Is Zook digging himself a hole at Illinois?

[O-town Gator]

Mark Tupper at Herald & Review.com and some of the Illini fans think so; seems as though the Zooker is repeating the same mistakes he made at Florida: http://www.herald-review.com/blogs/marktupper/?p=527

 

[MahxFahn]

It was a good read but the best part was reading the comments. Which led me to the fireronzook blog where I found the following quote.............

when he thinks, his team suffers.

It all sounds familiar.
Thanks for posting the link. We are SO lucky.

 

[O-town Gator]

It was a good read but the best part was reading the comments. Which led me to the fireronzook blog where I found the following quote.............
It all sounds familiar.
Thanks for posting the link. We are SO lucky.

I'm just glad we have Urban Meyer now and REAL Florida football back. Those three seasons of Ron Zook were a very bitter pill to swallow for me.

 

[O-town Gator]

Vintage Ron Zook here; he's letting one of his players who was involved in an off-campus fight off with no suspension and with what amounts to no more than a slap on the wrist: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/illini/story/D0B98EB1B59F71A9862574F8003BED42?OpenDocument

 

[gtrgrl97]

Even my 13 yr old says, Zook was a good recruiter (he recruited a lot of the '06 team), but he's no coach.... he just tries to be a friend.

Coach Meyer is awesome!

 

[O-town Gator]

There's already a meltdown and reality check in Champaign; read on: http://www.herald-review.com/blogs/marktupper/?p=532

What I can tell you is that for the third time in Big Ten play, I heard coaches say Illinois did not play up to its capabilities, did not execute the way it can and did not play as though it was prepared to win.

How many times did we hear the same thing while Zook was at Florida?

As the saying goes - those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

 

[leakbrewergator]

It's clear when you look at Illinois' roster, they are one of the top 2 or 3 talented teams in the Big Eleven. Just like at Florida though, talent doesn't guarantee a Ron Zook coached team a victory. Even against Mississippi St. or Western Michigan.

 

[O-town Gator]

It's clear when you look at Illinois' roster, they are one of the top 2 or 3 talented teams in the Big Eleven. Just like at Florida though, talent doesn't guarantee a Ron Zook coached team a victory. Even against Mississippi St. or Western Michigan.

Ron Zook may be able to recruit, but in order for a college coach to be successful he needs to have what I like to call an "equilateral triangle" meet at all three corners and have all sides equal each other lengthwise- those three sides are labeled "recruiter", "manager" and "teacher/gameday strategist". Urban Meyer can make all three sides of that triangle meet - so can coaches like Pete Carroll and Bobby Stoops, and that's why they succeed. One-dimensional coaches like Ron Zook, unless they somehow figure out a way to do so, will never make those ends join together and thus will fail.

 

[O-town Gator]

Clueless as ever, Zook can't seem to figure out why his team isn't perofrming up to snuff: http://fightingillini.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/112408aaa.html

Link to an interesting article from a sportswriter in Peoria, IL: http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x2017749204/Illini-football-might-soon-need-a-bailout

As one of the conditions of his settlement with Florida, the Zooker wasn't supposed tio have made negative comments about UF, but apparently he doesn't care anymore. Check out this sour-grapes jab:

"Florida didnt win their first SEC title until 1991 and now they think they invented football." - Ron Zook

That's ingratitude too, if you ask me.

 

[Leakfan12]

I can't believe Zook say that I like get my hands on him. One, Zooker forgot that the Gators had good teams in the 1960's, and 1970's but Tennessee and UGA were in the way. 1980's they won 2 SEC titles but a combo of Pell's sins and NCAA playing favorites (FSU and USCal) prevent them form claiming them outright same with 1990. Plus the Gators won seven conference titles, how did they win (I count about four or five times out of 55 seasons). Plus Illinois hasn't won a national title.

 

[O-town Gator]

I can't believe Zook say that I like get my hands on him. One, Zooker forgot that the Gators had good teams in the 1960's, and 1970's but Tennessee and UGA were in the way. 1980's they won 2 SEC titles but a combo of Pell's sins and NCAA playing favorites (FSU and USCal) prevent them form claiming them outright same with 1990. Plus the Gators won seven conference titles, how did they win (I count about four or five times out of 55 seasons). Plus Illinois hasn't won a national title.

Had we not been on probation in the 1980's, we would have won those SEC titles outright and who knows - we could have had a shot at the national championship. IMHO we could have had another shot at it in 2001 under Spurrier had the season not been interrupted on account of 9/11.

And YES, Coach Graves lead Steve Spurrier to the Heisman back in the 1960's.

The last time "illinoise" was any good, it was during the Zuppke years - and that was WAY before our time.

Zook was making himself look like a real arsehole with that comment - he has nobody to blame but himself for his getting fired from UF. Urban Meyer is the right fit for our program and is a hell of a lot better than the Zooker in every aspect - there's no way Zook is on a par with Meyer in any form whatsoever.

He obviously didn't learn a damn thing from his experience with the Gators - he's repeating the same mistakes up there and if he winds up losing his job again, he brought it all on himself.

 

[Leakfan12]

I know 1984 the Gators would have won the national title (heck some paper had the Gators number one). If you go to cfreference.net, and look and compare Gators, BYU, Washington schedules Florida had a tougher schedule. I would put them in the 1985 title game against Penn State. SO they should have two national titles but the NCAA played favorites.

 

[O-town Gator]

Looks like Zook has his first off-season issue to deal with; one of his linebackers was stabbed in a bar fight recently: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3765828