Fickell Presser Highlights

So Fickell held his first presser as HC of OSU.  Nothing too exciting, but some of the highlights:

He mentioned toughness quite a few times:

"The 2011 Buckeyes will not be compared or contrasted to previous years," Fickell said. "It will be about respect, toughness and being men of action."

"We have a goal to lead the nation in three categories: effort, turnovers and toughness."

 

He also claimed to have no knowledge of any of the OSU violations:

"I was not informed of any information until it became public knowledge," Fickell said.

With OSU before the NCAA on these issues, I have to imagine that this line was wordsmithed by OSU's counsel, so being a lawyer myself, here is my take:  Fickell says that he "wasn't informed" of any info - he doesn't say that he didn't know it on his own.  So, for example, he might have known that the OSU players were trading tats for autographs or that TP had more cars than most auto dealers, and if this comes out at a later date, his statement about having not been "informed" is technically accurate.  I find this telling, as he had a chance to say, "I had no knowledge whatsoever of any violations of the NCAA rules," and he chose not to.

 

On the topic of Tress resigning, he wasn't particularly broken up about it:

"I would take the shot any way I can" (in response to his feelings about getting the opportunity to be HC because of Tress' resignation.

'I'm not saying I'm not disappointed, I'm not upset, but we're moving forward."

Not exactly a guy who I would to be stuck in a foxhole with, but I suppose that this is the OSU way.

Nothing else of real substance from the portions that I saw.