Illinois coach Ron Zook (left), with his headset off, scratching his head, trying to figure out just what the hell is going on out there on the field. It's an all too common sight for Illini fans this year.
What was missing this year, Zooker?
"I wish I knew the answer to that question," Zook said after Saturday's 27-10 loss to Northwestern, which finished a miserable 5-7 campaign for the Illini. "I really do. There's no question there's something that has been missing this year."
Namely, the wins have been missing this year. Sure, there have been worse times for Illinois football. Those who went to college with me remember the dark era from 1996-1998 where the team went 5-28. That included the dismal 0-11 season my senior year at Illinois, in 1997.
Then there was the 8-38 stretch from 2003-2006, until last year's Rose Bowl team came out of nowhere and thrilled those of us who bleed Orange and Blue.
Illinois fans have been through some tough times. Just look at those miserable records. But this year is the most disappointing season I've been through as an Illini fan. Sure, there have been worse teams. But all those teams that sucked were expected to suck.
I didn't expect this year's team to suck. I figured they'd do no worse than 7-5. I never expected this group not to make a bowl. The disappointment is rolling around in my stomach and it doesn't sit well.
Believe it or not, the Illini were actually ranked No. 1 in total offense in Big Ten conference games. Yet, they went 3-5 in league play and suffered humiliating losses to less talented teams like Minnesota, Wisconsin and Northwestern. And don't get me started about that pathetic non-conference loss to Western Michigan.
How did we get here? How did we go from the Rose Bowl to the Toilet Bowl? A few points:
1. The team couldn't replace Rashard Mendenhall's production at running back. This whole running back by committee with Daniel Dufrene, Jason Ford and Mikel LeShoure just didn't work. Quarterback Juice Williams was the best option running the ball this season. That won't cut it.
2. Horrendous special teams, especially the punting game. The Illini ranked 10th in punting average in the conference and dead last in punt returns. They lost the field position battle week after week after week. Poor field position almost single-handedly cost them the game against Minnesota. All that yardage doesn't amount to a hill of beans if you have to go 95 yards to score on every possession.
3. Turnovers. Lacking a running game, Williams was forced to do just about everything. He put too much pressure on himself when things started to fail. He reverted to bad habits in his decision-making. His accuracy suffered. Juice was one of the top players in the conference the first seven games of the season. The last five games, he was brutal. Williams finished the season with 16 INTs, 9 in the final five games.
4. Awful pass defense. Just awful. The Illini had two senior safeties during last year's Rose Bowl campaign, Justin Harrison and Kevin Mitchell. Boy, were they ever missed. The Illini tried five or six different combinations back there, but whatever they did failed. We saw blown coverages, poor angles and missed tackles all year.
5. Bad coaching. The play-calling on offense left a lot to be desired, as offensive coordinator Mike Locksley abandoned the run entirely in several games, especially late in the year. Williams is just not a prolific enough passer to win games solely with his arm. Defensively, there was no creativity whatsoever. The Illini were content to sit in soft zones and let the opposition pick them apart with short passes (see Western Michigan game.) No pressure on the opposing QB, poor coverage and no attempt by coaches to change the scheme whatsoever. Special teams never showed improvement throughout the year.
Sigh.....the only good thing is the damn season is over now. Thank God. I can't take this underachieving garbage any longer.
To think Tim Brewster called the Illinois win as "program changer" for his Gophers football program. So much for that. Illinois has stunk all year, and the Gophers tailed off badly after the Illinois win as they lost to a bad Michigan team, Northwestern, and Iowa. The Gophers finished their final game ever at the Metrodome with a 55-0 loss to the Hawkeyes. The way I look at it now, I am skeptical about Tim Brewster's ability to coach.
Zook and Brewster are raved about their work as recruiters, but does it mean anything if they can't coach? I never been a guy that believe in hiring a head coach, who can recruit. This is why you hire a head coach, who should hire recruiting coaches.
I am not sure if Zook is a head coaching material. I thought Illinois would be okay this season, but they have looked awful, and I frankly wonder if Ron Zook is that guy.
Zook got the Illinois program from Point A to Point B, but there is reason to wonder whether he is capable of getting the program from Point B to Point C. I think he has surrounded himself with assistants who are also strong recruiters. The staff as a whole does not have a great reputation as far as game planning and developing talent. Zook might benefit from coordinator changes on both sides of the ball.
There are some Illinois fans who want Zook fired. I am skeptical of his coaching ability, but I am not ready to fire him at this time.
Minnesota has really tailed off at the end of the year. They never seemed to recover from the shocking last-minute loss to Northwestern. At least they will get a minor bowl game this year, which is better than where they were last year at this time. After that 55-0 debacle against Iowa, they can most certainly use the extra practices that come with a bowl game.
I am not here to gloat, but many of us in the Gator Nation tried to tell you this would happen. We were accused of not giving Ron Zook a chance. We were shunned for having ridiculous expectations.
It is true many of us wanted him gone before he ever coached a game, but many of us were open to giving him a fair chance. I was one of the latter for a season and a half. We wanted to believe that his energy and recruiting would be enough to get through 2002. After all, Spurrier left the cupboard a bit bare when it came to future years, but the core of the team that almost went all the way in 2001 was returning for Zook's first year as the Gator's head coach.
Those of us that didn't even want to give him a chance remembered his history at the University of Florida. He had been on the coaching staff for several years under Spurrier and was demoted from DC to special teams coordinator because our defense kept getting worse. As special teams coordinator, our special teams went from bad to abysmal. They made the case that the areas under his responsibility at every other team where he was on the coaching staff would show signs of brilliance but in the long run just get worse, not better.
Florida was Ron's first chance as a head coach, and Florida's AD Jeremy Foley wanted to give him a chance. As you all know, he is a high energy, incredibly likable guy who has a knack for getting some of the best recruits in the land to come play for him. Unfortunately, this is a double edged sword. While Ron may pull in some of the best commits available, filling all the holes on the roster with capable players is a weakness. Another serious weakness is his clock management and calling plays that make sense for the circumstance at hand. For instance, he will continue to run a play that hasn't worked the entire game, or insist on executing a running game plan against teams known to have weak defenses against the passing game. Ron also is lacking when it comes to coaching players. He ssems to ignore their strengths.
Many, many Gators wished him well and hoped that Illinois would be a happy outcome for him, the Illini fans and the Illini program. Hopefully he had learned some valuable lessons while at Florida. Others of us were seriously bitter because we made him a multi-millionaire and he has done nothing but badmouth us (the University, the Administration, the fans and alumni) ever since.
So, maybe you still think it is a match made in heaven, but from Rose to toilet in one year AND this was the first year with all of his own players, you probably should take a long hard look at the coaching staff. Remember, we had ample experience with Zook several years before he took over as head coach. It the problem the players? the other coaches? or Zook?
As a Florida fan reading this, it comes as no surprise.
If Ron Zook has another mediocre year up there at Illinois the most logical thing to do would be to send him packing; if the Illinois alumni and boosters start rumbling then they know they have a major problem on their hands.
One-dimensional coaches don't survive in college football; that doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out. Try convincing some of the Illini faithful to see along those lines, though. A college coach cannot wear just one hat and expect to achieve positive results in operating a football program. Recruiting ability is one thing, but being able to manage, i.e., assume and maintain control of a program as well as be an effective gameday strategist is another, the latter of which Zook obviously lacks. What's the point of recruiting 4-and-5-star talent into a football program, only to have the head coach not utilize that talent to its fullest potential and let it go to waste? That's a lesson in futility, if you ask me.
What many of the illini fams also fail to see is that the same exact issues he had at UF are rearing their ugly head in Champaign: player disciplinary problems and other off-field issues (recently a player was stabbed after a bar fight @ 2 am in the morning), "players-only" meetings due to lack of leadership coming from the coaching staff, lackluster performance on the playing field and lack of accountability for mistakes made with no clue from the head coach on how to rectify them.
Zook dug himself a hole, and what's tragic is that he has no idea how to climb out of that hole. He obviously didn't learn from his mistakes at Florida, and as the old cliche goes "you can't make a silk purse out of sow's ear". If he can't find an effective solution to the team's current problems, chances are he never will.
I appreciate you Florida folks chiming in with your perspective on Zook. As I stated previously, I am extremely disappointed with a 5-7 record coming off the run to the Rose Bowl last season. It is not acceptable with me.
Again, though, I'm not ready to fire Zook. Yet. As you know, expectations here at Illinois are not as high as they are at Florida. Four years ago, the Illinois program had sunk to the depths of hell, and we would have killed to be bitching about a 5-7 season. At least there is actual athletic talent on the field now, thanks to Zook's recruiting. That is something we could not have said during most of the Ron Turner Era.
BUT (and this is a big but), I am not willing to settle for mediocrity forever. Getting talent isn't enough. You have to win with it. Zook has yet to prove he can do that. Next season will be very interesting for the Illini and their fans. If Zook fails to make a bowl game next year, that will make five seasons with only one bowl. If it gets to that point, Zook's seat will get hot quickly, IMO.
Good luck to you guys against OU in the national title game. Thanks for commenting.
PS: Jim, your point about Zook's poor clock management is absolutely spot on.
I am a Florida alumnus. I am old enough to remember Gator football before Steve Spurrier. Ron Zook gave me flashbacks to the era of mediocrity. I believed that the Zook hiring was a mistake from the beginning. Just look at his coaching resume. At the time of his hiring at UF, he had been an assistant coach for about 25 years. No one had ever offered him a head coaching job above the high school level in all of that time. When he became a coordinator it never lasted for long. He was demoted from the job at UF because our defenses declined every year he coached them. The people who criticize Gator fans for being tough on Zook forget this very important fact: We had a history with him. We already knew that the longer he coached, the worse we got at whatever aspect he was coaching. The bottom line is, you don't hire someone who can't handle being a coordinator at your own school to be your head coach.
Zook played not to lose rather than playing to win. He overruled assistants, then threw them under the bus when results didn't follow. He totally squandered one of the brightest offensive minds in the country (Ed Zaunbrecher), as our offense became a mind-numbingly predictable succession of bubble screens, draw plays and five-yard sideline passes. We ran prevent defenses and loose zone coverage schemes for a quarter or more at a time, blowing more leads than I can count. Zook was awful at developing players as well. Urban Meyer and his staff spent an entire spring working on Chris Leak's mechanics, because after two years under Zook they were screwed up beyond belief.
Illinois fans, I feel your pain. Your athletic director believed he was hiring a coach who won eight games a year. Who he hired was a man who lost five games a year with top ten talent. I won't list the entire litany of things Zook screwed up at Florida. There are far too many things to go into here. All I can say is that 2007 was a fluke carried by players recruited by another coach, and 2008 is more representative of what you will have from now on - or worse.
The Big Ten is now 1-5 in bowls, pending the result of the Ohio State game. That shows the conference is down, and it doesn't speak well for the Illini that they went 3-5 in that league.
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Western Michigan were all soundly beaten in bowl games. All three of those teams beat Illinois this year.
You don't have to look very far to find evidence that this was a poor season for Illinois football.
Keep on over-analyzing everything that went wrong with the season. All the off the field things that went on during the year were unbelievable and only SOME of them made it to the public and even then they were twisted to appear not that bad. Players suspended for team violations or illnesses? Reality check! Drugs, fights on and on. Zook can't coach, he can recruit and does know football but he couldn't apply it to anyone, he should be canned. Everyone who thinks they know what they're talking about is a joke and until you know the real thing don't offer some theories that sound ridiculous. Thanks.
Truth, your comments are vague and non-specific. Care to elaborate?