Everett Withers (OSU co-DC) hired as HC of James Madison [rumor]
Football Scoop, IMO, is a reputable source for coaching news. They have a source saying that Everett Withers, OSU's co-Defensive Coordinator, will be the next head coach of James Madison University. He was previously the interim HC of UNC following the ouster of Butch Davis.
Tweet:
Sources tell us that Everett Withers will be the next head coach at James Madison http://t.co/BM6rIrXi39
— FootballScoop Staff (@footballscoop) December 19, 2013
This leaves Luke Fickell as the sole DC at OSU, and most OSUers aren't too pleased with him. He has also been testing the HC market this offseason with the endorsement of Urban.
December 19th, 2013 at 3:10 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 3:13 PM ^
I don't think Fickell will be the sole DC of OSU next season. He missed his chance at other HC gigs when he didn't parlay his 2011 run into a MAC job.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:53 PM ^
Were MAC jobs on the table after his one year at 6-6?
December 19th, 2013 at 3:17 PM ^
Per 11 Warriors, the other finalists for the James Madison opening were Virginia Tech's TE coach John Stinespring and Oakland Raiders' QB coach John DeFilippo, who supposedly is a JMU alum. Didn't Withers interview somewhere last year as well? He seems like he has been eager to test the waters elsewhere. Withers is the DC that Ohio State fans seem to like, so having just Fickell could be interesting if Withers leaves.
December 19th, 2013 at 3:21 PM ^
didn't Fickell turn down a HC job recently? If so, that seems pretty short sighted of him because I think you'd rather be hired to another job as the current co-DC as opposed to being the former co-DC. He has to see the writing on the wall...
December 19th, 2013 at 3:32 PM ^
I think there was a rumor that he interviewed for FAU or FIU. It was one of those smaller Florida schools.
December 19th, 2013 at 4:31 PM ^
Supposedly Fickell interviewed for the FAU job. If so, he didn't tell Urban about it beforehand, though. He was also thought to be a candidate for Miami Ohio and Bowling Green, but those obviously didn't work out. I think OSU may have an entirely new defensive staff next year, unless Vrabel stays, and i hope he does.
December 20th, 2013 at 9:14 AM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 3:54 PM ^
You left out Jon Gruden.
December 19th, 2013 at 3:23 PM ^
So if Withers is gone, and Fickell leaves for another opportunity (read squeezed out), who then becomes the next Def Coordinator for OSU?
I wonder who Urbz has his eye on. Narduzzi?
December 19th, 2013 at 3:36 PM ^
I mentioned Narduzzi as a joke, but honestly OSU would be scary good if they had Urb'z Offense and a Narduzzi Defense.
IMO, Narduzzi should try to get a head-coaching job somewhere. Strike while the iron is hot.
December 19th, 2013 at 3:38 PM ^
and my reaction was basically "don't even joke about that" because I agree. osu would be very strong if Nardz and Urbz teamed up.
December 19th, 2013 at 3:44 PM ^
I was trying to look up a list of the top college defenses this year, to look for other potential candidates, but I wasn't finding a good source. Do you or anyone here know a reliable website that shows all of the 2013 Defensive Rankings, that can also sort?
Of course, Urbz likes to make a big splash, so I could also see him trying to pull a coach from the NFL.
December 19th, 2013 at 7:18 PM ^
I was going to say this may be a net gain for OSU, their defense is very mediocre. The opportunity to get a different defensive coach is likely to lead to improvement
Maybe if we dont mention Hat Marduzzi then Urban won't try to hire him. Shhhhhhhh
December 19th, 2013 at 8:43 PM ^
I can't see how Narduzzi going to work for Urban would be a good move for him. He's already proven he's the best DC in the Big 10 and maybe the country, why make a borderline lateral move to a team in the same conference? He might as well take a middling job after this year or continue to coordinate MSU's defense for another year and hope for an even better opportunity the following offseason.
December 20th, 2013 at 11:52 AM ^
I'm sure Narduzzi wouldn't mind consistently coaching top 5-10 recruiting classes with 5-star gems like McMillian, Noah Spence, and Vonn Bell every year. It is pretty much the only way to bring his defenses up another notch.
I doubt that it would be a big enough draw to coaxs him out of MSU, but it is one that exists.
December 19th, 2013 at 3:24 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 3:47 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 3:49 PM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 7:43 AM ^
Urban said in 2011 he would have liked to offer the DC position to Mattison, but there was no hope of luring him away from Michigan. Can't find a link, so maybe I'm hallucinating.
December 19th, 2013 at 3:49 PM ^
Good for Coach Withers. I know that he has wanted to be a head coach some where and I wish him the best. Moving forward, it will certainly be interesting what Urban decides to do with Fickel. I know that a majority of the OSU fanbase blames him for the defense's ineptitude but I think a lot of the stems from how the team performed when Fickel was at the helm in '11. Truth of the matter is that 99% of OSU fans (myself included) have no idea who is at fault for the defense's performance. It very well could be that Withers and Fickel did not see eye-to-eye (as they were both co-coordinators) causing friction amongst the play callers. With Withers gone, perhaps it will give Fickel free reign to run the defense how he wants to. Of course, it is also very possible that Withers was the only reason their defense wasn't worse than it already was... I guess we shall see.
December 19th, 2013 at 4:06 PM ^
that's what I am curious about; how much of the blame, if any, should Fickell be responsible for? Or maybe Fickell is a better coach than he gets credit for? I think Mike Vrabel is a fantastic coach to have on the sidelines (with all of his NFL experience), and it sounds like he and Fickell are buddies...so if Fickell were to leave, I wonder if Vrabel would go too?
December 19th, 2013 at 4:07 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 4:33 PM ^
Everyone knows what's wrong with the Buckeyes. Their pass defense sucks. Even Jim Bollman figured that out. Now, why it sucks and how to fix it is a different question.
December 19th, 2013 at 4:32 PM ^
Considering Withers took a HUGE paycut for this job, I suspect he was "encouraged" to do so by Meyer. It'll be interesting if his replacement is a position coach, a "co" DC, or a full fledged DC with Luke becoming "co".
December 19th, 2013 at 4:46 PM ^
For what its worth, a friend of mine is a real OSU insider and told me months ago that Meyer will privately push out Fickell after this season. No sooner than three weeks after he told me this, Fickell was quietly interviewing for some Florida team ( I forget who)... it is safe to say that Fickell and his co-DC are gone.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:14 PM ^
anything that could potentially push Marshon Lattimore to Michigan (unlikely, I know), I endorse wholeheartedly.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:22 PM ^
I know it's unlikely, but Luke Fickell being all alone in charge of that defense would be hilarious.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:54 PM ^
as a target for the Army job. Warriner is a Co-Offensive Coordinator. Apparently it takes twice as much manpower to run the Ohio offense and defense than other schools?
December 19th, 2013 at 6:28 PM ^
Damn, I want Fickell to stay, as far as I'm concerned he's the sole reason why we almost beat them. It's as if he didnt watch any tape of us getting destroyed by every defense we faced and was taken completely by surprise by us running the same crap we ran all year long.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:00 PM ^
the same crap we ran all year long
I'm not sure what Michigan - Ohio State game you watched.
December 20th, 2013 at 1:05 AM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 9:42 AM ^
Collage, Fromage, and Persiflage.
December 20th, 2013 at 8:52 AM ^
Won't believe it until I see the FlightAware.
December 20th, 2013 at 12:41 PM ^
B/c the OSU defense has been so great...