Ohio State 1993-1996 DE - Mike Vrabel ('96 First Team AA, '95-'96 Big Ten DLOY, 3x Super Bowl Champion)

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Vrabel on coaching under Fickell

 

it's kinda funny but i saw him the other day at my local grocery store. i think he could tell i was the only one in the store that knew who he was. the guy is big!

 

He was probably looking at your sun-glass tan lines......

 

I just heard this news. This is huge. We'll now have 3 young coaches that can relate to young kids when out recruiting in Fickell, Drayton, and now Vrabel.

Mike Vrabel will bring instant credibility to the staff and program. Our linebackers and D-line now have Fick and Vrabel to coach them up. Nobody in the country can match that.

 

glad to see he's coaching!

 

QFT


I often get sucked into the "good player = good coach" assumption, which has been proven wrong time and time again.

But... I will say that a great/legacy player with strong leadership qualities can add a lot to a program. Specifically in terms of locker-room chemistry, mentoring and recruiting... as a position coach

Vrabel is young enough to engage these kids, he is connected to the program enough to understand our "Pay Forward" tradition and his pro success demands respect from NFL-aspiring players.

Vrabel is considered to be a "coach on the field," and has been praised by former coaches for understanding the defense as well as the coaches. I think a position-coach job for him is a great idea, and I believe we will see Vrabel as a defensive coordinator (maybe not OSU) within 10 years. The fans will love him, the players and recruits will love him and the boosters will love him. Will that lead to more wins? IDK how much an inexperienced LB coach can drag down a team, but I think he's worth a shot.

Then again, I thought Singletary would work out.

 

^^ exactly

 

This is a huge addition to Fickell's staff. Let's remember, Vrabel isn't coming in as a head coach or even a D-Coordinater. He's coming in as an assistant for 3 reasons....

1) To coach and teach the linebackers and DEs. He is a born leader and has been a premier player on the highest level through hard work and fundamentals. Don't forget, Vrabel started his career in Pittsburg and wasn't good enough to start for the Steelers but through hard work and dedication, he proved to be a premier and versitile player. (Don't forget about his 10+ TD receptions as a TE)

2) Vrabel's arrival, along with Stan Drayton and the promotion of coach Fickell to head coach, is a symbol to me of the turning of the page to a whole new era and continues the transition from Tressel and his gang's (Heackock, Bolman, D. Tressel, etc.) old school, conservative style, to this new era of Buckeye Football that is heading IMO, towards a new-school, younger, hipper, more intense style if coaching, playing, and recruiting.

3) The addition of Vrabel brings instant credibility to the recruiting trail. As an assistant, Vrabel can hit the pavement and convince kids that he knows what it takes to get to the NFL. He will be able to recruit the top talent not only in Ohio, but his addition could help OSU in the North East where Vrabel was a center-piece of a dynasty for 6-8 years. Kids in the New England/New York area have grown up watching him play at the top of the game, therefor he'll bring not only instant credibility to recruits, but a celebrity status.

All that said, with a young coaching staff that already includes a great young assistant in Stan Drayton, a young 37 yr/old head coach in Fickell, and now a young 36 yr/old Mike Vrabel could end up becoming the best young core of coaches in any program in the country.

I think this was a huge hire for Fickell. I'm not saying that this will bring us immediate success, but I do think that this is a very good step in the right direction towards transitioning from the Tressel Administration to the new Fickell era. I think that after this season, the rest of the 'old Tressel' assistants/coordinators will be let go and Fickell will get a short 2-3 year extension and the freedom to bring in an entire new staff. Today was a very good step in the right direction. It may not seem like it now, but down the road I really think that this hire will pay off for OSU immensely.

 

It's official: Vrabel joins Ohio State football staff

BY BILL RABINOWITZ
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


Even when he was a player, Mike Vrabel thought of himself as a future coach.
Now he'll get the chance. The 14-year NFL veteran announced his retirement today to become the linebackers coach at Ohio State, where he'll serve under close friend and former OSU teammate Luke Fickell.
"If it was another (head) coach, I'd still want to be at Ohio State," Vrabel said. "But it makes it interesting and fun that a guy you played with is leading this team."
Vrabel, 35, attended Fickell's introductory news conference last month following the resignation of Jim Tressel. At the time, Vrabel said he was interested in playing another season. But with the NFL in the midst of a lockout and Vrabel not sure he was prepared to go through the rigors of training, his thoughts were already on retirement.
"As Rocky Marciano said, age retires undefeated," Vrabel said.
Regarded as a tough, cerebral player throughout his career, Vrabel thinks he can make a smooth transition into coaching. After winning three Super Bowl championships with New England, he played the last two seasons with the rebuilding Kansas City Chiefs where he served as a mentor to many of their young players.
"These past two years, when you're coaching 20- and 21-year-old guys that are fresh out of college, I think that's probably helped me the most," he said.
Fickell said he has no qualms about Vrabel's coaching inexperience.
"There's not a single thing that would worry me," he said. "Mike is something our kids (want to) emulate. They want to be like him."
The two met when Fickell was his host as Ohio State when Vrabel was a recruit.
"Since the day I met him, he told me, 'I'm going to be a coach,'" Fickell said. "He would always say, 'I'll be a coach someday.' "
brabinowitz@dispatch.com

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Younger coaches turn up volume

Players already see more emotion during workouts

BY KEN GORDON
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


Tight end Jake Stoneburner expects Ohio State's recent coaching changes to make a difference this year - but not in the offensive or defensive schemes, necessarily.
With a Generation X head coach replacing a baby boomer, and two new assistant coaches who are 40 or younger, Stoneburner is anticipating a possible change in vocabulary.
"They might cuss a little bit more, they might be a little more energetic," Stoneburner said.
Since December, receivers coach Darrell Hazell, 47, was replaced by Stan Drayton, 40. And 58-year-old coach Jim Tressel resigned, replaced by the former linebackers coach, 37-year-old Luke Fickell.
On Monday, 35-year-old Mike Vrabel was hired to take Fickell's old job.
The net result was the coaching staff dropped 30 years off its cumulative age, and possibly picked up its overall intensity.
"It is a different feel," linebacker Tony Jackson said. "I would say it's more boosting. It's that we want to be competitive; that's the biggest thing."
Nobody ever accused Tressel of not being competitive. But he was famously even-keeled and stoic, only rarely showing raw emotion.
Fickell, on the other hand, is more of a yeller and screamer, at least in practices. That's not to say he will go into histrionics on the sideline this fall, but it's safe to say he's more naturally expressive than Tressel.
"I just remember when coach Fick (was) on the defense, he would get after the players," Stoneburner said. "He would yell, scream - really light a fire, and I think he's going to bring that to the head coaching job.
"It's really going to show on game days, in practice. A lot more enthusiasm, maybe something different; something we're not really used to."
This is the first offseason since 2004 in which OSU had more than one change on the coaching staff. And to some extent, new blood and new ideas energize a team.
Jackson said Drayton was enthusiastic in winter and spring workouts, "getting on the guys, pepping us up." Vrabel, fresh off the NFL field, is expected to match the intensity of Fickell, his best friend.
And Fickell clearly has already communicated how he wants his team to play.
Jackson said that as linebackers coach, Fickell "would always teach us about emotions, how the game is emotional. (He and Vrabel) are not the type of people to hide it - they're the type of people, they** want you to harvest it."
Fullback Zach Boren also came away fired up from his first few meetings with his rookie head coach.
"I don't think we'll change our offense one bit; I don't think we'll change our defense one bit," Boren said.** "I just think what's going to change is our attitude. It's going to be a more exciting attitude. ... We're going to come out and wear our emotions on our sleeve and let it go."
Moeller cleared
Safety Tyler Moeller said yesterday he will be able to participate in full contact as soon as preseason camp begins. Moeller, a sixth-year senior, tore a pectoral muscle last October and underwent surgery. He was limited to non-contact drills in spring practice.


kgordon@dispatch.com

 

Vrabel answers the call to coach

Former Buckeyes star is tabbed by Fickell to handle linebackers

BY BILL RABINOWITZ
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


Even as Mike Vrabel progressed through an accomplished 14-year NFL career, he thought of himself as a future coach, preferably for his alma mater.
When Vrabel would sign a new NFL contract, his close friend and former Ohio State teammate Luke Fickell would contact him.
"I remember texting or calling him after he signed a couple of those big contracts and said, 'I guess coaching is out the window for you now,'" Fickell recalled yesterday.
"He'd always text me back saying, 'Not a chance. That's something I always want to do and I'll do it.' He was meant to be a coach, and it was in his blood from the time I met him."
Vrabel announced his retirement from the NFL yesterday to become the new linebackers coach at Ohio State, where he starred at defensive end from 1993-96.
That he's doing it under Fickell makes it even better.
"If it was another (head) coach, I'd still want to be at Ohio State," Vrabel said. "But it makes it interesting and fun that a guy you played with is leading this team."
Vrabel, 35, attended the news conference in which Fickell was introduced as Jim Tressel's successor. At the time, Vrabel said he was interested in playing another season. But with the NFL in the midst of a lockout and Vrabel not sure he could go through the rigors of training, his thoughts were already on retirement.
"As Rocky Marciano said, age retires undefeated," Vrabel said. "You just can't do the things you're used to."
Vrabel had a reputation as a tough, cerebral player while helping the New England Patriots win three Super Bowls. He played his final two seasons with Kansas City, serving as a mentor on a young team.
"These past two years, when you're coaching 20- and 21-year-old guys that are fresh out of college, I think that's probably helped me the most," he said.
Fickell said he had no qualms about Vrabel's lack of formal coaching experience.
"There's not a single thing that would worry me," he said. "Mike is something our kids (want to) emulate. They want to be like him."
"The players and the coaches are excited to have a Buckeye in here who can provide something different from what we're used to."
Vrabel comes from a coaching background. His father, Chuck, now principal at Buckeye High School in Medina, Ohio, is a former assistant football and basketball coach.
"Mike knows he can't make players be him," Chuck Vrabel said. "A good coach won't make players try to do things they aren't capable of."
The terms of Vrabel's contract were still being worked out, an OSU spokesperson said.
Vrabel is arriving at a tumultuous time for Ohio State. Its hearing in front of the NCAA's Committee on Infractions is a month away. Though the interim tag has been removed from Fickell's title, Ohio State could hire a new coach next year. That coach would likely bring in new assistants.
But Vrabel said the possibility of this being a one-year stint "never crossed my mind.
"The opportunity to come in and coach and be part of a staff that has former players - Jeff Uhlenhake, Anthony Schlegel, John Peterson, Luke Fickell, Kirk Barton - that's something that can really bring a program together. They're guys who wore the uniform. ... That's special."
Those other coaches didn't have the distinguished pro career Vrabel had. But don't expect the Buckeyes - or recruits - to see Vrabel flashing the Super Bowl rings.
"I haven't worn 'em since the day I got 'em," Vrabel said. "I always say the only people that want to wear Super Bowl rings are the ones that never won them."
Then he held up his hands gnarled by years in the NFL.
"My fingers aren't much for rings anyway," he said.
Suspended player identified
Sources close to the program have confirmed that sophomore linebacker Dorian Bell was the player suspended by the NCAA last week for five games.
Bell, from Monroeville, Pa., had already been suspended for the 2011 season by Tressel for an unspecified violation of team policy.
Dispatch reporter Ken Gordon contributed to this story.

brabinowitz@dispatch.com