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A Little Ron Zook Context

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"FU UF!"

For what it's worth, here's some interesting information on Zook at Florida in an article at InsideIllini.com (H/T to The Goat):

The truth is, Ron Zook always has been a terrific coach. His first two years at Florida were his first ever as a head coach after 25 plus years as an assistant. It takes a little time to make that transition and you make some mistakes. But that apparently was enough to convince some folks that he couldn't coach.

People apparently didn't notice that at Florida, he didn't inherit one player who went on to become a fulltime NFL starter? Not one. At Florida? Yet he still got to two Outback Bowls and finished 6-2 in the SEC both of his full years. Then he rebuilt that program into one with a national championship roster. Plenty of those guys, by the way, already are starting in the NFL. And there are more to come.

Zook's SEC record at Florida -- despite that it was his first head gig, despite what he inherited and being fired midway through his third season -- was 16-8. Urban Meyer's three-year SEC record is 17-7, one game better.

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Henry Louis Gomez said…
The truth is that Zook is a good recruiter and a bad coach. What you're numbers don't show are the types of teams that Zook lost to. He was 0-3 against schools from Mississippi. Needless to say neither Ole Miss or Miss. St. had the talent that Florida did. Not only that, you don't show overall records or bowl game records. The fact is that Meyer, though being a much younger man had accomplished much more with much less than Zook if you look at his work at BGSU and Utah. Zook is the beneficiary of a weak Big 10 this year. Even so he declined the Big 10 Championship when he accepted a couple of penalties against a bad Iowa team. On both occasions Zook could have declined and forced a 4th down. On both occasions he accepted and Iowa converted. In one case with a go-ahead TD and in the other with a long pass play that extended a clock devouring drive at the end of the game.

Zook, decent recruiter. Terrible coach.
November 23, 2007 at 4:49 PM
Rich Horton said…
I'd take the good recruiter every time. If Zook can keep the horses coming to Champaign, that is the important thing.
November 25, 2007 at 7:11 PM
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