Post by Mojave Gator on Jun 19, 2006 0:19:23 GMT -5
Statements after the 2003 Miami game
"But our team understands there's 10 games to go and we haven't even begun the SEC race. Our main goal is to win the SEC. Our players will do what we coach them to do. They're going to get better. I told them after the game I was proud of them. We fought and played for 60 minutes, and we came up short against a good football team."
No, you came up short. Your players had the game won until you took it away from them.
Zook made this statement after his team led by 26 points in the third quarter until he installed a three-man rush for the remainder of the game and essentially shut down the offense in an unsuccessful attempt to sit on the lead. A Miami team who had scored seven points in two and a half quarters scored 31 points the rest of the way. Zook put Miami back in the game. The Hurricanes were dead until the opposing coach did for them what their own coaches could not do.
"This has got to be a positive step for us. We're going to learn a lot more from this loss than we would have had we won the game. I know that sounds crazy, but I really believe it."
This is the most asinine thing I have ever heard a coach say after a loss - especially given that Zook cost his team the game with hyper-conservative strategies that put a Miami team that was on the ropes back in control of the game. His team had a 33-7 lead in the third quarter and Zook managed to blow it.
"We wore out. Some guys wasted some energy early in the game and early in the day thinking about the game. That will get better as experience comes."
Yeah, that thinking will just wear you out. I suppose that is why you are careful not to do much of it.
Don't get me wrong, Zook may do a great job as the head coach of Florida. He may go out and hire the greatest offensive coordinator in the world and average 50 points a game. He may also find a defensive leader just as good as a young Bobby Stoops, vintage 1996. But there is just nothing in his background that suggests any track record for having done this before. In fact, after the 1993 season, his defensive coordinator duties were taken away from him for what we were led to believe was not getting the job done.
- Terry Bowden, ABC Sports
"I am not Coach Spurrier. I am not going to be Coach Spurrier. I have to be Ron Zook. That's the way it will work, and that's the way we will be successful."
Well, at least that is the way it will work.
"Those of you that saw us when I was the defensive coordinator here, we were not a sit-back defense. We were an attacking style defense. We were going to come at you. Our offense is going to be the same way. We are going to be an attacking offense. We are going to throw the football around the ballpark. Obviously, that is my style and personality."
Yeah, it worked so well you were demoted.
"Obviously, coming in behind Coach Spurrier is not the best thing you'd like to do. All he has done is set the standard; set the bar. It's our job to try to maintain that bar, and if possible, throw up the bar."
Ron Zook explains puking your way to success.
"People are going to do their best and do what you have to do when you have to prove something, and obviously we have something to prove. There's no reason why we can't just keep right on going."
Well, I can think of one reason.
"I don't understand why that's so important to everybody. Trust us and what we're doing. We feel this gives us the best chance to win."
- Ron Zook explaining his failure to name a starting quarterback for the SEC opener against Tennessee - as if keeping his own team in the dark was somehow beneficial
Quotes after the Tennessee game, 9/20/03
"Everyone wants to throw the ball down field, but I'm not sure if that's throwing the ball 20 or 30 yards. I'm not sure what everyone is saying. Tennessee heaved one down the field and it worked. We can heave one down the field. Throwing the ball down the field... I'm not exactly sure if that means throwing it long or throwing it deep.
I have always believed that throwing it long and throwing it deep are the same thing, but apparently Zook knows something I don't.
"You have to have levels (in the passing game). You have underneath and intermediate and you have to go downtown with it as well. Not every pass is going to be high percentage. I'd like to be able to keep the chains moving and make first downs and get down there. If it takes throwing more underneath stuff, I'm for that. Tennessee knew we could go deep. It's maybe something we need to look at a little bit more."
Look at, but apparently not do.
“I felt like they thought we were gonna try to get points.”
Zook explains why he tried to go 50 yards in two minutes to try a 52-yard field goal into the wind, when his team had only managed 65 yards of total offense in the entire half. The Gators had to punt into said wind and this strategy handed Tennessee seven points before halftime and allowed them to take a lead they never relinquished.
Quotes after the Ole Miss game 10/4/03
"Just because their stats aren't very good against the pass doesn't mean they're not going to practice and get better."
Zook tries to explain why he spent the entire day running against the nation's worst pass defense.
"We've got a long way to go, but we're close. I know that sounds like I'm contradicting myself."
Yes, it does, and you are.
"You don't change offenses midstream. We're going to do what we've been doing. That's not going to change."
“We wanted to establish the run. We felt like we had to run.”
Zook's strategy: Determine what your opponent has trouble defending, and never take advantage of it.
It is not a good sign when your coach is asked about turnovers, and he has to pass on answering because he can't remember which interception was which.
- Miami Herald
Moreover, Ron Zook makes Mack Brown look like a coaching genius. He has taken a Florida team that won the Orange Bowl in Steve Spurrier’s final year by 33 points and turned it into the laughing stock of the SEC. They should have lost to the Baylor of the SEC, Kentucky, last week and they will be lucky to make a bowl game this year.
- SMU student newspaper, 10/3/03
“It's something you have no control over, so there's nothing you can do about it.”
“We told our guys it was going to be a 60-minute game, and it was.”
Zook shows his amazing grasp of how long the game will last.
"The big thing last year was that I wasn't going to be around. The Internet, with recruiting, it absolutely made it harder. It's something you have no control over, so there's nothing you can do about it. Any time I spend thinking about things like that is a waste of time."
Excerpts from ESPN Zook article 10/30/03 by Pat Forde
Triumph and trauma are never far apart for the manic, motor-mouthed coach who speaks so fast yet says so little.
He also owns two losses apiece to Miami and Mississippi, two shamefully lucky victories over Kentucky and a record that in no way or shape approximates what Spurrier was able to do at Florida.
The Zooker lost five games his first year. It took the Head Ball Coach 25 games and more than two full seasons at Florida to lose that many.
They gasped past Kentucky one week and lost at home to Ole Miss the next to go 3-3, giving The Zooker three league losses in The Swamp in 10 games. Spurrier lost three SEC games in The Swamp in 12 years.
That's the way it's been for The Zooker in Gainesville. Every losing streak has a silver lining. Every winning streak is a false dawn.
After the Georgia game, 11/1/03
"I wanted to thank the fans. I didn't mean to get on the bench, but I thought that was the only way for them to see me.''
From a summary of the Vanderbilt game 11/8/03
After offsetting personal fouls were called following a second quarter punt, Zook and the Gators got confused by the officials and declined Vandy's penalty, allowing the Commodores to gain 15 yards in field position.
After the South Carolina game 11/15/03
"If that's what happens, then I guess we need to learn that we need to win all eight (SEC) games."
Tidbits
"We are getting a little bit better each week, I saw some good plays, and I saw some bad plays out there, but we need to improve more from where we are improving now, and then we will be improving."
"When you're young, you don't know what you don't know"
In the dictionary under "redundant", it says "see redundant".
If you weren't among those people who thought Zook's hiring as UF's coach two years ago was a mistake, then you are either a Florida State Seminole or one of the assorted SEC rivals with Florida on a future schedule.
- Mick Elliott, Tampa Tribune
"We're only 60 minutes from being right back where we were.''
Before the FSU game 11/29/03
Zook seems like a nice guy. Supposedly, he is a master recruiter. But the fact is, the guy can't coach worth a lick. Makes bad decisions. Can't manage the clock. Struggles to evaluate talent. Puts players in the wrong positions. The guy should be an exotic car buyer, not a football coach. He can get you the Porsche 911, but he has no clue how to drive it.
- Loren Nelson, Bradenton Herald
Tgator post on FRZ, 12/24/03
I'm a hell of a lot more concerned about the accountability of our athletic department and coaching staff than I am of an officiating crew. You win some games from bad calls gone your way, and you lose some. But, if you have a crappy coach, you lose a lot more from that than from bad officiating.
It's easy to whine and say we got robbed, but truth is we are being robbed every time Zook runs out of the tunnel and can't find his way to his own bench.
I don't give a rat's ass about the officiating or the travesty created in the FSU game, please Santa, all I want for Christmas is a new AD and new HBC.
Before the Outback Bowl 12/03
"We have a job to do. This is a business trip. Obviously, this year we know the direction we want to go in, because we've been here before. It's exciting."
The only man I've ever heard of who finds a lack of progress exciting.
Pat Dooley, after the Outback Bowl 01/02/04
Two days after Steve Spurrier once again became a free agent, Zook’s team went on the field and gave a lifeless, heartless, passionless performance.
The team that wanted to make a statement did — that no matter how they got here, they’re no better in the record book than last year’s team.
“The responsibility of having this football team ready to play is mine,” Zook said. “We’ll look at things. Did we practice too much? Did we practice too hard? Should we have practiced harder?”
“There’s no question in my mind we’re on the right track. There’s no question we’re going to be where we want to be.”
After his contract extension, January 2004
"As I look at our roster, I feel pretty good about it. I'm sure I'll say it a million times, but a year from now we'll be a better team than we are this year."
"We have got to raise the level of the lower part of our team.''
That lower part will kill you if you don't raise it. Sounds like a poker bet.
"The truth is Zook is not head coach material."
- Joey Ware, Pigskin Post
Recruiting 2004
“McIntosh Nicolas is the fastest guy, I don’t know how fast he is, but he’s the fastest guy I’ve ever timed. How fast that is, I don’t know, but it’s fast.”
Typical Zook gibberish, heaving superlatives he doesn't understand.
“Obviously the academics is a big, big thing in the morning.”
They aren't as important after lunch.
After the 2003 Kentucky game
“Sometimes, you don't know how far you can stretch it until you've stretched too far.”
Before the 2003 FSU game
“This is a game that we need to be focused on, and I just feel like it's important that that's what we focus is on this game.”
Maybe you should focus on the game.
After the 2002 Tennessee game
“This one was big, but they're all big.”
“There are seven games to go in the SEC East.”
Zook shows off his considerable mathematics skills.
“Our special teams were improved immeasurably in bad conditions.”
About the 2003 season
"One of the things we said is we want to get better every single day, and I think we did."
On Channing Crowder’s arrest
"Obviously, I'm going to play a role in it. I've already done some things, just like you would with your children.”
“There is no excuse. You can't condone it. I don't condone it. We're not going to have it. We have to put a stop to it."
Gatorfey, 7/24/04
There are people here who way too much time invested in not believing in Zook. When he wins his 10 games this year this post will truly be one to remember.
CBS Sports, in ranking the Gators pre-season #9, July 2004
Ron Zook's recruiting classes begin to pay off. Chris Leak gets invited to New York for the Heisman ceremony.
That proved to be a little bit off
Ron Zook comments on legal problems of Taurean Charles and Channing Crowder 7/04
“First and foremost, I’m disappointed, very disappointed, that we have a few players that have put themselves in situations where things can happen. We’ve told them many times that when you are an athlete at the University of Florida, you’re held to a higher standard of behavior. It is sinking in, it’s just not completely in yet.
And what percentage is in, coach?
“I’m not going to tolerate it, obviously this university is not going to tolerate it, nor is the athletic department going to tolerate it. We’ve talked to them numerous times about conduct and what they have to do to keep themselves out of situations where negative things can happen and we’ll continue to talk about it, press it, push it. If things happen, we’ll take appropriate discipline action from there.
“The thing is that overall we have a great bunch of kids, we really do. It’s a shame that a couple guys get themselves in some problems that kind of overshadow the program. It’s too bad for the rest of the team, obviously the Gator fans, the Gator nation, the University of Florida and the athletic department.”
Excerpts from Zook Q&A 7/24/04
You preach it, you preach it and you go over it as a team. I really believe this.
That’s something that I’m not the only football coach in America dealing with it.
It’s a privilege to be at the University of Florida, and it’s our job as coaches to try to make sure we act the way we’re supposed to act to make not only the university proud, but the athletic department and everyone else proud in what we’re trying to get accomplished."
Threatening fraternity members was an important object lesson in Zook's comprehensive team discipline plan.
"Once again, the one thing that I’ve said many, many times is the more I’m around our players, the more I have the opportunity to talk with them and be with them, I really feel like I have a better chance of having more control in terms of what they're doing."
"Because of the way it's out there, the Internet and so forth, maybe it gets blown up a little more than it is, but I really think it’s better than it was. I know there are more stories out there than there were, but it’s because there's more exposure."
"There's two things that I won't be held hostage to. Number one is players, and number two is the job."
"I was in restaurant a couple of weeks ago with my wife, and I walk out and there’s a guy taking pictures with a camera phone. Those types of things are out there."
Zook keeps us up on the latest in technology.
"In some years, what happens in recruiting a lot of times is people judge the strength of an area on the recruiting services, is a guy a two-star, a one-star, an eight-star, a 27-star, whatever it is."
And how many 27-stars are on the roster, coach?
"When we get to the end of the game, we've got to either not make it close or we've got to be able to finish."
"Sometimes young guys come out and they don't understand that it’s not acceptable to fumble, that it’s not acceptable to drop a pass, that it’s not acceptable to run a route one yard short."
And the person whose job it is to impress this upon them is...
"The thing about being able to fly players in, it would be nice if we could just fly them in and let them go commercial out."
A guy’s got a basketball game, and if you don’t have a major airport to get him into directly on Saturday morning, maybe he gets in on Saturday afternoon, so now what do you do? Do you keep him out of school on Monday? It’s our thing not to get them out of school where they miss another day of school. You have to change your weekend a little bit."
Perhaps Zook doesn't realize that there is a day between Saturday and Monday.
"Well obviously I have some opinions, but it doesn’t make any difference."
"The exciting thing about the wide receivers is the fact that everyone says you have to have a go-to guy."
Yeah, that's pretty exciting.
"He squatted 500 pounds four times. That’s a lot."
Gatorfey, 8/7/04
You'd think that the Division I coaches had us ranked in the top 10 or something... Wait they did! But what do those coaches know... they haven't spoken with the great FRZ minds apparently.
Never mind that we are the ones who were right.
GatorWheel, 8/6/04
Well, sit back and enjoy the gratification this year. We will win the east, be in Atlanta, lose one game, and be in the top 5. If not, I will help Zook pack.
I wonder if this happened.
Ron Zook, 8/9/04
"The success Coach Spurrier had at Florida makes it the job it is. Coach Spurrier is the No. 1 Gator. He wants to see the Gators be successful and I know that. It's not something we concern ourselves with."
Yeah, don't worry about being successful. It's much more important to blame the fans, the players and your assistants when things go wrong.
"We're not as far away as some may think. There's no question in my mind that we're going to be an improved football team over last year.”
Guess again.
After the Eastern Michigan game 9/11/04
“I don’t foresee them going out there and playing a game before the game starts, like they did at Miami.”
So that's why we lost to Miami. It was the second game of a doubleheader! Who knew?
“Not everything goes right in football.”
After the Arkansas game, 10/2/04
"We need to be able to play a whole game like we did in the first half. If I had the answer to why we didn't play like we did in the first half, I probably wouldn't be coaching."
The first half of the Arkansas game in 2004 - along with the first half of the Miami game n 2003 - was probably the best half of football the Gators played under Ron Zook. They were aggressive, and they took a 35-7 lead at the half - until Zook got conservative and the game was only saved on a deflected interception late in the fourth quarter as the Hogs were driving to tie the game. Still, his statement that he wouldn't be coaching if he had answers makes no sense.
After the LSU game, 10/9/04
You take about seven plays out of that game, and for us to get where we’re supposed to be, we’ve got to make those plays.
You change seven plays in each game and you can make the worst team in the country national champions. This was a senseless remark.
You go back and there’s a play here, a play there that changes the complete outcome of the game.
It’s my job to get the players in position to make the plays, and then obviously they’ve got to make the plays.
They were penalties. Once again, it doesn’t make any difference. They were penalties.
I’m not taking away from the aggressiveness and so forth, but a good team can’t have dumb penalties. I’m not saying they were dumb penalties, but we’ve got to be smart enough not to get personal fouls and penalties that keep drives going
“We’ve put ourselves back in a hole, a deep hole. It’s not one we can’t come out of. It’s not a place we haven’t been before. As I told our team, we get into a situation where we can win the game and we fool around and don’t get it done. Until we get that fixed, that’s where we’re going to be.
You look at time of possession, right there is the answer.
Loss to Mississippi State, 10/23/04
Fire Ron Zook. Just get it over with.
The Gators weren't ready to play. That's Zook's fault.
They were outcoached all afternoon. That's Zook's fault.
The program is going nowhere. Weird things are happening off the field, such as his dust-up at a Florida frat house. And he just lost to Mississippi State. “This is embarrassing for us.'' That's a quote from dazed and confused himself, Mr. Zook.
- Ron Henderson
“I'm at a loss for what happened to us on defense. I really am.''
Ciatrick Fason
"When we wanted to play, we played. But a lot of players didn't play 100 percent every play, and you can't do that."
After getting fired, November 2004
"I just can't get my mind somewhere else. I'm not smart enough to do two things. I'm focused on one thing."
Who I can dupe into paying me for something I'm no good at.
At Illinois, April 7, 2005
There's a lot of thinking going on which isn't natural on the field, but I think we've made some improvements, particularly on offense.
Illinois spring practice, April 14, 2005
"I've never seen a dog stretch before he chases a car."
"But our team understands there's 10 games to go and we haven't even begun the SEC race. Our main goal is to win the SEC. Our players will do what we coach them to do. They're going to get better. I told them after the game I was proud of them. We fought and played for 60 minutes, and we came up short against a good football team."
No, you came up short. Your players had the game won until you took it away from them.
Zook made this statement after his team led by 26 points in the third quarter until he installed a three-man rush for the remainder of the game and essentially shut down the offense in an unsuccessful attempt to sit on the lead. A Miami team who had scored seven points in two and a half quarters scored 31 points the rest of the way. Zook put Miami back in the game. The Hurricanes were dead until the opposing coach did for them what their own coaches could not do.
"This has got to be a positive step for us. We're going to learn a lot more from this loss than we would have had we won the game. I know that sounds crazy, but I really believe it."
This is the most asinine thing I have ever heard a coach say after a loss - especially given that Zook cost his team the game with hyper-conservative strategies that put a Miami team that was on the ropes back in control of the game. His team had a 33-7 lead in the third quarter and Zook managed to blow it.
"We wore out. Some guys wasted some energy early in the game and early in the day thinking about the game. That will get better as experience comes."
Yeah, that thinking will just wear you out. I suppose that is why you are careful not to do much of it.
Don't get me wrong, Zook may do a great job as the head coach of Florida. He may go out and hire the greatest offensive coordinator in the world and average 50 points a game. He may also find a defensive leader just as good as a young Bobby Stoops, vintage 1996. But there is just nothing in his background that suggests any track record for having done this before. In fact, after the 1993 season, his defensive coordinator duties were taken away from him for what we were led to believe was not getting the job done.
- Terry Bowden, ABC Sports
"I am not Coach Spurrier. I am not going to be Coach Spurrier. I have to be Ron Zook. That's the way it will work, and that's the way we will be successful."
Well, at least that is the way it will work.
"Those of you that saw us when I was the defensive coordinator here, we were not a sit-back defense. We were an attacking style defense. We were going to come at you. Our offense is going to be the same way. We are going to be an attacking offense. We are going to throw the football around the ballpark. Obviously, that is my style and personality."
Yeah, it worked so well you were demoted.
"Obviously, coming in behind Coach Spurrier is not the best thing you'd like to do. All he has done is set the standard; set the bar. It's our job to try to maintain that bar, and if possible, throw up the bar."
Ron Zook explains puking your way to success.
"People are going to do their best and do what you have to do when you have to prove something, and obviously we have something to prove. There's no reason why we can't just keep right on going."
Well, I can think of one reason.
"I don't understand why that's so important to everybody. Trust us and what we're doing. We feel this gives us the best chance to win."
- Ron Zook explaining his failure to name a starting quarterback for the SEC opener against Tennessee - as if keeping his own team in the dark was somehow beneficial
Quotes after the Tennessee game, 9/20/03
"Everyone wants to throw the ball down field, but I'm not sure if that's throwing the ball 20 or 30 yards. I'm not sure what everyone is saying. Tennessee heaved one down the field and it worked. We can heave one down the field. Throwing the ball down the field... I'm not exactly sure if that means throwing it long or throwing it deep.
I have always believed that throwing it long and throwing it deep are the same thing, but apparently Zook knows something I don't.
"You have to have levels (in the passing game). You have underneath and intermediate and you have to go downtown with it as well. Not every pass is going to be high percentage. I'd like to be able to keep the chains moving and make first downs and get down there. If it takes throwing more underneath stuff, I'm for that. Tennessee knew we could go deep. It's maybe something we need to look at a little bit more."
Look at, but apparently not do.
“I felt like they thought we were gonna try to get points.”
Zook explains why he tried to go 50 yards in two minutes to try a 52-yard field goal into the wind, when his team had only managed 65 yards of total offense in the entire half. The Gators had to punt into said wind and this strategy handed Tennessee seven points before halftime and allowed them to take a lead they never relinquished.
Quotes after the Ole Miss game 10/4/03
"Just because their stats aren't very good against the pass doesn't mean they're not going to practice and get better."
Zook tries to explain why he spent the entire day running against the nation's worst pass defense.
"We've got a long way to go, but we're close. I know that sounds like I'm contradicting myself."
Yes, it does, and you are.
"You don't change offenses midstream. We're going to do what we've been doing. That's not going to change."
“We wanted to establish the run. We felt like we had to run.”
Zook's strategy: Determine what your opponent has trouble defending, and never take advantage of it.
It is not a good sign when your coach is asked about turnovers, and he has to pass on answering because he can't remember which interception was which.
- Miami Herald
Moreover, Ron Zook makes Mack Brown look like a coaching genius. He has taken a Florida team that won the Orange Bowl in Steve Spurrier’s final year by 33 points and turned it into the laughing stock of the SEC. They should have lost to the Baylor of the SEC, Kentucky, last week and they will be lucky to make a bowl game this year.
- SMU student newspaper, 10/3/03
“It's something you have no control over, so there's nothing you can do about it.”
“We told our guys it was going to be a 60-minute game, and it was.”
Zook shows his amazing grasp of how long the game will last.
"The big thing last year was that I wasn't going to be around. The Internet, with recruiting, it absolutely made it harder. It's something you have no control over, so there's nothing you can do about it. Any time I spend thinking about things like that is a waste of time."
Excerpts from ESPN Zook article 10/30/03 by Pat Forde
Triumph and trauma are never far apart for the manic, motor-mouthed coach who speaks so fast yet says so little.
He also owns two losses apiece to Miami and Mississippi, two shamefully lucky victories over Kentucky and a record that in no way or shape approximates what Spurrier was able to do at Florida.
The Zooker lost five games his first year. It took the Head Ball Coach 25 games and more than two full seasons at Florida to lose that many.
They gasped past Kentucky one week and lost at home to Ole Miss the next to go 3-3, giving The Zooker three league losses in The Swamp in 10 games. Spurrier lost three SEC games in The Swamp in 12 years.
That's the way it's been for The Zooker in Gainesville. Every losing streak has a silver lining. Every winning streak is a false dawn.
After the Georgia game, 11/1/03
"I wanted to thank the fans. I didn't mean to get on the bench, but I thought that was the only way for them to see me.''
From a summary of the Vanderbilt game 11/8/03
After offsetting personal fouls were called following a second quarter punt, Zook and the Gators got confused by the officials and declined Vandy's penalty, allowing the Commodores to gain 15 yards in field position.
After the South Carolina game 11/15/03
"If that's what happens, then I guess we need to learn that we need to win all eight (SEC) games."
Tidbits
"We are getting a little bit better each week, I saw some good plays, and I saw some bad plays out there, but we need to improve more from where we are improving now, and then we will be improving."
"When you're young, you don't know what you don't know"
In the dictionary under "redundant", it says "see redundant".
If you weren't among those people who thought Zook's hiring as UF's coach two years ago was a mistake, then you are either a Florida State Seminole or one of the assorted SEC rivals with Florida on a future schedule.
- Mick Elliott, Tampa Tribune
"We're only 60 minutes from being right back where we were.''
Before the FSU game 11/29/03
Zook seems like a nice guy. Supposedly, he is a master recruiter. But the fact is, the guy can't coach worth a lick. Makes bad decisions. Can't manage the clock. Struggles to evaluate talent. Puts players in the wrong positions. The guy should be an exotic car buyer, not a football coach. He can get you the Porsche 911, but he has no clue how to drive it.
- Loren Nelson, Bradenton Herald
Tgator post on FRZ, 12/24/03
I'm a hell of a lot more concerned about the accountability of our athletic department and coaching staff than I am of an officiating crew. You win some games from bad calls gone your way, and you lose some. But, if you have a crappy coach, you lose a lot more from that than from bad officiating.
It's easy to whine and say we got robbed, but truth is we are being robbed every time Zook runs out of the tunnel and can't find his way to his own bench.
I don't give a rat's ass about the officiating or the travesty created in the FSU game, please Santa, all I want for Christmas is a new AD and new HBC.
Before the Outback Bowl 12/03
"We have a job to do. This is a business trip. Obviously, this year we know the direction we want to go in, because we've been here before. It's exciting."
The only man I've ever heard of who finds a lack of progress exciting.
Pat Dooley, after the Outback Bowl 01/02/04
Two days after Steve Spurrier once again became a free agent, Zook’s team went on the field and gave a lifeless, heartless, passionless performance.
The team that wanted to make a statement did — that no matter how they got here, they’re no better in the record book than last year’s team.
“The responsibility of having this football team ready to play is mine,” Zook said. “We’ll look at things. Did we practice too much? Did we practice too hard? Should we have practiced harder?”
“There’s no question in my mind we’re on the right track. There’s no question we’re going to be where we want to be.”
After his contract extension, January 2004
"As I look at our roster, I feel pretty good about it. I'm sure I'll say it a million times, but a year from now we'll be a better team than we are this year."
"We have got to raise the level of the lower part of our team.''
That lower part will kill you if you don't raise it. Sounds like a poker bet.
"The truth is Zook is not head coach material."
- Joey Ware, Pigskin Post
Recruiting 2004
“McIntosh Nicolas is the fastest guy, I don’t know how fast he is, but he’s the fastest guy I’ve ever timed. How fast that is, I don’t know, but it’s fast.”
Typical Zook gibberish, heaving superlatives he doesn't understand.
“Obviously the academics is a big, big thing in the morning.”
They aren't as important after lunch.
After the 2003 Kentucky game
“Sometimes, you don't know how far you can stretch it until you've stretched too far.”
Before the 2003 FSU game
“This is a game that we need to be focused on, and I just feel like it's important that that's what we focus is on this game.”
Maybe you should focus on the game.
After the 2002 Tennessee game
“This one was big, but they're all big.”
“There are seven games to go in the SEC East.”
Zook shows off his considerable mathematics skills.
“Our special teams were improved immeasurably in bad conditions.”
About the 2003 season
"One of the things we said is we want to get better every single day, and I think we did."
On Channing Crowder’s arrest
"Obviously, I'm going to play a role in it. I've already done some things, just like you would with your children.”
“There is no excuse. You can't condone it. I don't condone it. We're not going to have it. We have to put a stop to it."
Gatorfey, 7/24/04
There are people here who way too much time invested in not believing in Zook. When he wins his 10 games this year this post will truly be one to remember.
CBS Sports, in ranking the Gators pre-season #9, July 2004
Ron Zook's recruiting classes begin to pay off. Chris Leak gets invited to New York for the Heisman ceremony.
That proved to be a little bit off
Ron Zook comments on legal problems of Taurean Charles and Channing Crowder 7/04
“First and foremost, I’m disappointed, very disappointed, that we have a few players that have put themselves in situations where things can happen. We’ve told them many times that when you are an athlete at the University of Florida, you’re held to a higher standard of behavior. It is sinking in, it’s just not completely in yet.
And what percentage is in, coach?
“I’m not going to tolerate it, obviously this university is not going to tolerate it, nor is the athletic department going to tolerate it. We’ve talked to them numerous times about conduct and what they have to do to keep themselves out of situations where negative things can happen and we’ll continue to talk about it, press it, push it. If things happen, we’ll take appropriate discipline action from there.
“The thing is that overall we have a great bunch of kids, we really do. It’s a shame that a couple guys get themselves in some problems that kind of overshadow the program. It’s too bad for the rest of the team, obviously the Gator fans, the Gator nation, the University of Florida and the athletic department.”
Excerpts from Zook Q&A 7/24/04
You preach it, you preach it and you go over it as a team. I really believe this.
That’s something that I’m not the only football coach in America dealing with it.
It’s a privilege to be at the University of Florida, and it’s our job as coaches to try to make sure we act the way we’re supposed to act to make not only the university proud, but the athletic department and everyone else proud in what we’re trying to get accomplished."
Threatening fraternity members was an important object lesson in Zook's comprehensive team discipline plan.
"Once again, the one thing that I’ve said many, many times is the more I’m around our players, the more I have the opportunity to talk with them and be with them, I really feel like I have a better chance of having more control in terms of what they're doing."
"Because of the way it's out there, the Internet and so forth, maybe it gets blown up a little more than it is, but I really think it’s better than it was. I know there are more stories out there than there were, but it’s because there's more exposure."
"There's two things that I won't be held hostage to. Number one is players, and number two is the job."
"I was in restaurant a couple of weeks ago with my wife, and I walk out and there’s a guy taking pictures with a camera phone. Those types of things are out there."
Zook keeps us up on the latest in technology.
"In some years, what happens in recruiting a lot of times is people judge the strength of an area on the recruiting services, is a guy a two-star, a one-star, an eight-star, a 27-star, whatever it is."
And how many 27-stars are on the roster, coach?
"When we get to the end of the game, we've got to either not make it close or we've got to be able to finish."
"Sometimes young guys come out and they don't understand that it’s not acceptable to fumble, that it’s not acceptable to drop a pass, that it’s not acceptable to run a route one yard short."
And the person whose job it is to impress this upon them is...
"The thing about being able to fly players in, it would be nice if we could just fly them in and let them go commercial out."
A guy’s got a basketball game, and if you don’t have a major airport to get him into directly on Saturday morning, maybe he gets in on Saturday afternoon, so now what do you do? Do you keep him out of school on Monday? It’s our thing not to get them out of school where they miss another day of school. You have to change your weekend a little bit."
Perhaps Zook doesn't realize that there is a day between Saturday and Monday.
"Well obviously I have some opinions, but it doesn’t make any difference."
"The exciting thing about the wide receivers is the fact that everyone says you have to have a go-to guy."
Yeah, that's pretty exciting.
"He squatted 500 pounds four times. That’s a lot."
Gatorfey, 8/7/04
You'd think that the Division I coaches had us ranked in the top 10 or something... Wait they did! But what do those coaches know... they haven't spoken with the great FRZ minds apparently.
Never mind that we are the ones who were right.
GatorWheel, 8/6/04
Well, sit back and enjoy the gratification this year. We will win the east, be in Atlanta, lose one game, and be in the top 5. If not, I will help Zook pack.
I wonder if this happened.
Ron Zook, 8/9/04
"The success Coach Spurrier had at Florida makes it the job it is. Coach Spurrier is the No. 1 Gator. He wants to see the Gators be successful and I know that. It's not something we concern ourselves with."
Yeah, don't worry about being successful. It's much more important to blame the fans, the players and your assistants when things go wrong.
"We're not as far away as some may think. There's no question in my mind that we're going to be an improved football team over last year.”
Guess again.
After the Eastern Michigan game 9/11/04
“I don’t foresee them going out there and playing a game before the game starts, like they did at Miami.”
So that's why we lost to Miami. It was the second game of a doubleheader! Who knew?
“Not everything goes right in football.”
After the Arkansas game, 10/2/04
"We need to be able to play a whole game like we did in the first half. If I had the answer to why we didn't play like we did in the first half, I probably wouldn't be coaching."
The first half of the Arkansas game in 2004 - along with the first half of the Miami game n 2003 - was probably the best half of football the Gators played under Ron Zook. They were aggressive, and they took a 35-7 lead at the half - until Zook got conservative and the game was only saved on a deflected interception late in the fourth quarter as the Hogs were driving to tie the game. Still, his statement that he wouldn't be coaching if he had answers makes no sense.
After the LSU game, 10/9/04
You take about seven plays out of that game, and for us to get where we’re supposed to be, we’ve got to make those plays.
You change seven plays in each game and you can make the worst team in the country national champions. This was a senseless remark.
You go back and there’s a play here, a play there that changes the complete outcome of the game.
It’s my job to get the players in position to make the plays, and then obviously they’ve got to make the plays.
They were penalties. Once again, it doesn’t make any difference. They were penalties.
I’m not taking away from the aggressiveness and so forth, but a good team can’t have dumb penalties. I’m not saying they were dumb penalties, but we’ve got to be smart enough not to get personal fouls and penalties that keep drives going
“We’ve put ourselves back in a hole, a deep hole. It’s not one we can’t come out of. It’s not a place we haven’t been before. As I told our team, we get into a situation where we can win the game and we fool around and don’t get it done. Until we get that fixed, that’s where we’re going to be.
You look at time of possession, right there is the answer.
Loss to Mississippi State, 10/23/04
Fire Ron Zook. Just get it over with.
The Gators weren't ready to play. That's Zook's fault.
They were outcoached all afternoon. That's Zook's fault.
The program is going nowhere. Weird things are happening off the field, such as his dust-up at a Florida frat house. And he just lost to Mississippi State. “This is embarrassing for us.'' That's a quote from dazed and confused himself, Mr. Zook.
- Ron Henderson
“I'm at a loss for what happened to us on defense. I really am.''
Ciatrick Fason
"When we wanted to play, we played. But a lot of players didn't play 100 percent every play, and you can't do that."
After getting fired, November 2004
"I just can't get my mind somewhere else. I'm not smart enough to do two things. I'm focused on one thing."
Who I can dupe into paying me for something I'm no good at.
At Illinois, April 7, 2005
There's a lot of thinking going on which isn't natural on the field, but I think we've made some improvements, particularly on offense.
Illinois spring practice, April 14, 2005
"I've never seen a dog stretch before he chases a car."
