Luke Fickell: Game against Ohio State isn't about me

There’ll be a spotlight on No. 3 Ohio State at Wisconsin for all kinds of reasons. Even so, Luke Fickell would appreciate it if he isn’t one of them.

Fickell spoke on his connections to the Badger’s next opponent during a press conference on Monday. He wants that storyline to end up on the back burner as much as possible because he wants this stage to be about his players and what they’re all trying to build in Madison.

“I know, for me, the most important thing, the first thing to start off with is it’s not about me. I know we have some guys on our staff, myself included, that have some obvious history there, whether they went to school there or played there. But that’s not what it’s about,” said Fickell. “For me? I don’t want to get too much into it. But that’ll be something that’s always stuck in the back of my head. They’ve asked ‘Hey, can you do a report or do an interview with a guy you know from Columbus?’. Or ‘Hey, the Big Ten Network?’. I’m like, no, let’s put a player on, have them do a player.”

“It’s about the players, it’s about our team, it’s about our program,” Fickell said. “It’s about the journey that we’re on and the process that we’re in – not the specifics of, ‘Hey, you went to school there’, ‘Hey, you played there’, ‘Hey, you got guys on your staff from there.'”

As a native of Columbus, Fickell grew up around Ohio State. He eventually played as a nose guard for the Buckeyes in the early and mid-90s before graduating from the university.

The program then gave Fickell his start in coaching. He began as a graduate assistant back in 1999. From there, he spent time in various positions on their staff, including defensive coordinator, from 2002 to 2016. That’s not to mention his lone season as Buckeye’s head coach in 2011, a stretch where he posted a 6-7 record, as they transitioned from Jim Tressel to Urban Meyer.

Still, in terms of this weekend’s game, Fickell knows his roots with Ohio State will have no impact on anything. That’s why he wants to turn the attention to things that are more likely to help Wisconsin pick up a statement win in his first season leading the team.

“When the ball is kicked? That’ll have absolutely no effect on anything that happens on that field,” said Fickell. “We try to just focus on the things that are going to have the greatest effect on Saturday night.”