What Do Ohio State's Current Linebackers Want in Their Next Position Coach? ‘If You Love Us, We’ll Love You Back as Much as We Can’

As a draft-eligible junior projected by many to be an early-round selection should he opt to declare following the season, McMillan could be playing his last season in Columbus. That doesn’t mean the Buckeyes’ All-American middle linebacker doesn’t have an opinion on the type of coach Urban Meyer should bring in to replace Luke Fickell, though.

“I would be looking for a consistent coach, somebody that doesn’t change his ways every year,” McMillan said Thursday at Ohio State’s on-campus media day for the Fiesta Bowl. “For the three years I’ve been here, coach Fickell has been preaching the same things that he’d been preaching since I got on campus to the point I’m at now.

“That’s what I’m looking for: somebody who practices what he preaches and doesn’t change it based on who he coaches.”

Ohio State’s current linebackers won’t hire their next position coach; that’s Meyer’s job. Meyer said Thursday there hadn’t been any decisions made on who would replace Fickell, who is off to Cincinnati to become the head coach after the Buckeyes’ run in the College Football Playoff comes to an end.

But McMillan, Jerome Baker and Chris Worley — Ohio State’s three starting linebackers — all have the opportunity to return to school next season to play for whoever it is Meyer hires. They're all looking for certain characteristics.

“He has to be tough. Coach Fick, that was one thing: He was tough,” Baker said. “He was a very hard worker and was very precise in everything that he did. … Just be tough, be smart and love your players. If you love us, we’ll love you back as much as we can.”

That’s what Fickell did so well, according to his players. It’s just one of the many reasons why replacing him will be such a difficult task for Meyer.

There are certainly big shoes to fill for whoever might come next.

“At the end of the day, as long as a player feels like his coach wants to win and wants to put him in a position to win, a player should win,” Worley said. “What’s special about Coach Fick and the linebackers is that he built a relationship with the players that, the linebackers want to play so hard for Coach Fick.

“That's when you get to see position groups take off to the next level and that has happened.”

What Ohio State hopes, of course, is its next linebackers coach replicates what the last one was able to accomplish.