So Glad Zook is Gone

[gatorsare#1]

After a recent practice, Urban Meyer offered up a glimpse of the football culture he inherited when he arrived in Gainesville in 2005.

Clearly, the Gators were a team divided in the troubled Ron Zook era. That was in part reflected by the way the true freshmen were treated.

Meyer said when he got here, the freshmen had a very drab locker room that was separate from the team locker room, and that the veteran players would mistreat the newcomers if they dared to venture into their space.

“The freshmen were in a spare locker room with a bunch of tin lockers and they were not allowed to walk into (the regular locker room),” Meyer said. “Think about this for a minute. This was a big-time college football program and we had some fights and stuff because they treat the freshmen like they were non-people — ‘Don’t walk through here, we’ll kick your tail and shave your eyebrows.’ That’s the great culture we had here. That was tremendous.

“You don’t win many games, but you beat up freshmen and shave eyebrows. I can’t imagine that. That’s absolutely unbelievable.”

Meyer finds it unbelievable because he’s the ultimate team guy. Nothing comes before team. The thought of older players abusing freshmen is unconscionable to him. But that’s what happened under Zook, who try to run a college program more like a pro team (you know, the part where the rookies are hazed in camp, and stuff like that).

“Now, I have a freshman that’s really going through some hard times,” Meyer said. “He stood up in front of the team the other day with tears rolling down his cheeks and he said, ‘I really want to thank the older guys for taking care of me.’ That’s called a team.

“It’s not called some silly nonsense — ‘Let’s go beat up freshmen. Let’s get our brains kicked in by our rivals, but let’s go beat up a freshman.’ ”

Unbelievable. But that’s what Florida football had sunk to before Meyer’s arrival.

http://andreu.blogs.gatorsports.com/10163/meyers-culture-shock/

 

[O-town Gator]

I agree with Robbie Andreu 100%.

As much as the Zook apologists may deny it, and even try to accuse Machen and Foley of "wanting to bring in their own man", the Zook firing was necessary for the good of Florida's football program.

Hazing of freshmen was totally unnecessary; it definitely didn't help team unity one bit. Meyer's way of "initiating" freshmen into Florida football, for lack of a better word, makes more sense and is not done to adversely effect team unity or cause humiliation. I like the idea of each freshman having a big brother from the upper class assigned to him, and the way that veterans are encouraging and supportive of the newer players - the black stripe on the freshmen's helmets is much less embarrasing than altering their physical appearance, that's for sure. In a certain way, it's as though our freshmen are pledging a fraternity minus the hazing rituals, with the removal of the black stripe their official recognition as a member of the team.

I came across an article following last year's rally for the 2008 National Championship win, and one quote stands out:

"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."

Where Zook seemed like more of a "drinking buddy" type in his relationship with our players, Meyer is more of a father figure to these kids, and earns respect likewise.

So much has changed for the better under Urban Meyer, notably our performance on the field and in the classroom. This nice quote from Gator alum Drew Miller was nice to read:

"School wise if your GPA wasn't where he thought it should be you had mandatory tutor hours – no exceptions. The worse your GPA was, the more hours you had to spend with the tutor and if you didn't do it, you knew you were going to get punished. It wasn't smoke and mirrors with him. He said how important it was to leave Florida with a degree and he backed it up. Little things like that. Even if a player didn't care about school or getting a degree, Meyer made them care because it was harder to go through the punishment than it was to work to get your GPA up. Things like making us part of his family – one big family. I never saw a coach's family until coach Meyer came in. After that, I've met every single wife and kid. I've been to three or four coach's houses, I've been to my position coach's house multiple times. Hung out with their kids. The family feeling was definitely a big part of what he [Meyer] wanted to bring to Florida. It's nice to have a home away from home."

Thank God for Urban Meyer!

 

[Leakfan12]

Pretty soon Zook will be gone from Illinois and maybe replace by Charlie Strong.

 

[O-town Gator]

Pretty soon Zook will be gone from Illinois and maybe replace by Charlie Strong.

I'm very surprised Zook hasn't done something to really rock the boat up there like he did at UF; what comes to mind when I say this is the "Fratgate" episode back in '04. Zook not only made himself look ridiculous, he made our football program and UF as a whole look just as bad by verbally mixing it up with the frat guys and dropping f-bombs at the Pi Kapp house instead of handling the situation professionally.

After a couple of wins (Mich. State in 2005(?) and Ohio State in 2007), his Illiini got into a fight with the opposing team when the game was over. Totally unsportsmanlike.

He has another mediocre season up there at "Illinoise", and he should be gone, I agree - but that waits to be seen.

 

[Gator Duck]

I hope I never become as insanely accepting of mediocrity as Illinoise fans. To have their sights set so low that their joke of a coach doesn't turn their stomachs is pretty close to the realm of unpatriotic. Add to that the way freedom of speech has disappeared from the Land of Lincoln. What a shame, what a pity...

 

[gatorsare#1]

Zook's response:

"I was surprised to see that, once again, five years later, we're blamed for
something else at Florida. But by now I guess I shouldn't be. This one was
most disappointing because it implies we didn't look out for our players.
From someone who wasn't there at the time. I can assure you I've never, ever been accused of that. I thought I was too much of a players' coach.

"The implication is incorrect -- there is no place for hazing in college
football and we've put a stop to that if we've ever seen it. I applaud
Florida for fostering what they say is a wonderful family atmosphere. I
would invite anyone to talk to any of our players here at Illinois and,
although we don't look for media opportunities to brag about it, it is a
wonderful family atmosphere."

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigten/0-3-919/Illinois--Zook-responds-to-Meyer-s-criticism.html

Hope the Illini don't mind mediocrity.

 

[O-town Gator]

"I was surprised to see that, once again, five years later, we're blamed for
something else at Florida. But by now I guess I shouldn't be. This one was
most disappointing because it implies we didn't look out for our players.
From someone who wasn't there at the time. I can assure you I've never, ever been accused of that. I thought I was too much of a players' coach.

"The implication is incorrect -- there is no place for hazing in college
football and we've put a stop to that if we've ever seen it. I applaud
Florida for fostering what they say is a wonderful family atmosphere. I
would invite anyone to talk to any of our players here at Illinois and,
although we don't look for media opportunities to brag about it, it is a
wonderful family atmosphere."

Zook has nobody to blame but himself for what went wrong during those three seasons, and he's making himself look even more foolish by not owning up to it.

Does he think what he did at the Pi Kapp house was really "looking out for his players?" Instead of delegating this task to somebody else and calling senior members of the team who were sober to go over there, which IMHO he should have done in the first place, have them round up their teammates and get them out of there, what Zook chose to do instead was go to that frat house with an attitude, put on this "tough" act, drop the f-bomb, make a Milquetoast threat and nearly throw more kindling onto a smoldering fire. He's lucky he himself wasn't involved in a fist fight, but by the way he was acting over there he was asking for one. Like I've said before, he not only embarrased himself but the football team as a whole.

Zook wanted to run an NFL-style program at UF, and it wasn't suitable. College football is for kids and is team-oriented; the NFL is a players' league for grown men. Two vastly different cultures, which Meyer knows and understands. Zook didn't.

(In case anybody forgot about "Fratgate": http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/sec/2004-10-13-zook-fraternity_x.htm)

 

[Leakfan12]

I wish those Frat Boys would have kicked Zook's @$$.

 

[O-town Gator]

I wish those Frat Boys would have kicked Zook's @$$.

I wish others would have, too. What makes me even angrier is that Zook still refuses to take accountability for other things that went wrong from 2002-04, and acts so defensive. At least Meyer admits when he makes a mistake.

 

[leakbrewergator]

I wish others would have, too. What makes me even angrier is that Zook still refuses to take accountability for other things that went wrong from 2002-04, and acts so defensive. At least Meyer admits when he makes a mistake.

There are a bunch of bad things that Zook did while in Gainesville. One of those was not "acting" tough. I've personally seen the Zooker administer a beat down on a straight up douche that was giving his daughter a hard time. I'll give that to him.

 

[O-town Gator]

What really makes me laugh and makes me mad at the same time: "Illinoise" fans are so quick on the trigger to lambaste Meyer, when (1) not ONCE did he even mention Zook by name when he made those remarks, and (2) their own football program is mediocre - Zook hasn't really done anything noteworthy since he's been up there.

They need to take care of their own business, as well as the Zooker.

Examples: http://forums.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=169&f=2617&t=4636448

Illini fans are just as much idiots and losers as their head coach is.

 

[O-town Gator]

Pat Dooley makes a good blog entry here:http://dooley.blogs.gatorsports.com/10218/summer-of-stupid-rolls-on/

Here's the kicker, though:

“You don’t win many games, but you beat up freshmen and shave eyebrows. I can’t imagine that. That’s absolutely unbelievable.”

Those in the Ron Zook camp — and, yes, there is still a Zook camp around these parts — are up in arms because they see Meyer’s comments as a shot at Zook.

That’s why Meyer called me Saturday morning. Usually, the Florida coach doesn’t care what is being said or written about his program. But in this case, he wanted to get the word out that he didn’t intend the comments to be a rip of the previous coach.

“I called Ron about it,” he said. “That comment wasn’t about the coach. It was about the players. It’s on them if that was happening. Not the coach.
I told Ron that.”

I can tell you after covering Meyer for more than four years he has gone out of his way to avoid being critical of the previous coach. In the piece I wrote about Meyer’s new-found love for Gainesville, he asked me several times to point out that the coach before him had done a great job."

The Zook apologist remnant remaining in our fanbase and elsewhere needs to get a life. They're just as touchy as the Zooker is himself.

That, and everybody - fans and media included - need to stop reading too much into things and drawing their own conclusions about ANY spoken statement. Sheesh.

 

[leakbrewergator]

That’s why Meyer called me Saturday morning. Usually, the Florida coach doesn’t care what is being said or written about his program. But in this case, he wanted to get the word out that he didn’t intend the comments to be a rip of the previous coach.

“I called Ron about it,” he said. “That comment wasn’t about the coach. It was about the players. It’s on them if that was happening. Not the coach.
I told Ron that.”
.

Meyer said pretty much the same thing on Colin Cowherd today. He also said that Florida shouldn't have scheduled Charleston Southern, nor should they schedule opponents like that in the future.

It was a really good interview if any one here caught it.

 

[O-town Gator]

Meyer said pretty much the same thing on Colin Cowherd today. He also said that Florida shouldn't have scheduled Charleston Southern, nor should they schedule opponents like that in the future.

It was a really good interview if any one here caught it.

Meyer's right; cupcakes don't do our strength of schedule any justice.

What else did Coach have to say?

 

[leakbrewergator]

Meyer's right; cupcakes don't do our strength of schedule any justice.

What else did Coach have to say?

A couple of highlights:

He said he has only had to admonish Tebow once while he's been here. I guess Timmy had a bad habit of calling teammates out for not showing enough heart and the like. Meyer said he pulled him into the office and had a very serious talk with him about that. He said he wanted him to take a page out of Michael Jordan's book and elevate teammate's passion by using his own work ethic as a template.

When talking about the non-conference schedule, Meyer agreed with Colin that Charleston Southern is a joke but he said it's hard to find teams that are willing to come to the Swamp. He said there is no way you'll catch Florida going on the road against a Baylor or the like.

He said he has never seen a player like Percy Harvin before, nor does he think he will ever see another one like him.

He said he he was shocked by the amount of interest in Florida football when he got down there. After every practice there are at least 30 people lined up for interviews. Not once a week, but everyday. He said somedays he has to just say, "Nothing new guys."

That was about it. It was a rather short interview, but a good one. I really like the fact that he's on board with not scheduling FCS schools any longer.

 

[O-town Gator]

A couple of highlights:

He said he has only had to admonish Tebow once while he's been here. I guess Timmy had a bad habit of calling teammates out for not showing enough heart and the like. Meyer said he pulled him into the office and had a very serious talk with him about that. He said he wanted him to take a page out of Michael Jordan's book and elevate teammate's passion by using his own work ethic as a template.

When talking about the non-conference schedule, Meyer agreed with Colin that Charleston Southern is a joke but he said it's hard to find teams that are willing to come to the Swamp. He said there is no way you'll catch Florida going on the road against a Baylor or the like.

He said he has never seen a player like Percy Harvin before, nor does he think he will ever see another one like him.

He said he he was shocked by the amount of interest in Florida football when he got down there. After every practice there are at least 30 people lined up for interviews. Not once a week, but everyday. He said somedays he has to just say, "Nothing new guys."

That was about it. It was a rather short interview, but a good one. I really like the fact that he's on board with not scheduling FCS schools any longer.

I finally found the link, and listened to his 7-minute interview. He also said that he football is a players' game, and that in his opinion too much emphasis is being placed on the coaches. He also commented that the Gators are an "intelligent team", and all joking aside that our guys weren't "screwing off" in the off-season.

Also emphasized once agian that the goal this year is to get to Atlanta.