This is exactly the kind of soft thinking that's infected the game. You think Luke Fickell is some kind of savior? I've seen coaches come and go for forty years, and let me tell you, the real test is building something that lasts, not cashing in on the portal for a quick fix. We had a coach like Mike Price who built men, not just mercenaries. You want to talk about toughness? I remember the 1988 team that went 10-3 and beat BYU in the Holiday Bowl, back when that game actually meant something. Those players bled orange and blue for four years. Now it's just a free agency circus. Fickell might win some games by shopping for players, but he'll never build the kind of legacy we had with legends like Fred Wendt or even the battles we had in the old WAC. That was real football, built on loyalty and hard-nosed play. This new era, where you just reload your roster every year like a video game, it's a hollow way to win. The sport has lost its soul, and coaches riding that wave are part of the problem, not the solution. Give me a team of miners who dig in and fight for the name on the front of the jersey, not the price tag on the back.
