TicketsWeekly Press Conference | Game Notes
By Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI – After a 2-4 start in his first year as the University of Cincinnati's head football coach, Luke Fickell was happy to hear from a few of his former Ohio State players who sent him messages of encouragement Monday night.
"Remember, Coach," Fickell said they told him, "you always reminded us that it was about the journey, not the destination. I said, 'Yeah, I appreciate that. It's great to hear my words reiterated to me so that I can remember that as well.' But you don't want to say it's a process and it's a building thing because that's not fair to the older guys."
In Fickell's case the journey is the long-range rebuilding process of a UC program that has slipped a great deal from what it was three or four years ago. That was obvious to anyone who watched the Bearcats lose Saturday, 51-23, by No. 25 Central Florida in a game that was stopped by inclement weather with seconds remaining in the third quarter.
And things don't get any easier this Saturday for the Bearcats, who travel to Tampa to face No. 18 South Florida, as they try to end a three-game losing streak. It will be their fourth game this season against a team that was either ranked when UC played it or is currently ranked.
The advice from Fickell's former players was probably on target. But Fickell is a former player who appreciates how much his players have sacrificed as they've bought into the culture he's trying to build at UC. He wants his seniors to have fond memories from their final year of college football.
In fact, he said, it's the seniors who make him so determined to turn things around in the final six games.
"It's looking at their faces," Fickell said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. "It's making sure that I look those guys in the face and know that when this thing is all said and done that I've given, and our coaches have given them everything that we possibly could. It's looking at those guys and knowing the commitment that they've made and the acceptance of a lot of the things that we've done that they've made and we owe it to them. I owe it to them."
Senior middle linebacker Jaylyin Minor, who leads the American Athletic Conference in tackles, says the players have remained upbeat despite the way their season has unfolded so far.
"We're holding up pretty good," Minor said. "With the coaches and the chemistry that we have it's something that we've learned to deal with. We have to be there for each other. There isn't anybody else outside this building. It really doesn't matter. When it comes right down to it, we have to be there for each other.
"We have to learn to grow as a team and handle adversity and look at the bigger picture. We still have a lot more to go in the season. You just can't look at the bad things that have happened or the games that we haven't won. We've just got to keep moving forward. (Fickell) keeps us up no matter what and tells us that we can't get down about the bad things."
As Minor nears the end of his college career, freshman linebacker Jarell White is just beginning his. White was the first player to commit to UC after Fickell was hired and said he did so largely because he believed in what UC's new coach was selling. Coming from a program that won three straight state championships at Cincinnati's La Salle High School, losing is a new experience for him.
"Of course, I'm used to winning and I want to win," White said. "It's just adjusting to learning from the mistakes we've made and moving past it and keep going and fighting each week. You know you're gonna lose some games, but you've got to learn how to bounce back."
Fickell said he's concerned that his players might lose some of their emotional edge and energy. That's why he's been spending more time with them lately in an attempt to get a gauge on how they're reacting to losing after they worked so hard to commit to his approach.
"I haven't been in a whole lot of these situations," Fickell said, "but what is most draining is when you're working so darn hard, you've committed so darn hard to doing something and then you don't get the results you want. Those are the things that go through my head. Where are these guys? Because they've done everything we've asked them to do and then they don't get the results that you want.
"That's when you look them in the face and say that's a part of life. We told you from the get-go you could rip your chest open and hand us your heart, do everything we ask you to do and guess what it guarantees you? Nothing. And we all live in that A.D.D. world that we want it now. When you want it right now that makes it more difficult."
Asked if this job has turned out to be more difficult than he thought it would be, he conceded, without specifying, that "there have been a lot more things that have come your way that maybe you didn't (expect)."
But Fickell has remained positive. He's shouldered the responsibility and has never blamed his players, traits that should pay off down the road.
For now, though, there's no denying that things are tough. They're tough for Fickell, for UC's fans, and above all, for the players.
"It's been difficult," Fickell said. "But when you've got good people around you, when you've got good people that keep fighting, you don't lose your mind. Yes, there's times I want to lose my mind, but I understand that we have to make sure, especially as a leader, that you can stay focused, that you can stay as a guy that emotionally can hold this together.
"How hard was it gonna be? I didn't know. Football's a really tough sport…but I would never have expected it not to be difficult."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBEARCATSs.com in January, 2015.
By Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI – After a 2-4 start in his first year as the University of Cincinnati's head football coach, Luke Fickell was happy to hear from a few of his former Ohio State players who sent him messages of encouragement Monday night.
"Remember, Coach," Fickell said they told him, "you always reminded us that it was about the journey, not the destination. I said, 'Yeah, I appreciate that. It's great to hear my words reiterated to me so that I can remember that as well.' But you don't want to say it's a process and it's a building thing because that's not fair to the older guys."
In Fickell's case the journey is the long-range rebuilding process of a UC program that has slipped a great deal from what it was three or four years ago. That was obvious to anyone who watched the Bearcats lose Saturday, 51-23, by No. 25 Central Florida in a game that was stopped by inclement weather with seconds remaining in the third quarter.
And things don't get any easier this Saturday for the Bearcats, who travel to Tampa to face No. 18 South Florida, as they try to end a three-game losing streak. It will be their fourth game this season against a team that was either ranked when UC played it or is currently ranked.
The advice from Fickell's former players was probably on target. But Fickell is a former player who appreciates how much his players have sacrificed as they've bought into the culture he's trying to build at UC. He wants his seniors to have fond memories from their final year of college football.
In fact, he said, it's the seniors who make him so determined to turn things around in the final six games.
"It's looking at their faces," Fickell said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. "It's making sure that I look those guys in the face and know that when this thing is all said and done that I've given, and our coaches have given them everything that we possibly could. It's looking at those guys and knowing the commitment that they've made and the acceptance of a lot of the things that we've done that they've made and we owe it to them. I owe it to them."
Senior middle linebacker Jaylyin Minor, who leads the American Athletic Conference in tackles, says the players have remained upbeat despite the way their season has unfolded so far.
"We're holding up pretty good," Minor said. "With the coaches and the chemistry that we have it's something that we've learned to deal with. We have to be there for each other. There isn't anybody else outside this building. It really doesn't matter. When it comes right down to it, we have to be there for each other.
"We have to learn to grow as a team and handle adversity and look at the bigger picture. We still have a lot more to go in the season. You just can't look at the bad things that have happened or the games that we haven't won. We've just got to keep moving forward. (Fickell) keeps us up no matter what and tells us that we can't get down about the bad things."
As Minor nears the end of his college career, freshman linebacker Jarell White is just beginning his. White was the first player to commit to UC after Fickell was hired and said he did so largely because he believed in what UC's new coach was selling. Coming from a program that won three straight state championships at Cincinnati's La Salle High School, losing is a new experience for him.
"Of course, I'm used to winning and I want to win," White said. "It's just adjusting to learning from the mistakes we've made and moving past it and keep going and fighting each week. You know you're gonna lose some games, but you've got to learn how to bounce back."
Fickell said he's concerned that his players might lose some of their emotional edge and energy. That's why he's been spending more time with them lately in an attempt to get a gauge on how they're reacting to losing after they worked so hard to commit to his approach.
"I haven't been in a whole lot of these situations," Fickell said, "but what is most draining is when you're working so darn hard, you've committed so darn hard to doing something and then you don't get the results you want. Those are the things that go through my head. Where are these guys? Because they've done everything we've asked them to do and then they don't get the results that you want.
"That's when you look them in the face and say that's a part of life. We told you from the get-go you could rip your chest open and hand us your heart, do everything we ask you to do and guess what it guarantees you? Nothing. And we all live in that A.D.D. world that we want it now. When you want it right now that makes it more difficult."
Asked if this job has turned out to be more difficult than he thought it would be, he conceded, without specifying, that "there have been a lot more things that have come your way that maybe you didn't (expect)."
But Fickell has remained positive. He's shouldered the responsibility and has never blamed his players, traits that should pay off down the road.
For now, though, there's no denying that things are tough. They're tough for Fickell, for UC's fans, and above all, for the players.
"It's been difficult," Fickell said. "But when you've got good people around you, when you've got good people that keep fighting, you don't lose your mind. Yes, there's times I want to lose my mind, but I understand that we have to make sure, especially as a leader, that you can stay focused, that you can stay as a guy that emotionally can hold this together.
"How hard was it gonna be? I didn't know. Football's a really tough sport…but I would never have expected it not to be difficult."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBEARCATSs.com in January, 2015.