Most disliked Gator of all time

[Swampman]

Post the Gator player you disliked the most - whether it be for performance reasons, off the field run ins, etc.

I am going with Marcus Thomas - the guy squandered away several chances. Could have been one of the greats at UF.

 

[O-town Gator]

Jacques Rickerson left a bad taste in my mouth, especially after assaulting a female. Violence against women is just plain unacceptable.

 

[Leakfan12]

Doug Johnson and of course Ron Zook

 

[O-town Gator]

Most disliked coach: RON ZOOK

 

[AK Gator]

I've looked at this thread and considered adding my two cents to it a few times now, but I just don't have a most hated player. There are a number of players who have flopped in the NFL, which is what pops in my mind every time I try to come up with something here. Honestly, all that I can come up with is any player who goes out of their way to do something incredibly stupid and, in doing so gives the University of Florida a bad name...they're pretty low on my list. Can't say that I hate any of them, but I more or less remove them from my mind and carry on with life.

Even Ron Zook doesn't get a ton of hate because without him sucking the life out of the program for three seasons we likely wouldn't have been in the running for Coach Meyer. To be honest, I kind of hope that I never have a most hated player in Gator history because it would require someone to do something pretty foul for me to not only carry the memory, but the scorn for the individual for a very long time.

 

[Escambia94]

I don't hate Zook or any other coach. I cannot really hate a player, since I have been to college at UF and I remember that college kids are and act like, well, college kids. Beating up girlfriends? Doing drugs? Cheating on taxes? They are still college kids and should be allowed to make small mistakes and grow from the experience. Professional players are big boys and should be held more accountable, especially for the amount of money they make. That being said, I cannot hate any player. I cannot even say that I am disappointed in any player, because I firmly believe they are students first, and athletes second. If a kid does not live up to be the best football player ever, then it was not meant to be, and that kid will not make the big bucks in the pros.

 

[GainesvillebornNraised]

i love him but damn it i hated seeing torrey davis leave after he had those 2 goal line stops in the NC game against OK


the game could of changed alot if they scored then but big boy busted thru the line like it was nothing and got em in the backfield twice

 

[Leakfan12]

Doug Johnson and of course Ron Zook

I back tracking a little on Johnson because Spurrier didn't adjust his playbook to Johnson strengths and most college coach do like Urban Meyer. Spurrier had Johnson do the same things that Danny did and that probably hurt him.

 

[GainesvillebornNraised]

tebow in the real world so many haters were happy when he cried. prolly cuz he beat their team every year lol

 

[O-town Gator]

The day the Zook hire was announced in 2002, somehow something didn't feel right with me. At the beginning I took a wait-and-see stance, but as time went by I could see that Mr. Walsh, who owned the original www.fireronzook.com, had read the handwriting on the wall. After the 2002 Ole Miss loss, my worst fears about the Zooker were confirmed. It was pretty much downhill from there, and I got so sick of Zook making excuses for when things went wrong - seems the answer to questions posed by reporters was one of his famous cliches such as "it is correctable" and "we're getting better and better" instead of being forthright as Urban Meyer does when asked about the same things.

In 2004, the Taurean Charles episode and "Fratgate" told me that we weren't sitting pretty; having to sit through that Miss. State loss in late October while on R&R in Clearwater Beach with other Gator fans watching wasn't very pleasant, either.

Based on all that and his letting Florida football take a step backwards after what Steve Spurrier accomplished, I can only feel negativity towards Zook.

Thank God the Zooker was fired the following Monday after that loss. Enough was enough.

 

[AK Gator]

In every conversation I see about the greatest college team of the decade, the best argument against Florida is the lull during the Zook years. It's honestly fairly valid to say that being the best team of the last half decade but horribly pedestrian for 3 of the first 5 years doesn't really help a team's chances of being number 1. While it isn't right to disparage Spurrier for Zook's failures, I just hate that the OBC's failed run in Washington is what forced us to endure the Zook Era. Still, having endured that makes enjoying Coach Meyer's near instant success even easier.

 

[O-town Gator]

In every conversation I see about the greatest college team of the decade, the best argument against Florida is the lull during the Zook years. It's honestly fairly valid to say that being the best team of the last half decade but horribly pedestrian for 3 of the first 5 years doesn't really help a team's chances of being number 1. While it isn't right to disparage Spurrier for Zook's failures, I just hate that the OBC's failed run in Washington is what forced us to endure the Zook Era. Still, having endured that makes enjoying Coach Meyer's near instant success even easier.

The Zook years will always be a bitter pill for me to swallow; as for SOS, as I see it he went feet first into the NFL and wound up biting off more than he could chew.

Still, every cloud has a silver lining and in Florida's case we won over Urban Meyer back in '04 two months after the Zook firing. After he cleaned up the mess the Zooker left, he brought Florida football back from the brink and took the program a step further - and he ain't done yet.

 

[AK Gator]

Still, every cloud has a silver lining and in Florida's case we won over Urban Meyer back in '04 two months after the Zook firing. After he cleaned up the mess the Zooker left, he brought Florida football back from the brink and took the program a step further - and he ain't done yet.

Not by a long shot. :gator:

It's sad that the Zook years were so bad that their only saving grace is that it made what followed that much better, but such is the fate of men and women who just aren't prepared to coach a team. Maybe the next coach at Illinois will get the same gift from the fan base, so long as they're just average to good season in and season out.