Illinois Fighting Illini (you'll see)

[wadc45]

Split this off from the Thomas thread...

The Weis regime has been noted for using negative tactics on more than one occasion. I personally don't think of Coach Zook as a shady recruiter...I just think he outworks a lot of the competition and he has a couple of great selling points to his advantage...playing time (because most of the roster he inherited sucked) and location (heart of the Midwest, not too far from a major metropolitan city in Chicago).

 

[Jeffcat]

personally i never understood the bull zook has ever recieved at illinois or florida. guy seems like a quality coach on the right track with turning the illini around.

 

[Taosman]

Great recruiter!
Coach?

 

[cbus2005]

We'll see how good he is as a coach.

I'm always against the knee jerk reaction type who annoint him a bad coach after 3 years at florida. He might not be urban meyer, but sometimes the players just never pan out the way you think, and the assistant coaches don't coordinate offenses and defenses the way you want.

Zook will no doubt keep the illini better than they were the past 5 years...

 

[jwinslow]

Funny that the recruits say otherwise.

Donovan Warren said the same thing about UM's recruiting approach, which many UM fans use as evidence of their high-brow recruiting. Do you apply Warren's recruitment to all UM recruiting? Or do you glance at other examples (like the Pocic quote), and realize that UM does use negative recruiting tactics?

Zook a little shook over innuendo: How Illinois coach will defend Chicago Sun-Times - Find Articles

I'm sorry but how many times is Illinois brought up in recruiting and everybody is quick to point out our record and Zook's coaching history and then accusations of cheating? Which schools are negative recruiting?

YOU brought cheating and Zook's coaching history up... yet now we're being blasted for it? That's rich

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

We'll see how good he is as a coach.

I'm always against the knee jerk reaction type who annoint him a bad coach after 3 years at florida. He might not be urban meyer, but sometimes the players just never pan out the way you think, and the assistant coaches don't coordinate offenses and defenses the way you want.

Zook will no doubt keep the illini better than they were the past 5 years...

To emphasize your point... Meyer won with the Zooker's players. Yes (any Gator fans reading this), Tress won with Cooper's in '02... but Tress also made it back with his own players, even if they didn't get the job done ('06) can't say for sure, but I must say I do like OSU's chances of getting back to the biggie again before Tress calls it a day.

 

[Hodgepodge]

We'll see how good he is as a coach.

I'm always against the knee jerk reaction type who annoint him a bad coach after 3 years at florida. He might not be urban meyer, but sometimes the players just never pan out the way you think, and the assistant coaches don't coordinate offenses and defenses the way you want.

Zook will no doubt keep the illini better than they were the past 5 years...

It's not just his tenure as HC at Florida, it's the fact that Spurrier demoted him when Zook was his defensive coordinator and his New Orleans defense completely collapsed in his final year there prior to getting the UF job (in fact, many in New Orleans were happy when he took the UF job). He's a great recruiter, and I don't think he is a cheater (it may or may not be going on in his staff, but I doubt he does it). He's really intense and works his tail off at recruiting, just as he did when he was landing the likes of Cedric Saunders, Foster Paulk, and Larry Kennedy for OSU. I predict he will, within three years, get Illinois up to the level where they can consistently get to bowl games and occasionally upset top teams, but he'll never get Illinois into the elite. Also within those three years, I think Illinois' talent level will be only behind OSU and TSUN.

 

[sandgk]

Really - only behind OSU and TSUN? So no chance that PSU will keep their end up, or Wisconsin continue their growth.

I don't see that as impossible, I just wonder if it will be that clear cut by, say, 2010.

 

[Jeffcat]

To emphasize your point... Meyer won with the Zooker's players. Yes (any Gator fans reading this), Tress won with Cooper's in '02... but Tress also made it back with his own players, even if they didn't get the job done ('06) can't say for sure, but I must say I do like OSU's chances of getting back to the biggie again before Tress calls it a day.

while i know you are only emphasizing his point, you can find no comparison for such an analogous situation in reality. many coached succeed others coaches with good players and end up not getting any farther. its just my opinion that zook was operating with the NC class that was far younger and less experienced and meyer won the NC but lets not be delusional here......he didn't go undefeated and he won off of a miracle twice against south carolina. one thing i hate about florida fans is how they trash the guy for his tenure. i think the guy is a good coach and a good recruiter otherwise he wouldn't be where he is in the first place. he is already making illinois more competitive on the field and almost beat OSU with mediocre athletes and now he is recruiting better ones.

 

[Crashcup]

The man can recruit. How he does it, who are we to judge. Obviously there is more than one way to do things and if they're legal that is all the schools (employers) care about.

Now if he can/cannot coach, let's see if he is smart enough to realize that. A truly good recruiter doesn't really need to know much about football but he sure as hell better be able to delegate.

 

[Muck]

I just think he outworks a lot of the competition and he has a couple of great selling points to his advantage...playing time (because most of the roster he inherited sucked) and location (heart of the Midwest, not too far from a major metropolitan city in Chicago).

Illinois certainly does have some positives to sell to recruits (the aforementioned) playing time, a solid tradition & the sense of a program "on the rise"....but I'm not so sure that Champaign should be on the list.

I spent a lot of time out that way when the X lived in Danville.

There is absolutely NOTHING there and Chicago is a good 2+ hour drive.

 

[wadc45]

Illinois certainly does have some positives to sell to recruits (the aforementioned) playing time, a solid tradition & the sense of a program "on the rise"....but I'm not so sure that Champaign should be on the list.

I spent a lot of time out that way when the X lived in Danville.

There is absolutely NOTHING there and Chicago is a good 2+ hour drive.

As I coach, I have spent quite a bit of time in Champaign as well and I will agree there is not much there...I was talking more about the selling point of Chicago being only two hours away. Michigan State is probably the only campus I like visiting less than Illinois.

Scratch that...Iowa is at the bottom of that list...solely because the entire state is barren and it takes forever to get there...

 

[osugrad21]

Link

Zook inching Illinois toward better season

July 30, 2007
The Associated Press

CHAMPAIGN -- It's just over a month until Illinois kicks off its 2007 football season and Ron Zook is sitting in his office talking about possibilities.
Since Zook arrived in Champaign in 2005, the Illini have, as Zook promised they would, improved just a little each year. A two-win season with a lot of blowouts gave way to a two-win season with a lot of narrow losses.
But on this late-July afternoon, Zook isn't talking about little steps. Leaning far forward in a lounge chair not more than 50 yards from the Memorial Stadium turf -- scene of a lot of Illini infamy -- Zook is talking big. Sort of.
"You know the first time Florida won the Southeastern Conference?" he asks a visitor. "(It was) 1991. I was there. It ain't been very long, 16 years."
If it can happen there, he almost says but doesn't, why not here?

Cont...

 

[Buckskin86]

For Zook, sincerity a prime recruiting tool


By MAUREEN LYNCH - [email protected]

His players present during Day 2 of the media conference all vouched for Zook?s recruiting tactics. They?re fair, they all concurred. They?re by-the-book, one stated. They?re never pushy, illegal or ulterior-motive-driven in any way, another said.

But the overwhelming rationale, which surfaced time and time again while trying to decipher exactly how a coach from a cellar-dwelling program attracts some of high school football?s biggest studs, is once someone gets to know Zook, they don?t need to know anyone else.

Northwest Herald - Local News and Video for McHenry County, Illinois - For Zook, sincerity a prime recruiting tool

 

[starBUCKS]

It looks like Illinois along with MSU are going to be the new BIG 10 "destination" schools for Ohio players. Somewhat like Minnesota has been for the past 10 years with Mason.