursday night) and former OSU head coach John Cooper (just seeing if you were paying attention).
And there are sure to be many other candidates as well. (And no, Jon Gruden will not be one of them. Don’t even bring up something absurd like that. Gruden will either stay in the MNF booth, or he will return to being an NFL head coach. He has zero intentions of being a college coach.)
But the bottom line is that we’re seeing Fickell’s one and only year as OSU’s boss. He will always be a beloved figure in the Ohio State football community, but he’s not ready to be the head coach of a monster of a program like this one. Ohio State is no place for on-the-job training for head coaches. Fickell will be a fine head coach one day, but he’s not there yet.
And again, I can’t stress enough that the deck was stacked against him this season. He took over just a couple months before the season began with the program mired in turmoil. He’s had key players suspended. He’s had to break in a new starting quarterback. Actually, two of them.
Therefore, even the best head coach wouldn’t have won a national championship or even close with this team. However, the Buckeyes shouldn’t look this bad. They’re not just losing, they’re getting embarrassed in the process.
So, as it stands now, I cannot imagine a scenario where Fickell will be back as OSU’s head coach in 2012. So, get the rumor mill started on who will be the Buckeyes’ next head coach. It will be the main storyline from now until the new coach is named following the regular season. It will be interesting to say the least.
Written by Dave Biddle from bucknets.com
I think it's also important that we look at what kind of rhetorical approaches Dave Biddle is using to convince his readership that Luke Fickell should not continue as Ohio State's Head Coach. What kind of facts is he pointing to? Is he making an emotional appeal to a certain audience? Who is Dave Biddle trying to convince? Is it Buckeye Supporters, or is there a wider audience? These are the questions you need to address as you post to the blog about this story. Remember, the sheet with the assignment gives you prompts in regard to the kind of comments you should be making. Good job, Group 1 in finding an interesting article to talk about.
ReplyDeleteWell, by reading the article, and then ready Rebecca's response, I was kind of more interested in answering just one of the questions she'd asked, because I too thought about this. "Is it Buckeye supporters, or is there a wider audience?" If you read the first sentence, the writer of the article is clearly a Buckeye supporter, and I think he's also expecting his reader's to be buckeye supporters too, seeing as he was so...blunt in stating his support for the coach. I think that makes him kind of biased then too, in what he was reporting. He kept saying things like, the odds were stacked against him, as though the coach's failures or wrongdoings were purely not his fault. But in reality, the coach is just not ready to be a coach of such a large school's team. Whether he doesn't have the skills, or experience yet to be a coach of a team such as OSU's, I think that his skills as a coach aren't good for our team. At the end of the article the author points out that, not only is OSU losing, but they're flat out embarrassing themselves. If OSU's football team is doing so horribly bad, I feel like ALL the blame can't be put on the new coach. Yes, we're losing possibly because we have a new coach, but also consider all the craziness that went on with our team not to long ago, involving players! So the team itself is just not up to par to what it used to be, because some players became irresponsible, and this is changing the team's chemistry. So, Dave seems to be focusing only on the idea that the new coach is the reason for us losing. But he fails to consider the other hypothesis that perhaps its the new team chemistry that could also be making them fail. Clearly he is a buckeye supporter, by how he tries to defend the coach's hardships for awhile, despite his failures. But overall, he's using a very one sided approach to reporting why the buckeyes would be losing, he's only putting the blame on the new coach, while not looking at other possibilities.
ReplyDeleteOne big persuasive element is missing in this piece: who in the world is Dave Biddle from bucknuts.com? While I agree with his arguments stating that Luke Fickell's head coaching career at Ohio State will probably be ending after this season, what makes him a qualified enough analyst that we should really believe in what he's saying? I'm not doubting that he has qualifications, but let's keep in mind the three elements that make up a strong persuasive essay--logos (logic), pathos (emotion), and ethos (credibility). While it is easy for me to see his use of logic of why our team isn't performing and why the odds were stacked against Coach Fickell and how he's piggy backing on the emotions of buckeyenation, I don't have any reason to trust what he's saying. I think the article would have been stronger and more convincing to me if I had some idea of his background either with Ohio State or sports in general other than obviously being a fan.
ReplyDeleteThis post is for Carly:
ReplyDeleteI strongly back all of Dave Biddle`s comments. He is giving his opinions to the readers respectfully, making sure to keep a non-adversarial tone. He is using the hard facts with game statistics, and past events. I trust he is writing to all audiences, not just the buckeye nation. I believe this because he is trying for all readers to understand just how bad of a situation Ohio State Football is in right now. Personally, I feel extremely bad for Luke Fickell but the fact that we are not just loosing but loosing often. This is not normal for The Ohio State University and I hope in the next couple months we find an adequate coach to help us start winning again. If I had to choose a coach I would pick Urban Meyer. Hopefully, the players that ruined this year’s season for all of us, will learn from their mistakes and treat the football program with the respect it should have.
Upon reading this article, I feel that Dave Biddle has a very pessimistic view of OSU football and the recent changes. Not only is this pessimistic view going to turn off many OSU fans, but it also will not attract supporters of other university's fans due to the focus on one issue: Do we need a change in OUR coaching position? Most other schools could care less who our coach is when it comes down to game day. They just want their team to win. By presenting his opinion in such a manner, Biddle narrows his audience, which in return will not make his opinion heard by most of the public. Not only does Biddle narrow his audience, but I also agree with Kimberly. Who is Dave Biddle? How do we know we can trust his opinion? What makes him a qualified sports analysis? Basically, Biddle is only reaching a very small audience and within that audience, his followers have no idea if the information he presented is even credible. Biddle uses no sources to back up his claims, which in return makes his audience unsure if they can trust him. Biddle encourages his audience to “get the rumor mill started” about the next OSU head coach, but who would want to be the person spreading tall tales when they are not even sure the information presented to them is true?
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Molly, Dave Biddle does have a biased perspective. But, to some extent we all do, especially any true buckeye when it comes to our beloved football players and coaches, and the overall success of the team. I’ve always been one to sympathize with others and give them the benefit of the doubt. I can relate to Dave Biddle with respect to the idea that it is “absolutely not ALL his fault,” his referring to Coach Luke Fickell. However, as an uninformed spectator of the game with little knowledge of the rules and plays, even I am able to see that something other than Jim Tressel and his sweater vest is missing from the team this year. Whether the overall morale of the team was damaged by the few players that chose to take part in bad decisions, the coach change, or something less obvious to spectators, I believe a successful coach should be able to create a bond between players and lead them in the direction of success. If we look at The Ohio State University football program with regards to a scientific experiment, the controls have stayed constant. The band is back and still peps up the crowd with “Hang on Sloopy” and other OSU favorites, the resonating OH – IO can still be heard from blocks away on game days, and the fans are back and better than ever. So, what visible change is most evident? The coach. Therefore, it logically makes since to attribute the recent losses to poor or inadequate coaching. I am not one to argue that Fickle is a bad coach; however my judgment tells me that he is not the “right” coach to fill the head coach position and fulfill the needs that The Ohio State University Football program currently needs. I don’t think Biddle should be so quick to throw out the possibility that Fickell may fill the head coach position again in 2012 though. I agree with my classmates that we are not even sure of Biddle’s credentials, which poses the question, who is he to be making such claims. Fickell was in all fairness, dealt a difficult hand to work with. I still think that he can pull the team together enough to at least project a positive future, regardless of the outcome this season.
ReplyDeleteI have several issues with this article. First off, I agree with the rest of you that we have no idea about the credibility of the author. Why should we listen to his opinions or believe what he has to say? Another fact I think that is important to pay attention to is the lack of facts in the article. Biddle claims that the Buckeyes are getting "embarrassed," but he does not back this statement up with any of the scores from our team's losses. Personally, I do not think losing by one touchdown (as was the case against #14 Nebraska, 34-27) or one field goal (against Michigan State, 10-7) is that embarrassing. Our big loss came against Miami in the third game of the season, where yes, we were embarassed in a 24-6 loss. However, Biddle did not include any of the scores from any of the games in his argument. In terms of rhetoric, Biddle is obviously making an emotional appeal to frustrated and disgruntled Buckeyes fans after a tough loss. I believe his intended audience is Ohio State fans and football fans in general based on the fact that he assumes that the readers know who all of his propsed coaches are. From a purely personal standpoint, I dislike the fact that a "fan" is already looking towards next season when we are only halfway through this season. There are still six games left and whether Biddle likes it or not, Fickell is the head coach for the rest of those games. Why not focus on the present and realize that this is the team we have now? I also feel that Fickell should be given a second chance as head coach, given that this season has been entrenched in such turmoil. I think that any progress that is made in the rest of this season could likely be disrupted by another new coach next year.
ReplyDeleteNot being a major college football fan or, to be more precise, a football fan at all, I honestly don't care much about the current coaching situation. However, after reading the article I do not fully agree with Biddle's claims that the decline of the OSU football team is mainly due to Fickell. My main argument comes with Biddle's second paragraph when he talks about the the cost of assistant coaches with a new head coach. Does the team have assistant coaches now? If so, aren't they as much to blame for the lousiness of the team as the head coach? While I am not totally sure what assistant coaches do versus a head coach, I would imagine that all coaches put in about the same amount of work. The only difference is that Fickell has the word "head" in front of his coach title and maybe a bigger office. But I guess if there is something wrong with anything, one would automatically default the problems on the person in charge even if the responsibilities are shared with others.
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ReplyDeleteAfter reading both the summary and the article, I strongly agree with Anne, Biddle is making a purely emotional appeal with this article. Logos is strongly lacking, which, as has been said, casts doubt into the validity of the article and eventually the credibility of the author. A well structured article coupling the three: ethos, logos, and pathos, would not cast as much doubt into the credibility of the author. However, Biddle makes a fair and honest assessment of Fickell. Fickell has never been a head coach before, let alone a head coach for one the biggest programs in the nation. Biddell described it well as a 'monster program'. Fickell is in way over his head and it is time for Ohio State to start gunning for cream of the crop coaches. Getting the big-name coaches has a tremendous influence on recruiting as well. High-School players will be hesitant to attend a school being handled by someone who's never been a head coach before (remember this is OSU, not podunk university). Although Biddle never mentioned this, I feel he should have at least brushed on recruiting and/or the future impact of this season, or at all the impact of Fickell's coaching NOW or it's impact a year from now. How will the new recruiting class feel about all this? How will fan attendance change? What about OSU's image? And the important question at the back of everyone's mind: What if we lose to Michigan? I feel for Fickell, this could have been his year if he were given a bit better group of guys and time. But this is the cutthroat league of College Football, and time waits for no one
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at logos, pathos, and ethos, Biddle definitely lacks in ethos. This is only because he does not present resources to back up his facts. The facts he does present, however, are mostly facts that are common knowledge and don't need a resource to back up. The article is highly opinionated, but we have to keep in mind that opinions are what most of us base our own opinions off of. We trust the opinions of the President, we trust the opinions of our friends, and Commonplace encourages us to trust the opinions of pieces of work that are backed up with factual evidence. So, although Biddle doesn't back up his argument with facts with resources attached, he does display a valid argument with common knowledge facts. Fickell was definitely dealt a horrible hand. With the loss of Terrelle Pryor, our all-star quarterback, and several other starters on the team, it's hard to imagine a scenario in which we would win the majority of our games. In addition to this, he has had to deal with shaping Braxton Miller and Joe Bauserman into quarterbacks that can handle go up against some of the toughest defenses in the Big Ten. This is no easy task, but it needs to happen. Fickell has done an incredibly good job of shaping true freshman Miller into a college quarterback in six games, but like Birra said, "this is the cutthroat league of College Football, and time wait for no one." There is more than one position on the football field and in order to have the best football team you can have, everyone needs to work together. Every play everyone has a job to do and if executed, the team will succeed. But we have had horrible blocking on the offensive line, dropped passes left and right by our receivers, and missed tackles by our defense much too often. It is Fickell's job to talk to his assistant coaches and say, "Hey, we have a huge problem with blocking, catching, and tackling. Let's get out there this week and work our butts off and get these problems fixed." Since week one we've seen some major improvements in all areas previously stated, but if Fickell can't rally the team together for the next several games, and especially the game against that team up north, then I don't see any possibility of Fickell coming back next year. It was bad enough barely scraping out a win against Toledo, losing by a field goal to Michigan State, getting blown out by Miami, and getting knocked out of the AP top 25 for the first time since 2004. If we don't win the game against Michigan, it's going to be very unlikely that Fickell will return as head coach of the Buckeyes.
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Upon reading the above article, I assumed that Dave Biddle was making an emotional appeal just to Buckeye fans. However, after observing the type of language that Biddle uses, I find that perhaps he is trying to appeal to a bigger audience. While Biddle agrees that it was bad timing for Luke Fickell to come in as coach, he still says, "However, the Buckeyes shouldn’t look this bad. They’re not just losing, they’re getting embarrassed in the process." By using this sort of language, we can see that Biddle is trying to conjure up the frustrated emotions that Buckeye fans may share in order to influence the other readers. By doing this, Biddle is appealing to the pathos of the audience. In addition to pathos, the ethos in the article is also notable. We can see that he speaks in a collegial tone. He is not talking as an expert or authority, but rather as a fellow Buckeye fan who shares the same interests as the reader. He also maintains a relative impersonality in his words by focusing more on the topic at hand rather than himself. In regards to the previous question, I feel that Coach Fickell should be given another chance. It is important to note that this was a challenging year to decide to coach and he is probably giving his all considering that certain players are no longer part of the team and other players are coming in. This is just a tough transitioning time for the team.
ReplyDeleteAs a person who has no previous knowledge of football, I found myself quite lost in the sea of information Biddle was giving (pertaining to who should coach the OSU team and why the current coach was failing). This, of course, leads me to believe that Biddle's post is meant for a more football savvy audience, if not just OSU football fans. I definitely agree with what most of my classmates have stated previously, Biddle lacks greatly in ethos appeal. While reading the article, I found myself asking who Biddle was, which made me question why his opinion mattered. This leaves giant, gaping holes in his argument (and persuasive essay if the post can be called that). But as far as the other two appeals go, he makes a fairly decent pathos appeal, but maybe to only other passionate OSU football fans who care about the state of the football team. The rest of us non-football fans are left reading a bland article by an obvious OSU football fan trying to convince us that the team is failing because improper coaching by Coach Fickell.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I partially agree with author's mention of changing coach. I feel that the author has prejudice against the coach who was mention on article. Before evaluating him, we have to know that he was as outstanding defender and defensive line coach. It is important for buckeye to understand his mistaken insight for winning game. Traditionally, the buckeye has had system for running quarterback. For these reason, i am concerned about one of those question, "Is it buckeye supporters, or is there a wider audience?"
ReplyDeleteI think that the author of the article is buckeye supports. Although he does not represent what coach has way solving game, he mentions different coaches who have different tendency that is familiar with buckeye. I think that he wants to deliver winning game and he really does not indicate coach's fault, but mention to his audience that coach's style is not familiar with buckeye's traditional style. So, I think that next year could likely be undergone a complete transfiguration by new coach.
My first impression upon reading this article was that I felt sorry for Fickell and that he was just a victim of poor circumstances. I, however, do not follow football that closely so I’ve spent some time re-reading and considering multiple sides of this situation and I still personally think that everyone is judging Fickell too soon. In this article it says Fickell only started coaching a few months before the season started, meaning he has only been working with these players for a matter of months. This man came into a broken group of players with minimal amounts of time, and had to present a successful team to an incredibly large, proud fan base. I’m not surprised at all that many buckeyes are upset with the way this season is turning out; however, it’s boarder line arrogant for us buckeyes to think we could go through something as devastating as losing many key players AND a head coach, and still come out on top. I think it’s important to consider the whole situation Fickell is working with. In light of recent events, the buckeye football team is obviously very divided and it’s going to take Fickell, or any other coach, longer than a few months to mend the damage that previous players left. I agree with many of my other classmates in saying that Briddle shouldn’t have thrown out the idea of giving Fickell another chance next year to be head coach. I just think it’s unfair to judge Fickell based on the amount of time he has had to work with these players, and I’m not sure how many other coaches, no matter how many years of experience they’ve had, would have been able to present this football team in a pleasing fashion to the rest of the buckeye fans. So overall, I do not feel qualified to say who I think the next coach should be, but I feel as if Fickell should not be tossed out of the running based solely on the outcome of this season due to his unfortunate circumstances.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I agree with the way Dave Biddle chose to express his opinion about the current coaching situation at Ohio State. Biddle’s tone is non-adversarial and respectful. He backs up his arguments with past events and game statistics. As for the audience this article pertains to, I believe that buckeye fans are the primary focus, but may still appeal to other football fans. Biddle expresses sympathy for Luke Fickell, but knows Fickell will not be Ohio State’s football coach for long. Biddle also suggests other potential coaches for next year by describing their backgrounds. Like Biddle, I hold some sympathy for Fickell because I believe that not all the blame for the football team’s mistakes should be placed on him. Fickell was placed as Ohio State’s football coach during a difficult and inopportune time. People should concentrate on other issues within the team.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this article, I felt that the author is being over pessimistic on Buckeye football team and it seems like he is trying to embarrass the OSU football team, however, I agree that our football team is in danger because of recent change. This article is just about his opinion not " facts" on Buckeye football team. I also agree with other students who leave the comments saying he got emotional when he wrote this article.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this author approaches OSU football in a very negative way. It is still relatively early in the season to make such big speculations. Yes we aren't doing that well, and yes Luke Fickell probably won't be back but this article doesn't really go into what he had to deal with. I think any coach we would have had after all the issues from last season probably wouldn't have lasted. Also he doesn't really go into the fact that we have a young team. I would like to have known the qualifications Biddle has to predict the outcome of Luck Fickell or who is the "logical choice to replace him". Also I agree with the others who said he was clearly very emotional when writing this article.
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