Sometimes it’s all about the timing.
Ron Zook followed the greatest coach in UF football history. Florida won six SEC titles under Steve Spurrier and contended every year. Spurrier threw the ball all over the field and changed everything about the way the game was played.
And he won every press conference.
Zook told us all in his first press conference how he wasn’t Steve Spurrier. he must have said it 15 times. Then, he proved it.
But what if Zook followed Will Muschamp?
What if he won 16 games in his first two years and had an offense that was much better than the ground-and-sputter offense of his predecessor? What if he won at LSU, at Tennessee, twice against Georgia in his first two seasons?
Would he have even been on the hot seat? If Jim McElwain goes 16-10 in his first two seasons, is the Gator Nation going to lose its mind?
This doesn’t point out the negatives of the Zook administration — the blown game at Miami, the oh-fer bowl record, the inexplicable loss to Ole Miss — but it is at least worth rethinking how he was vilified because he was following a legend instead of a guy who lost 14 of his last 24 games as Florida’s coach.
No statue required.
