Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
He'd never been a boss, so when Ron Zook was hired to replace big winner Steve Spurrier as University of Florida football coach, one mighty question kept pounding in my head.
I'll get back to that.
Everybody knows Zook's work ethic. He goes at the job with the grit of a North Sea oil driller. As a recruiter, Zook is mega-efficient at selling gifted teenagers.
Ask around Gainesville, nearly everybody says Zook is a good bloke. Although, I'm not sure about frat brothers who, during a September confrontation with a few of Ron's jocks, were cursed by the coach.
Spurrier is a UF hero, a Heisman Trophy quarterback who came back to coach his alma mater into a national colossus, but old No. 11 was better known for eschewing rather than embracing opportunities to blend with the masses.
Back to my big question . . .
Would we see Zook, a career assistant coach, burst forth with Saturday wizardry, especially in fourth quarters, powerfully tilting games toward the Gators? Spurrier was a mad scientist who Florida fans loved having on their side.
Before the 2002 season, nobody could know if Zook possessed a special touch that would turn first-half leads into Gator locks and convert occasional looming L's into dynamic come-from-behind W's.Even with Zook's startling 2003 upsets of Georgia and BCS champion LSU, plus a near-miss in a pathetically officiated failure against Florida State, he has repeatedly flunked second-half exams.
Zook's Gators are infamous for building leads but, instead of burying opponents, going flat in the second half, allowing advantages to wither or disappear.
Nothing has been more painful to UF zealots than eight days ago when a 21-7 first-half domination of LSU flip-flopped into stretch-run sputtering, mass Gator bumbling and a 24-21 defeat.
No longer is the Swamp, the school's deafening 90,000-seat homefield, an unsubsiding execution pit for visiting teams. Zook is 12-6 (.667) at home. Spurrier was 68-5 (.931).
So that's why rocks, arrows and insults have been flying at Zook like palm fronds in a Cat 1 hurricane. Beating a Middle Tennessee doesn't do much to ease the pain.
My guess in late summer, after two 8-5 Zook seasons, was he needed nine wins this season to keep buzzards from gnawing. I figured the Gators had to win at least two against their four toughest enemies: Tennessee, LSU, Georgia and FSU.
Today, Zook is 0-2 against the heavies. Doubters are pelting athletic director Jeremy Foley, university president Bernie Machen and every media outlet with outrage.
Many scream that Zook must go. He is Foley's fellow, so I don't see Jeremy bending to complaints ... unless the fire becomes professionally unbearable. Football is a sport but it is also big business at schools like Florida, FSU and Miami.
Boosters of our state's Big Three have wallowed in success. They are spoiled. Expectations extreme. Losing five a year just won't work. Championships are expected, near-misses tolerated.
It will be intriguing to see if Zook can rebound, like in '03, and if Foley can hold his turf against big-money interests who donate lavishly to Gator Boosters and write heavy checks for Saturday perks.
Spurrier? He is uncharacteristically quiet but nonetheless looming. Out of work. Available. Two seasons with the Washington Redskins became his own coaching mess.
Even in absence and silence (he never sold his Gainesville home but hasn't been around, staying in northern Virginia while a son finishes high school), Old Ball Coach is a killer cloud over Zook's rain-soaked kingdom.
THEN, THERE'S JOEPA: Never has there been a deeper coach/school love affair than Joe Paterno and Penn State. Fifty-four years; 39 seasons since JoePa moved up to head coach.
Two national championships. Five undefeated, untied teams. A career 341 wins. A magnificent legacy zooming well beyond football. Joe and wife Sue provided millions to build an academic edifice, properly named Paterno Library.
But he sees Nittany Lions football with more pains than ever. Penn State went 3-9 last year. This season, it's 2-4 with conquests of Akron and Central Florida. Another 3-9 is haunting.
JoePa always has worked at doing what is best for Penn State. He turns 78 in December. I would loathe seeing Paterno being chased out the back door. He's been too great for that. Joe should announce that this is his final season.
Peace ... he's earned it.
Hubert Mizell can be reached at mizell3@cox.net