Answering reader comments

This is the level of intellect of the typical Ron Zook athletic supporter:

Hey Dickhead what do you have to say about the game yesterday[?]

Ron Zook for coach of the year. That's what I have to say. With that win coach Zook beats his first FBS opponent of the season. Way to go there Ron!

Is one unlikely win per season, like the one against Florida State in his last season with Florida or the one against OSU in the Rose Bowl season, supposed to make everyone forget what a shithead he is during all the other games?

Here's an idea. Schedule Illinois State for 12 games every year. Then Ron might have another winning season. Dickhead.

Give Zook the Hook

That's the name of the latest addition to the fireronzook movement. You'll find this new site in the sidebar or just click here.

Zook gets vote of confidence

And lays (another) egg.

I was just looking at the Illini page on Yahoo Sports. This is too funny. At the top of the page it says:

Illinois Fighting Illini

1-6 (0-5), 11th Big Ten

That's right Illini fans, you're 11th in the Big TEN!

Guys, it's official. Ron Zook is the worst coach in the history of the game of football. He took a great Gator program and made it mediocre and he's taken a terrible Illinois program and made it even more terrible, if that were possible. If you look up "Fluke" in the dictionary, the 2007 season is mentioned there as an example.

Have fun folks. I know I am.

Emulate this!

Too funny. Take a look at this fantastic piece of comedy posted at Daily Illini.com under the headline, "Zook, Illini attempt to emulate 2007 season."

2007 is of course the high water mark for Zook's tenure at Illinois with a 9-3 record and a Rose Bowl appearance (thanks to Ohio State playing in the BCSCG) where the Illini were blown out.

So the solution of course is to emulate what was done that year according to Zook:

“I’ve already done it,” Illinois head coach Ron Zook said of trying to make changes to emulate the 2007 season. “I’ve already gone back and tried to do a lot of the same things with practice times and the whole bit.”

Yes, changing those practice times will surely put you back on the winning track. Of course, if that was the formula for success why did he ever deviate from it?

But Zook's brilliance (sarcasm) continues:

“One of the things, if you go back and look at that year, is that we had some guys who made some plays and you wondered how they made them,” Zook said. “We’re not making those plays this year and even to a certain extent we weren’t last year either. A lot of that has to do with passion.”

Yeap. Passion, that's what the Illini need! Not coaching, not leadership, not discipline, and certainly not X's and O's. It's passion and making plays that leave you in wonderment.

The next few paragraphs are a scathing indictment of Zook:

The Illini have fallen to the bottom of the Big Ten despite having plenty of returning talent.

Quarterback Juice Williams returned to become a four-year starter at quarterback after leading the Big Ten in total offense last season.

He was supposed to have one of the nation’s most heralded receiving corps at his disposal, led by junior wide receiver Arrelious Benn, who is projected to be one of the top receivers taken in next year’s NFL draft if he decides to leave early.

ESPN’s Mel Kiper has Jon Asamoah rated as the nation’s top senior offensive guard for next year’s NFL draft, and Illinois has three seniors who have seen significant playing time since coming to campus — Williams, cornerback Dere Hicks and defensive end Doug Pilcher.

“I remember in the summer during the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon, a lot of the buzz was about Illinois’ talent, how they were going to be really the most talented team in the league,” Purdue head coach Danny Hope said. “They still might have the most talent in the league.”

But talent alone doesn’t win football games, and Zook has largely failed to capitalize on his highly rated recruiting classes. Of Zook’s 2007 recruiting class, which was rated as the No. 20 class in the nation by Rivals.com, only five are currently in the starting lineup. Eight players from the class of 21 are no longer on the team for various reasons.

Ouch. Here's a Zookese response to the lack of wins from such "talented" squad:

“A lot of that has to do with passion,” Zook said. “When our guys are finally tired of this and decide, ‘That’s it, I’m sick of it, I’m not going to take it anymore,’ that’s when we’ll get back on track.”

Zook pointed to the up-and-down nature of football in both college and the NFL.

“There are a lot of things that have to go right to have a successful season, and as I told them last night, the Tennessee Titans had the best record in football last year,” Zook said about the now 0-6 Titans. “They’re basically the same guys, and coach (Jeff) Fisher is a great football coach, but for whatever reason, things aren’t clicking and that’s the nature of this game sometimes.”

There's that blame the players line again mixed in with a "hey look over there!". Of course Zook just has bad luck. Not his fault. Nothing is ever his fault. Those Illini just keep improving and improving.

And this guy has the balls to speak ill of Urban Meyer. I've never heard Meyer blame a player for a loss or simply chalk up a failure to bad luck. Make your own luck, loser.

My condolences

Well folks, another Saturday and another Zooking loss for the Illini in the books. A 30-0 shut-out. Ouch. My heart really goes out to the fans and alums of the University of Illinois. It's now beginning to dawn on you that everything all of the Florida fans said was true.

There have been some comments on of the other posts here about the Illinois' rightful place in the world of college football. By and large most of the fans are resigned to the idea that Illinois can't really be a power and that Zook represented a chance at that with his "recruiting prowess" and that the Illini could never be the Gators. I disagree. Illinois is a big state school from a big state, playing in major conference with a lot of talent to be had. But you do need a coach who can recruit. And by that I mean a COACH who can recruit. Zook is not a coach. He's a recruiting coordinator at best. He can't strategize his way out of a wet paper bag.

A word of advice to your athletic director. When you finally decide to dump clown Zook, perhaps you should consider a young up-and-coming coach from a lesser school. Florida hired Steve Spurrier from Duke and Urban Meyer from Utah. Don't hire a failure from a more important football program. Look at the team that mopped up the floor with you today. They hired their coach from division 1AA.

Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends

Hello all!

I see that I'm being graced by hundreds of new readers. I'm sure you'll have many questions, like "Is this the original fireronzook.com?" or is this author beneath the bag the actual BAGHEAD that began fireronzook.com?".

The answer to both is "no!"

Check the sidebar and read about this blog, why it exists and will continue to exist. I could provide links here so that you don't have to hunt, but I don't feel like it. It's holiday for fuck's sake!

So make yourselves at home, bookmark the page and if you are a loyal fan of the Illini then remember Bobby Knight's reputed remarks about an inevitable rape.

Enjoy!

And so it begins

For a variety of reasons I have had ZERO time to follow Zook's incoherent rambling and the travails of Illinois football much less post anything to this blog but a recent flurry of visits and a few comment awoke me from my slumber.

Zook and the boys shit the bed against Mizzou in the season opener.

Perfect.

But he recruited all of Florida's players, right?

Hahahahahahaha

Feel free to vent in the comments folks.

Why I still hate Zook

The Kool-Aid drinkers often ask me in the comments why I am obsessed with moRon Zook. After all, he has been gone for four years now and is someone else's problem now. There are three basic answers to that. They are:

1. He made my life miserable for three years. Watching the football program at my alma mater begin to disintegrate was torture for me. When I entered the University of Florida as a Freshman in the late 80s there wasn't much to cheer for except Emmitt Smith. Then we turned the corner under Steve Spurrier. A winning tradition was established at Florida. Then Ron Zook came along and almost single-handedly destroyed it. His tenure was an unmitigated disaster.

2. He won't shut up about how "unfairly" he was treated by the fans. He points to the creation of fireronzook.com as an example. Well he could have taken care of FRZ very easily. All he had to do was WIN. Then we would have had to shut the fuck up. I would have been ecstatic. But no. When the Gators won the BCS Championship in 2006 Ron Zook made the claim that he would have won it too, and perhaps even earlier. That would mean that Ron Zook would have had to win a championship in 2005. That was a team that Urban Meyer (who now has two of those BCS championships under his belt) went 9-3 with. That 9-3 record was better than any year Zook has had as a head coach to date, including last year's "Rose Bowl Team".

3. I keep finding out little things about how the program was under Zook that infuriate me. Like how he basically abandoned Jarvis Moss. I recently read Buddy Martin's book "Urban's Way" and you get a lot of hints about how the Gators Meyer inherited from Zook were in many ways bad characters. Meyer was able to reach some of them and others, not so much. But by talking about how players responded with disbelief to some of the policies and discipline instilled by Meyer we gain insight into how poorly Zook had managed his job as coach. After winning the BCS Championship last Thursday Meyer said that the 2006 team was a good team but that at that time is was a bad program. Another veiled insinuation that UF football was a mess when Urban Meyer arrived.

In the vein of number 3 above, I found this article today very interesting. Here's what I mean:

Tim Tebow is coming back.

But what about Florida's two other juniors who are considering leaving for the NFL?

Linebacker Brandon Spikes and receiver Percy Harvin have yet to announce their decisions, and UF coach Urban Meyer said Sunday he's not sure what either is going to do.

"The good thing about these guys, you're talking about quality families and you're talking about educated guys," Meyer said. "Four years ago, if you asked me that, I had no idea. I wasn't involved. There were some people that shouldn't be involved. Some making horrible decisions. I don't blame them. I didn't recruit them. I didn't know them. They weren't my people. You would think after a while, I'd be their coach, but that didn't happen.

"These guys will make the right decision."

Read between the lines. Zook recruited a bunch of guys who only cared about the NFL. Of course many of them didn't know what it was like to win big time in college, so who can blame them?

So as long as I have something to say about moRon, I'll be here saying it.

Have a nice day.

I dare anyone...

I dare any one of you douchebags out there that wanted to give Ron Zook credit for Florida's 2006 BCS Championship team to come here and open your pieholes now. How many of the current Gator players were recruited by Zook?

Ha, I actually had commenters come here and tell me that Meyer couldn't win with his own players. Well think again asswipes. Where is Ron Zook with all of "his" players at Illinois? Home for the holidays, that's where. We had excellence at Florida before Zook and after Zook. So where was the problem during Zook's years? Was it the players or was it the coach? You know the answer. Last year the core of Illinois' Rose Bowl team was recruited by Ron Turner. Mendenhall, Lehman, most of the offensive line. This year, not so much.

Have a fun off-season. Hope springs eternal. I'll be here for you to vent with when it all comes apart again next year.

2008 Post Mortem

An anonymous commenter submitted a link to this great article:

Anatomy of a season gone wrong
By Bob Asmussen

Sunday, November 30, 2008 9:00 AM CDT

Ron Zook's 2008 Illini were expected to follow up a Rose Bowl season with a run toward a Big Ten title. Instead, Illinois never met expectations, losing four of its last five games to finish out of the bowl picture. What went wrong? Plenty, distractions popping up at every stop along the way. Here are 25 of them:

May 2

Losing Rashard Mendenhall a year early to the NFL was bad enough. Having the tailback bad-mouth his college program was worse. During his introductory news conference with the Steelers, the Big Ten MVP talked about his unhappiness at Illinois, part of it stemming from his brother Walter's transfer to Illinois State. "To tell you the truth, as long as Ron Zook is there it will be hard for me to support the University of Illinois football team," he said.

June 26

Illinois agrees to allow "The Journey," a behind-the-scenes program on the Big Ten Network, to chronicle the 2008 season. "Illinois' amazing ride to the Rose Bowl last year was a tremendous accomplishment," BTN executive producer Leon Schweir said. "Everyone is wondering, 'Can they do it again?' We will be there to find out." The plan fizzled as Illinois limped to a 5-7 finish. Players and coaches denied the constant presence of cameras was a distraction, but other Big Ten programs said the attention would not be a good fit on their campus.

Aug. 4

Picked to finish second in the Big Ten by The News-Gazette, Illinois opens Camp Rantoul short-handed. Among the no-shows: Evan Frierson, London Davis, Brian Gamble and Mark Jackson. Frierson and Davis eventually join the team. Gamble and Jackson were not with the Illini during the 2008 season.

Aug. 5

D'Angelo McCray, one of the gems of Ron Zook's 2007 recruiting class, is introduced at Eastern Illinois media day. The defensive tackle never played a down at Illinois and transferred to Bob Spoo's program, where he had 11 tackles in 11 games.

Aug. 9

Sirod Williams injures a knee during workouts. Expected to be a team strength, the defensive line takes a hit because of the season-ending loss of the projected starting tackle. "Sirod is such a great guy and a leader," Ron Zook said.

Aug. 14

Starting receiver Jeff Cumberland (right) is ruled out for the first two to four weeks of the season after breaking a bone in his foot. Without Cumberland or Brian Gamble, the Illinois offense is forced to use inexperienced receivers to complement Arrelious Benn, who would face constant double-teaming as a result.

Aug. 15

Highly touted freshman cornerback Patrick Nixon and freshman receiver Jack Ramsey are kept off the field because of academic issues. Ramsey later joined the team as a partial qualifier but Nixon didn't start school, instead returning to Florida for academic reasons.

Aug. 24

Ron Zook announces practice is closed to media and fans. It's a change from past policy and indicates Zook's unhappiness with information leaking from the program. The ban doesn't affect "The Journey."

Aug. 30

Given a chance to end its slump against Missouri, Illinois gives up the most points in its 119 openers (52). The loss didn't knock Illinois out of the AP Top 25 but made it clear the team had deficiencies at many spots.

Sept. 6

Miami Thomas, best remembered for his interception in the 2007 upset of No. 1 Ohio State, tears his ACL against Eastern Illinois. His season-ending loss takes away a potential playmaker in a secondary already trying to replace two starting safeties.

Sept. 12

Defensive tackle Josh Brent, who had missed the first two games because of what Ron Zook said was "an illness," is cleared to play against Louisiana-Lafayette. He debuts with two tackles and two penalties.

Sept. 13

Ranked 24th, Illinois gives 58,632 home fans a scare with a 20-17 win against Louisiana-Lafayette. The football team played second fiddle to the school's former basketball stars, who played later at the Assembly Hall.

Sept. 23

Leading receiver Arrelious Benn is stopped by university police and cited for driving on a suspended license. At his Oct. 20 court appearance, he asks for a public defender. His next appearance is set for Dec. 15.

Sept. 27

The debut of junior college safety Donsay Hardeman (knee injury) was overshadowed by another defensive/special teams letdown in a 38-24 loss at Penn State. The loss knocks Illinois out of the Top 25 – for good. "For some crazy reason, I've got, I guess, a good feeling. If that's possible," Zook said.

Oct. 11

Riding the high of a rare win against Michigan, heavy favorite Illinois falls short on homecoming against Minnesota and former Illini Tim Brewster. The deflating defeat – Illinois outgained the Gophers 550-312 yards – sends frustrated fans home instead of remaining at Memorial Stadium to watch an outdoor basketball practice on a court positioned behind the south end zone.

Oct. 12

Backup quarterback Eddie McGee is arrested for his involvement during a fight at a campus homecoming dance. McGee, who was given a chance at adult diversion in lieu of criminal charges, is cleared to play the following week by Ron Zook. "We do have good kids," Zook said. "Sometimes they get into situations maybe that you wish they wouldn't, but that's life. Sometimes, bad things happen to good people. He's a good kid. I'm not going to punish him for something that I feel very, very comfortable with the outcome."

Oct. 14

Starting quarterback Juice Williams was ticketed by Urbana police for driving on a suspended license. He was ordered to appear in court Nov. 10 but arrived late, resulting in the issuance of a warrant for his arrest for failure to appear. He appeared in court Nov. 20, the judge quashed the warrant and Williams was ordered back in court Feb. 23.

Oct. 25

Favored to win at Wisconsin, Illinois gives up 17 unanswered points in the second half in a game that marked the end of any Big Ten title or Jan. 1 bowl game hopes. "You better have it strapped up," Zook said. "Two years in a row now, we haven't done that. That's where your leadership has got to come in. We've got to get it corrected."

Oct. 27

Ron Zook cuts short his postpractice interview session after a college newspaper reporter asks the coach about possible changes. "I don't know. Have you got any ideas? Everybody seems to have ideas. I'll take them all. Here's the deal, we'll be ready to go, OK. Don't worry about it, we're going to be ready to go." Illinois beat Iowa 27-24 the next time out, its final win of the season.

Oct. 30

Ron Zook says starting tailback Daniel Dufrene has not practiced to take care of "personal problems" and that he'd likely miss the Iowa game. "I'm worried about Daniel right now," Zook said. "He'll be fine. We just got to work through this thing."

Nov. 1

Freshman running back Mikel Leshoure sustains a season-ending broken jaw during an altercation with teammate Jeff Cumberland. Leshoure's loss further depletes a running game that winds up fifth in the Big Ten after being first the previous two seasons. "I'm very disappointed something like this has occurred," Ron Zook said. Cumberland continues to play but is kept off limits to the media.

Nov. 7

Offensive coordinator Mike Locksley (below), in Detroit on the eve of Illinois' game against Western Michigan, interviews for the Clemson head coaching position. Locksley's name later surfaces with the Syracuse opening. A day later, Illinois loses to Western Michigan in front of the smallest crowd (12,865) to attend an Illini game since 1945. The Illini played without linebacker Ian Thomas and fullback Rahkeem Smith, who were held back for violation of team rules. "I told the seniors, 'You guys are going to determine what kind of legacy you're going to leave here.' These next 14 days are going to be crucial. We can fold our tent and put it away if that's what they want to do," Zook said.

Nov. 8

Leading tackler Brit Miller is given a notice to appear in court for obstructing a peace officer and resisting arrest. During a bar sweep by campus and state police, Miller repeatedly was told to get away from a bus being used for detention purposes. Miller was handcuffed briefly before being released.

Nov. 15

Illinois loses to Ohio State for the seventh consecutive time at Memorial Stadium. Star cornerback Vontae Davis continues to decline postgame interview requests, reportedly upset about having to answer questions about his potential early entry into the NFL draft.

Nov. 21

Illinois arrives in Evanston for a must win without starting linebacker Martez Wilson (violation of team rules). A lackluster performance in a 27-10 defeat to Northwestern keeps Illinois from making consecutive bowl appearances for the first time since 1991 and '92. It also leaves Illinois as the first team to go from the Rose Bowl to a losing record since Michigan in 1965.

It's official, you can now call 2007 a fluke. It'll never get any better for Illini fans as long as the Zooker is on the sidelines.

I was wrong

I have to admit it, I was wrong...

I thought Zook and this team were good enough for six wins and a trip to Boise or some other equally undesirable December location. But no, moRon failed to live up to even my low expectations.

As I've documented here all season long the Illini faithful have made this the year of the excuses. It's Locksley's fault, it's the two-coordinator system on defense, it's the special teams, it's the athletic director, etc. etc. The other argument in favor of Zook has been last year's trip to Pasadena, a trip you'd think most fans would want to forget. But in moRon land getting your ass kicked on national TV is a huge accomplishment.

A few words about Pat Fitzgerald. Take a look at him closely Illini fans. On the sideline does he inspire confidence? Does it look like his players understand what he is trying to implement? Be honest with yourself. You know that when you look at him you see a coach. Now look at Zook pacing the sidelines nervously back and forth, talking into the microphone on his headset with a faraway look on his face. Think about the way Zook talks, you've all been watching "The Journey". Is this a man that young men will follow and become better listening to?

Now some of the action from the game thread at the Scout message board (insideillini.com):

The faqs still apply.

That's the very first post on the thread. For those of you who aren't message board afficionados, the FAQs are the guidelines for the board (thou shall not curse, thou shall not take the name of our lord and savior Ron Zook in vain, etc.). The very first post on the thread is a clear indication that Illini fans were expecting to lose and that people would be going out of their minds. Prophetic.

What is more dead? A) Our team's emotional output or B) This gamethread?

Yeah I noticed that too.

That is a good question. I think the vast the majority have given up on the season, including the players

Ron Zook couldn't inspire a team out of a wet paper bag.

This is pathetic. I want to vomit watching this. I am very close to turning it off, and I NEVERRRRRR miss a snap of Illini football.

Welcome to my life circa 2004.

No $h!+, tell me about it! Whenever the Illini defense (or whatever the announcers call it) is on the field I want to punch a hole in my television screen!

I think I'm going to have new contributors to this blog soon. Send applications to notbaghead [at] lycos [dot] com.

Man the OL is bad. I don't care what all world receivers we have next year, if our OL is anything like this they will never see the ball.

Yeah, if you only had those Ron Turner recruits from last year...

Is anybody surprised? This board suffers from lethal doses of kool-aid, and nobody should have expected us to win this game. Zook and company laid a huge egg this season, and it was clear since the ULL game that we weren't ready for prime time.

I can't offer you any pay, but our readership is increasing every week and we have the top billing on google when you search for "Fire Ron Zook" and "Zook is an idiot" etc.

I honestly don't see it any better next year.

No reason to. As long as moRon is your coach this is what you can expect.

what a pathetic season. Maybe I need to become a "co-fan" with another team, so that I can watch a winning program.

I took a liking to Hawaii while Zook was coaching the Gators. They were an overachieving team. I still have the hat if you want it.

well look at the bright side, at least "the journey" is over, no more distractions

"The Journey" will go down in history as one of the best pieces of journalism ever. Face it, how often do you get to watch the behind the scenes of a team imploding, in living color right in your living room?

Attention moderators of insideillini.com

You all are a bunch of thin-skinned fuckheads. Apparently one of your members posted a link to this humble blog and you kool-aid drinkers decided that that could not stand. Well guess what, just because you pretend that this blog doesn't exist it isn't going to make moRon a better coach.

Last laugh will be on you. Douchebags.