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Ron Zook

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Ron Zook

Ron Zook (born April 28, 1954 in Loudonville, Ohio) is an American football coach and the current head coach at the University of Illinois.

Early career

Ron Zook played college football as a defensive back for Miami University, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1976. Zook immediately began coaching football, beginning at Orrville High School in Orrville, Ohio in 1976. In 1978, Zook moved to coaching collegiately, beginning at Murray State University. Through the 1980s, Zook held coaching positions at a number of schools, including Cincinnati, Kansas, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, and The Ohio State University.

Beginning in 1991, Zook served as defensive coordinator for three seasons at the University of Florida under head coach Steve Spurrier. After the 1993 season, Spurrier reassigned Zook to be the special teams coordinator, a move considered by many to be a demotion. Nonetheless, in 1995, Spurrier added the title of associate head coach to Zook's position.

In 1996, Zook left Florida to coach in the NFL. Zook served three seasons as special teams coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and was the defensive backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1999. In the 2000 and 2001 seasons, Zook was the defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints.

Head coaching career

University of Florida

In 2002, Spurrier resigned his position with Florida to become the head coach of the Washington Redskins of the NFL, and Florida hired Zook as his replacement. Spurrier had coached twelve seasons at Florida, and had taken the school to unprecedented success on the football field, including 6 SEC titles and a National Championship. Expectations at Florida were high, and Zook's hiring was not considered a popular one by followers of Florida football--Florida fans wanted the success of Spurrier, without the time required for building. In fact, one fan started a website, fireronzook.com, within a day of Zook's hiring, and the web site gained national media attention. Many fraternity houses even hung banners from week to week either praising Zook or calling for Zook's firing. He was well known for his quirky expressions ("If you sleep five hours really fast it feels like eight"), hard, honest work, and the various sayings which evolved from his name ("Zook 'em" or "The Zooker").

Zook was the head coach at Florida for three seasons. In those three seasons, the Gators compiled records of 8-5 (2002), 8-5 (2003) and 7-5 (2004). While achieving some modest success, Zook's record fell well short of the expectations at Florida. In his three years, the Gators lost more games in their home stadium (Ben Hill Griffin Stadium) than in the 12 seasons under Spurrier. Many of his losses were fourth quarter comebacks, causing many fans to question the prevent defense which was employed, which helped result in Zook being unable to beat a ranked opponent at home during his tenure at UF. Zook ultimately took the blame for the record, and was fired before the end of the 2004 season after a loss to the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who had a 1-5 record prior to the game, including a loss to Division I-AA Maine. The game was lost on a 37 yard touchdown run by Jerious Norwood in the final minute of the game. Zook finished the regular season, but declined to coach the Gators in their bowl game, having already accepted the Illinois position. After the 2004 season, Zook was replaced as Florida's head coach by Urban Meyer.

Though not highly regarded by many Gator fans, Zook did have some achievements over his 3 seasons at Florida. He bested the Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee on their newly-christened "Bobby Bowden Field" in his final game as head coach, something Steve Spurrier could never do. Also, he had winning records against many SEC foes such as Georgia (2-1) and Auburn (1-0). In addition, Zook would be responsible for the prevention of two undefeated seasons, with victories over the 2002 SEC Champion Georgia (which finished 13-1, but lost to Florida, 20-13) and the 2003 SEC and National Champions LSU (who finished 13-1, but lost to Florida 19-7 in Baton Rouge). Zook was also a tireless recruiter, who brought a great deal of talent to Florida during his tenure as head coach. Following the Gators victory over Ohio State in the 2006 BCS Championship game, Urban Meyer gave credit to Zook for recruiting the large class of seniors who played the game.

University of Illinois

In 2005, the University of Illinois hired Zook to replace Ron Turner as the head coach of the Illinois Fighting Illini football team. Zook inherited a program which had become a disaster since winning the Big Ten championship in 2001, finishing 1-11 in 2003 and 3-8 in 2004, including Big Ten records of 0-8 and 1-7, respectively. In Zook's inaugural season of 2005, Illinois finished with an overall record of 2-9, and a record of 0-8 in Big Ten games.

Despite his team's struggles thus far in his tenure, Zook has improved the ability of Illinois to recruit top football talent. According to one source, the 2006 recruiting class was one of the 30 best in college football [1]. Despite this, they finished the 2006 season 1-7 in the conference and 2-10 overall. While the record did not improve, the play on the field did as the Illini nearly upset top ranked Ohio State in Champaign before losing 17-10. Additionally, the Illini played well against Iowa, Wisconsin, and Penn State (they lost 63-10 the year before) but ended up losing close games.

The 2006 recruiting class included Isiah "Juice" Williams of Chicago Vocational High School, considered to be one of the top quarterback recruits in the country.[1] In late 2006, Zook signed Arrelious Benn, one of the top wide receiver prospects in the 2007 class.[2] [3]. More recently, Zook has also won over Simeon High School standout Martez Wilson [4][5] along with Florida prospect D'Angelo McCray.[6] This class is one of Illinois' best in recent memory, being rated within the top 25 nationally by some experts.[7]

Zook's recruiting success has finally begun to pay dividends during the 2007 season. After losing a close game on neutral turf to a Missouri squad which would go on to be ranked in the top ten, the Illini ran off five straight wins, including back-to-back home wins over Penn State and Wisconsin. Illinois' 5-1 start gave them a #18 ranking in the AP poll. This was Illinois' first ranking in the AP poll since the end of the 2001 season. However, the ranking would prove to be short lived after consecutive losses to Iowa and Michigan. A homecoming win over Ball State gave the Illini bowl eligibility and a blowout win at Minnesota all but assured Zook's first bowl appearance as coach of the Illini. On November 10th, the then-unranked Illini defeated #1-ranked Ohio State in Columbus, ending the Buckeyes' 28 game home winning streak. The Illini finished the 2007 regular season by defeating Northwestern to finish 9-3 overall, 6-2 in the Big 10. Their improvement of 7 wins over the 2006 season was the largest such increase of any Division I team. His success earned him a contract extension in October 2007, which pays him approximately $1.5 million through the 2013 season.[8]

On November 20, 2007, Ron Zook was selected as the Big Ten Coach of the Year. [9]

Zook's enthusiasm on and off the field has spread to the long dormant Illinois football fanbase, as evidenced by 4 sellouts in the 2007 season. Zook's Illini team runs a "Veer Option" offense. Additionally, on extra points, they employ a "swinging gate" play, in order to try to confuse the defense.

Trivia

  • The television media, notably commentators on ESPN's SportsCenter and College Football GameDay, often refer to Ron Zook's teams as the "Zookers".
  • Zook won his final game as Florida's coach at the newly named "Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium". As a result, many Gator fans jokingly refer to the stadium as "Ron Zook Field."[2]

Head coaching record

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Rank#
Florida Gators (Southeastern Conference) (2002–2004)
2002 Florida 8-5 6-2 2 - East
2003 Florida 8-5 6-2 1 - East(t)
2004 Florida 7-4 (*) 4-4 3 - East
Florida: 23-14 16-8
Illinois Fighting Illini (Big Ten Conference) (2005–present)
2005 Illinois 2-9 0-8 11
2006 Illinois 2-10 1-7 10
2007 Illinois 9-3 6-2 2
Illinois: 13-22 7-17
Total: 35-36
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

(*) The 2004 Florida team finished 7-5 after losing the Peach Bowl to Miami. However, Ron Zook had already accepted the Illinois job and declined to coach the bowl game.

Preceded by University of Illinois Football Head Coaches
2005– 		Succeeded by
Current
Preceded by University of Florida Head Football Coach
2001–2004 		Succeeded by
Charlie Strong (interim)

References

  1. ^ http://illinois.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=37568
  2. ^ http://illinois.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=37277
  3. ^ http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=9&c=4&yr=2006&pid=10
  4. ^ http://blogs.suntimes.com/preps/2006/12/tez_to_illinois.html
  5. ^ http://illinois.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=50005
  6. ^ http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=169&p=8&c=1&nid=2402997
  7. ^ http://illinois.rivals.com/teamrank.asp
  8. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/2007-10-17-illinois-zook_N.htm
  9. ^ http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/football/cs-illinifoot20nov20,1,4722441.story?coll=cs-college-print
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