Iirc, Zook was promoted from DC to HC when spurrier left, so may have had a big hand in some of the highlighted players that are colorcoded as Spurrier.
Not sure who i want as DC. i am starting to agree with some of the people on here that just want one already, & one that wouldn't make recruits leave.
That's not exactly accurate. Spurrier actualy demoted Zook after 3 years as DC to Special Teams coach in 1994, where he stayed for 2 years.
Then, he was planning on giving him his DC position back in 1996, but Zook took a job as ST coach for the Steelers instead. Then Zook went to the Chiefs. Then he went to the Saints. Then Foley found himself in a bind when Spurrier left, with few options, and regretfully had to offer the job to Zook. It would be a disaster.
He's a proponent of the "prevent defense", which as we're all aware, frequently prevents the team employing it from winning.
As HC, Zook's UF defenses ranked #25 (325.54 ypg) in 2002 (MSU, UGA, LSU, UT, and Bama all had better defenses), #51 (367.46 ypg) in 2003 (Bama, Arkansas, FSU, UT, AU, UGA, and LSU all had better), and #42 (345.58 ypg) in 2004 (USCar, UGA, FSU, AU, LSU, and Bama all had better).
He never had a defense that held opponents under a 325 yards a game average for a season as UF HC. Since Zook, we had defenses that were ranked #9 in 2005 (299.83 ypg), #6 in 2006 (255.43 ypg), #41 in 2007 (361.85 ypg), #9 in 2008 (285.29), #4 in 2009 (252.57 ypg), #9 in 2010 (306.54 ypg), and #8 in 2011 (299.54 ypg).
He had what appears to be a pretty decent defense at Illinois this year; of course you have to take their schedule into account and determine that it's similar to an SEC schedule to make a true comparison.
He didn't beat a single ranked opponent at the Swamp during his 3 years at UF; and lost more games there in his 3 years than Spurrier had in 12.
His recruiting stank up the place, too. Yes, he'd get good classes; but he always went after just the highest ranked kids whether or not we needed guys at that position; and consequently, he ignored positions of need quite frequently... so we'd end up with several great backs or receivers, and nobody to block for them.
Meyer won in spite of Zook's efforts, not because of them; in fact, Meyer ended up dismissing quite a few of the players Zook had recruited before the season even started because they were disciplinary problems and accustomed to being lazy.
I can't say if I'd rather have the guy with the seedy background or the failure background; but neither option sounds ideal. This is one I'd vote "None of the above"; as Florida fans have a great deal of insight on both guys.
