By
John
Harris
CFN's John Harris also co-hosts with
Sean “The Cablinasian” Pendergast daily on the Sean and John Show 2-6 PM
CST on 1560 The Game, Houston, TX (www.1560thegame.com).
This is his interview with the Illinois head coach Ron Zook
Sean
and John:
We’re joined by the University of Illinois head coach Ron Zook. Coach,
congratulations once again for this season and being nominated for this
prestigious award.
Ron
Zook:
Well thank you. It is an honor and privilege. And obviously it takes
everybody, it is a family affair, our players and coaches, everybody is
involved. It is an honor to be around these great coaches.
Sean
and John:
Now Coach, you’re following Gary Pinkel on air here and right before he
went off the air he threw down the gauntlet and said the Tigers were
going to beat Illinois by three touchdowns next year (tongue in cheek of
course). You have got to follow that.
Ron
Zook:
Well you know I will say this; it will be a heck of a ball game for the
both of us. I was hoping his quarterback would leave early. He is a
good, good player but the city of St. Louis is already fired up and it
will be a good game. I think our guys believe they can win and that’s
the one game we kind of pushed our guys over the hump after the game. We
knew how good they were and obviously the country did not know until
towards the end of the season. That was the one game we used as
measuring stick for our football team.
Sean
and John:
We have asked pretty much all the coaches this, when did you know that
you were going to be good this year? Was that it the Missouri game to
kick-off the season?
Ron
Zook:
Well, we knew we had a chance, but the biggest thing was to get them to
believe it. And when we were able to beat Penn State at our place, in a
game that we would have lost last season, our kids started to believe.
And of course Wisconsin, they were number five in the nation the next
week and that is when we knew we had a chance to be pretty special.
Sean
and John:
Coach, you mentioned Chase Daniel of Missouri, but you have a pretty good
quarterback in your own right with Juice Williams. Coach, talk about his
importance to the program, not just on the field but in terms of getting
the recruiting foothold in Chicago. Him being from Chicago, how
important is that to recruiting, while Juice is still going to be there.
Ron
Zook:
In the beginning, it was a bit of a detriment. He felt like he owed
Chicago, that he had it sitting on his back. He is such a special kid,
he is a very, very humble young man and loves the University of Illinois
and of course loves Chicago. He has done such a great job for us and a
great job recruiting. He wants to host the best players and that is the
kind of guy he is. He is really a special player; I think the whole city
of Chicago realizes this is a special kid and the kid has come in and
done a great job. They’ve really done a great job in recruiting and
gotten us back in there, when you have 8 million people you are going to
get some good football players.
Sean
and John:
No doubt about that. Coach, you get to the Rose Bowl this year and in
your grand plan did you foresee after this short time, well I don’t want
to say short time because it probably seemed like eons to you, a short
number of years for this program getting to the Rose Bowl, did you
foresee this program getting to that level this quickly and where do you
think this program goes from here?
Ron
Zook:
Well I think the exciting thing from this is that we have to learn from
this, we had to learn how to win; now we need to continue to do the
things we did to get there, that’s probably our next step. We should be
a better football team than we were last year, if we are better than
everyone thinks we are going to win 9 games or more, but that is not
necessarily true. We feel like we should be a better football team. We
have a pretty tough schedule which is a positive; it gives us the
opportunity to beat some good teams and get right back into the thick of
things. So to answer your question, did you think in the third year you
would be in the Rose Bowl? Probably not, but obviously when they give
that opportunity, we did not have a football player on the team that had
been a bowl game so that whole thing was new and was truly the grand
daddy of them all and I was very, very impressed.
Sean
and John:
Coach we were talking after we talked to you on the phone the other day.
And of course, immediately after you got off the phone we had five more
questions to ask you. One of the things, for you personally, prior to
Illinois you were at Florida and last year Florida won the national
Championship and a lot of those players at Florida were players you
recruited. What emotions were you felling seeing those players win? Were
there feelings of pride; were you happy for those guys? What was going
on in your head as you were watching it on television?
Ron
Zook:
Well, really, high school and college coaching to me is if you are in it
for the right thing it is to help young people reach their goals and we
told those guys whenever we recruited them, there are so many things
that have to go right for you to even be in that game. And we told them
if things went right, they would have the chance to win the national
Championship. And it came to fruition; nobody told these guys it
wouldn’t be us coaching, but I was so happy for them. It was so amazing,
they called us and thanked us and I was really happy for them because it
is like I said that is what coaching is in college is - helping young
men reach their goals. That is one of the goals they made and they
reached it.
Sean
and John:
Coach, as a head coach, what did you learn about being a head coach at
Florida and take on to Illinois, for example, I am not going to do this
or I am going to do this. What was it about your time at Florida that
shaped you as head coach of the University of Illinois?
Ron
Zook:
We are doing the same things we did there, we played a lot of young
players, the same thing we had to do there and once again your players
are going to be better players as juniors and seniors than they are
freshmen and sophomores. That is the other reason why we feel like a
better team this year. There are a few things we have changed but for
the most part we are using the same plan and the dynamics. Expectations
are different and there is not quite as much pressure on the players
right now which allows them to be themselves as well. At Florida, there
is a lot of pressure and when you win it is not good enough, pretty
enough or big enough. But that’s you know something that makes Florida
the way it is.
Sean
and John:
Coach, Coach Mangino (Kansas) said that all college coaches are copycats
and that they all steal things from each other. Who are some in your
career that either you held in high regard or worked for, or with, that
shaped you and made you the kind of coach that you are today?
Ron
Zook:
It is funny that you say that because the one person that used to talk
about all coaches are copycats was Coach Bryant. I was with Coach
Johnny Majors at the University of Tennessee for three years and that
was one thing Coach Majors just idolized Coach Bryant and I was there
with Ken Donahue who had been Bear Bryant’s defensive coordinator for 21
years and guys like that. Football does not change a lot, you can talk
about different formations and the option coming back and all those
things but it is still about blocking and tackling, intensity and
playing with emotion. And those are all the things that the Bo
Schembechlers of the world preached for year. And, I was fortunate
enough to be with Mike Gottfried, probably a guy that I am most like, I
was with him for 7 years, and I was fortunate to coach with Frank Beamer
and with John Cooper at Ohio State and Steve Spurrier I learned an awful
lot even though he is more of an offensive guy. In the NFL, I learned
from Jim Haslett, Bill Cowher and Gunther Cunningham. You take the
things that are going to fit with your personality and that is the
thing, I never tried to be like somebody, I took the things that I
learned and fit it into my personality.
Sean
and John:
Coach we have had you twice this week and monopolized your time this week
and we know you have lots of things to do. We are sitting here off the
air talking about people we both know, but something you don’t know,
Coach, is that I coached your defense many eons ago when I was a coach
with a buddy of mine Brady Ackerman. If we played 6 degrees of Ron Zook
I would win.
Ron
Zook:
At least in the last 17 to 18 years of my coaching career.
Sean
and John:
Well there you go. I can’t go all the way back to Johnny Majors, but not
many can. Coach we really appreciate you joining us again on the show
this week. Congratulations on a great season and good luck next season.
Ron
Zook:
Thank you fellows, it is a great honor.