OT: Luke Fickell denies any knowledge of rules violations

Did you expect him to say he knew about it all along?

He did not say that he had no knowledge of it (as mentioned in yesterday's post by michgoblue).  He just said that no one informed him of it -- he very well could've known about it.

As pointed out here:

Fickell didn't say "I didnt know they were going on" Fickell said "No one TOLD me of them" He's not saying he didn't know

http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/fickell-presser-highlights

The only way Fickell couldn't have known what was going on:

From an institutional point of view, you would have thought though that they would have had a better set of talking points crafted to protect him if they really beleived that Fickell was going to be their long term coaching solution.  At this goes on, it is getting harder and harder to see any outcome other than they clean house and start over.  That Fickell was even allowed to get up and say "no one informed me of what was going on" that he was just focused on the job of football just sounds like so much BS at this point.  It is not even clever or intelligent PR going forward.  It has basically set him up to become one more domino to fall.  Whether sooner or later, it now has the feeling of inevitablility.

So did Tressel...

This guy is just a warm body place holder, he's not buying green bananas.

I find this all very hard to believe...

I understand he made the comment giving him an out if/when something comes back that can tie him to the violations.  However, if he is really playing a game with his words he should feel the brunt of any fallout if/when he gets drug through the muck.

Most of the media outlets are paraphrasing his statement as the OP did ("he had no knowledge of any violations....."), and he has an opportunity to clarify if he doesn't agree with that interpretation of his comment.

...of course he won't clarify his statement and he will use it as a excuse when/if he is connected to the mess. Its just goes to show you that they may still be trying to decieve the media (invetegators too?). I don't think the media will give him a pass on this and if he is tied to it, he will probably be forced out also....just another bad decision by the AD at Ohio.

...and he was taught by the best con artist in the history of college football.

Fickell spoke at an introductory news conference, during which he promised Buckeyes fans a team that would be about "respect, toughness and being men of action."

Does the 'men of action' phrase mean that they will now promptly report all NCAA violations instead of ignoring them?

Fickell joining the parade of the "apparently blind" is one of the best things that can happen for us. There's no doubt in my mind that Ohio will be back in a BCS bowl game some time in the next decade. But if they take their punishment, and rebuild the right way, it will be 5-7 years. Already, you have the interim coach acting like he knew nothing, and the president and AD speaking about the situation in a manner that makes them look anything but corrupt, ignorant and wrong. This is going to be a classic case of the incriminated man (or in this case, institution) that lied through it's teeth and put on a great rhetotirical performance in order to get out of lockdown and out on parole as soon as possible. The best part, especially for Michigan, is those kind of criminals are the one's that are often back in their cells swiftly, for the same crimes. 

No wonder all this crap went on for 10 years.  None of the coaches had any clue what the kids were doing, apparently.

IF you believe they didn't know, which as everyone pointed out extremely well, Fickell didn't say.

Cowherd's getting hate mail from the yocals in Columbus after saying Fickell "knew something".  Hate mail.  This guy was Tressel's #2 and has coached with him for 10 years.  He absolutely knew something, which will likely come out as the NCAA continues to pull skeletons out of Tressel's closet. 

then he should be fired as well.  These coaches need to know what is going on with their teeam, especially since it has been ongoing for the past 10 years.

... is that Jim Bollman (OC) and Dick Tressel (RB's coach and JT's brother) were not at the press conference. Maybe they both had dentist appointments. Or maybe Gene Smith was worried some reporter might try to ask them the same question.

Has anyone else noticed that nearly all of the players who have been caught taking benefits under JT, going all the way back to Ray Isaac and Maurice Clarett, are offensive players?

It's a shame because Fickell is an excellent position coach.  He was hired to be interim despite all of the other older Tressel accolytes on the staff.  He can coach trust me and he can recruit.   He is obviously not a very polished speaker but I think he was trying not to incriminate himself.  

It would have been nice if instead of platitudes he informed us of actual football related things they were going to do but I guess "fielding an iron man team due to scholarship reductions and suspensions" is not something you want to publicly discuss.

Jim Tressel denies any knowledge of rules

No one knows anything, nothing happened, we are clean.  I was born at night but not last night.

I know there are some situational differences and the timeline is different, but does anybody remember what Ellerbe's response to similar questions was?  I thought he coached Robert Traylor for at least a year before all hell broke loose.