Illinois Fighting Illini (you'll see)

[buckiprof]

5 years? Notre Dame laughs in your general direction.

Hell, O'Leary only had 5 days.

 

[Gatorubet]

I like this post. It IS funny to look back at all the successful coaches who "failed" at earlier jobs. I have no idea what Zook will bring to Illi in the coming years, but it's awfully easy from the high perch of a Buckeye fan to mock Illi now much as we mocked Wiscy for 30 years. Perhaps Zook will baffle Illi fans with periods of success and failure or perhaps he'll do better. It's certainly possible that he grows and learns just as the rest of us do over our lives.

Well, I will not discount the possibility. While I was a fan of the Zooker as a man, I was not a fan of the Zooker as Head Coach of the Gators. We consistently performed worse in the second half almost every year. Now, he game us the win at Tallahassee that forever gave us the naming rights to "Ron Zook Field" (he beat FSU and Bobbah Bowden at Doak on the special night the Noles were dedicating Bowden Field - which was nice.) and he gave us some special Cocktail Party wins too.

But we strive to be the one expected to win, not the one who gets joy from being the "spoiler." I don't want to get excited when we beat our rivals in the Swamp - it is expected, I want our rivals to tear down the goal posts if on the rare day that they beat us. Zook could not give us that.

But he may be great for you. I'll root for the Zooker when I can this year.

 

[matcar]

5 years? Notre Dame laughs in your general direction.

You must be an idiot. ND is obviously on a 5 yr plan....but Fat Chuck is a few years ahead of schedule in turning that program into the Duke of independents.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

You must be an idiot. ND is obviously on a 5 yr plan....but Fat Chuck is a few years ahead of schedule in turning that program into the Duke of independents.

that really is beside the point, though.

 

[matcar]

that really is beside the point, though.

And now I'M the idiot for not realizing that.

 

[Dryden]

Next year will be a slight step back for us (I see 7-5 unless these defensive recruits prove to be fantastic).

Don't worry, I have it on good authority (the Scout free boards) that all the defensive recruits are 5-star studs.

Oh, well nevermind. Maybe that wasn't 5-star ... I must be confused because this is the ranking symbol I keep seeing beside every one of Zook's recruits:

 

[Oh8ch]

From the Illinois site in reference to Watt:

OLine is not a position of need for us

Doing pretty good if you don't need Chris Watt.

 

[sepia5]

From the Illinois site in reference to Watt:



Doing pretty good if you don't need Chris Watt.

We need a poll to determine who has the most delusional fans in the Big Ten: PSU or Illinois. Two years ago I wouldn't have even thought it was close, but these days . . . .

 

[NFBuck]

We need a poll to determine who has the most delusional fans in the Big Ten: PSU or Illinois. Two years ago I wouldn't have even thought it was close, but these days . . . .

Have you been paying attention to what's going on up north? That's a three horse race and the blue one has a pretty good lead.

Scout.com: Oh the possibilities with hybrid RB/Slot player

Yep, he's using Reggie Bush as a template for the possibilities of their army of RB/Slots.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Absolutes are fun. I guess, using that logic, Bill Belichick shouldn't be successful in New England after his debacle at Cleveland, Gary Moeller shouldn't have won 3 consecutive Big Ten titles at Michigan after his shitshow at Illinois, and Doc Rivers had no business winning an NBA title after ruining the Magic and running the Celtics further into the ground.

It's funny what, you know, talented players can do for a coach's reputation. Just like I don't buy into the "Tressel can't get his team ready for the Big Game" crap, I don't buy the "Zook can't get his team ready to win consistently on the road" schtick. You guys ran into two hot-at-the-right-time SEC teams that were finally healthy. We followed up two emotional home wins over #21 and #5 by laying an egg at Iowa. Most rational Illinois fans were OK with that, not swirled into an angry mob marching on Jeremy Foley's house.

Again, I feel like you guys are viewing our orange and blue world through your scarlet glasses. We're overjoyed at 4-loss seasons. You would be distraught. We're giddy at the prospect of the Outback Bowl and would send 20,000 strong. Your seasons are disappointments if you don't make a BCS bowl. Whereas the Zook losses in the State of Mississippi were meltdown inducing in Gator-land, our loss at Iowa was more of a "well, that was bound to happen after getting ranked for the first time since 2001."

Is Zook a perfect coach? No. But then again, you never sat through seasons with Ron Turner and Lou Tepper. 15 years of 62-96 football (2.4 Big Ten wins per season and 3 bowls) will tend to change a man's perspective. And even though we got destroyed, my view from the end zone of the Rose Bowl was downright gorgeous.

Of course there are always rational people like you but forget Zook for a moment and look at Minnesota and Purdue to hopefully better illustrate my point.

Perrenial doormats that at one point I'm sure had fans like yourself that appreciated where the program had come from and were happy to just go to a Bowl and that type of thing.

Then Minny gets spoiled and 9 wins and a Bowl aren't enough. They want B10 titles and BCS Bowls. Mason can't get the program to the next level etc. They run off the most successful coach they have had in decades.

Purdue fans have been vocal in bitching about Tiller for the same type of stuff. I don't think I need to remind anyone here over the age of 21 just how god awful those two programs were before Mason and Tiller. Especially Purdue.

I'm telling you right now Illinois fans will be the same way by and large. They will come to expect the highs and think the lows are an abberation. Zook will bring enough success that soon, people like you who enjoy the view of the Rose Bowl will be a very small minority. The vocal majority will start the "can't win the big one/get the program to the next level" stuff.

There isn't a program around who's fans (on average) won't take the winning for granted once it starts and constantly expect more. Its human nature to think your teams rightful place is at the top.

Now as to the Zooker in particular, if he changes his stripes then I'll admit I was wrong. Untill I see something different than the same guy doing the same things I saw him do at UF I'll remain skeptical.

 

[Oh8ch]

There isn't a program around who's fans (on average) won't take the winning for granted once it starts and constantly expect more.

I started posting to OSU boards in 2002.

Texas Tech was the first fan base where I encountered this trait. They were on a high and it was only a matter of time before they were right there with the Real Texas, OSU and all the rest. Washington State was the same way.

But NC St was the best. Their fans were cool, but they had this new coach and these new facilities and it was only a matter of time. I can still remember some of their posters after they visited Cbus and realized just where they stood in terms of facilities. It was kind of sad watching the change that took place by the end of 2004.

Teams can move up to elite status. But it is very hard and for every team that does it there are 10 more who had two or three good years - then pffft.

The sad part is that those fans couldn't accept and appreciate what they had when they had it. As you say - it is always about more.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I started posting to OSU boards in 2002.

Texas Tech was the first fan base where I encountered this trait. They were on a high and it was only a matter of time before they were right there with the Real Texas, OSU and all the rest. Washington State was the same way.

But NC St was the best. Their fans were cool, but they had this new coach and these new facilities and it was only a matter of time. I can still remember some of their posters after they visited Cbus and realized just where they stood in terms of facilities. It was kind of sad watching the change that took place by the end of 2004.

Teams can move up to elite status. But it is very hard and for every team that does it there are 10 more who had two or three good years - then pffft.

The sad part is that those fans couldn't accept and appreciate what they had when they had it. As you say - it is always about more.

I found the football interwebs right after the '99 season and I have a vivid recollection of some of the most delusional shit I've read to this day. One bad year and it was all over for OSU.

Fans of Northwestern and Purdue were the worst. Iowa was a close second. Penn State dickheads have never changed. They were all literally arguing over who was poised to/already had eclipsed OSU as the new "Big two" with scUM.

Because of this my second favorite game of 2001 was the night home game against NU. They were ranked higher than us and their fans had fully bought into the idea they had arrived. It was time to show us what would have happened if we had played them in '95, '96 or '00(for those who don't recall all 3 NU B10 championships just happened to coincide with years they didn't play OSU). They had the spread offense and we had all these big slow plodders who hadn't evolved to the modern game of football(sound familiar?)

Then JT goes out and beats the ever loving shit out of their pretty little spread offense with his neanderthal old school power running game and bare knuckled defense. You've never seen the heart ripped out of a fan base the way that game did to the NU zealots. That maniac ECat over on the NU rivals site went from just another delusional fan to full blown psycho from that game. He has never gotten over it.

I go lurk on Rivals boards of those doormats sometimes just to remember how they used to run ther mouth and see what they are talking about now. Not quite so much chatter about taking the crown anymore. I only wish those things were archived because it would be the holy grail of smack to humiliate people with.

 

[Muck]

Greenies to Jax & OH8.

Truer words are rarely spoken.

You know we should really start a Hall of Delusional Fame for posters from other schools.

EvanstonCat
CarolPSU
xrayrandy

I can think of a couple of Illini who are inching close to membership...


Edit: xrayrandy added. Apologies to EngineerHorn for the brain fart.

 

[Sportsbuck28]

Greenies to Jax & OH8.

Truer words are rarely spoken.

You know we should really start a Hall of Delusional Fame for posters from other schools.

EvanstonCat
CarolPSU
EngineerHorn

I can think of a couple of Illini who are inching close to membership...

Edit:

Apologies to EngineerHorn. I had him completely mistaken for another poster and now I can't remember the name. poop

XRayRandyX or something.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Greenies to Jax & OH8.

Truer words are rarely spoken.

You know we should really start a Hall of Delusional Fame for posters from other schools.

EvanstonCat
CarolPSU
EngineerHorn

I can think of a couple of Illini who are inching close to membership...

Of course I forgot to add that Illinois was pretty good at that time so their fans were completely insufferable and in the thick of the new Big 2 and little 9 debate.

I specifically recall a thread opining Illinois athletics being the overall best program in America after their 2000-2001 Basketball and 2001 football results.

They of course then demonstrated their ability to sustain such incredible leveles of awsomeness by going south in football quicker than Anne Heche loose at the Playboy mansion.