Schadenfreude courtesy of Illiniboard.com
A few items lifted from my favorite Illini forum in thread entitled Iowa's sideline has a laugh on Zook:
To be honest, I think Zook has trouble figuring out nuanced decisions on the spot. It is almost like he needs an Angel saying, "Ron, you really don't want to to that in this situation." Regardless, at the rate he is bringing talent in, before long the team will be able to succeed in spite of bonker game day decisions.The word nuanced and Zook have never appeared on the same page anywhere before, of that I can assure you loyal readers. And yes what you need to hope for is that he can recruit players that will overcome stupid decisions. I foresee many "player only" meetings in Illinois' future, where it is decided that occasionally the game plan will have to be ripped out of the hands of the staff. You will also end up beating some teams you shouldn't but the flip side is losses like Saturday's to teams with inferior talent. In response to the above another smart poster says:
If you think talent is a panacea for bonker game time decisions I give you Lloyd Carr, the man who has done less with more than anyone.Yes indeed. Here's the thing, 3 years ago Illini fans would have killed to be in the position they are in now. They said as much. It didn't matter that Zook couldn't coach lick. He would bring in talent and talent is what the doctor ordered. But it's a double edged sword and while being 5-2 is nice, it's not as nice as being 6-1 or 7-0, both of which were within the realm of possibility for this team. The point is that a coach needs to coach, not just recruit. Losing this type of game will get old pretty quick. Florida fans just weren't used to it. Illinois fans will have a little more patience, hell they have already exhibited it. But how much more remains to be seen.
8 comments:
Of course, being 6-1 or 7-0 wouldn't be a possibility without Zook, because nobody else was bringing talent in to a program that had D-II level talent when he took over.
Are you fucking kidding me? What makes you think that Ron Zook is the ONLY coach who could have recruited the caliber of players that you have? What is so magical about him? Does he cast a spell on recruits. Get lost.
Is that all you could come up with? That's so last week. C'mon, you can do better.
Please, do tell what coach we could have hired in 2004 that would have recruited the guys that Ron Zook brought in to the program?
We live in a country of 330 million people. Just in Division 1A there are 120 head coaches. Not counting the hundreds of assistants in D1A and also the head coaches at lower levels. The idea that Ron Zook was "the only one" is laughable. You want to know someone who deserves a head coaching job? Someone who won't make the idiotic decisions that Zook makes and knows the college game inside and out? Norm Chow. Who the fuck was Urban Meyer before he became Urban freaking Meyer. He was just a smart guy that got a break.
Get lost.
Well, I guess your point makes sense since we've had so many coaches who could recruit so well at Illinois in the past. Clearly it's a simple thing.
Without Zook we have no shot at 7-0 or 6-1 this year.
With Zook, we have a shot at it, but he coaches us out of it.
Whatever. We're not Florida. He goes 7-5 and to a bowl game every year, and blows all 5 games through dumb decisions, we'll still build a statue of him.
You have no idea the depths of terrible that he inherited, and the degree to which NOBODY has ever been able to recruit at Illinois.
Urban freaking Meyer wouldn't have brought in the talent here that Zook has. After all, Meyer just coached Zook's recruits to a title anyway.
But please, seriously, go back to the end of 2005, and name the candidates who not only had a PROVEN ability to recruit, but also would have even considered coming to Illinois in a heartbeat.
And hiring some unproven assistant like Ron Prince at Virginia simply would not have flown with our boosters. We needed somebody who was a proven recruiter.
Zook was the only one out there.
When you start paying me to be your A.D. I'll come up with a list of suitable candidates. Isn't that their fucking job?
The idea that Zook was the only man for the job is just laughable. Are you saying that if Zook had broken his back and died while doing squats in the UF weight room on his last day, that Illinois would not have been able to hire a good coach, a coach that could recruit and that could actually make a correct decision?
Please.
Besides, I said it already Norm Chow knows his way around college football. Besides a head coach can only do so much on the recruiting front. A large part of the responsibility falls to the assistants on the staff.
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