Notes from Da Zooker

chicagomod11

chicagomod11

Active Member
The class of Da Zooker continues...the following calling out of his new offensive coordinator after game 1 of the farewell season. This is from the Monday Chicago Tribune.

Second-half decline: After reviewing what made Illinois go flat in the second half following a 13-3 halftime lead, Zook thought the play-calling should have remained more consistent with the first-half calls.

The Illini ran the ball 27 times in the first half but just 14 times in the second half.

"No. 1 is (Missouri) crowded the box," Zook said. "They crowded as many guys in there as they could. (Offensive coordinator) Paul (Petrino) got away from some of the things we were doing in the first half. We probably should have stuck with those things before we started doing other things, keep doing exactly what we were doing in the first half."

Zook said they talked about it during the game and understand the calls were made because of certain situations.
 
strong contrast with KF who will say after a questionable call "in the end, all calls go through me". it'll be sad to see the zooker go.
 
Agree on the contrast. The long tenure of a majority of our assistants is due to the head coach's treatment. Everytime that the neighbor from the east changes coaches I wonder if this time will make the difference and the program makes a lasting change. The Illini has consistently proven that the fear is not necessary.
 
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Yeah KF does pretty well at taking the blame for ST gaffes or things that don't work out well on O or D. Along the same lines he diverts credits to the assistants and/or players when things turn out well in those areas.
 
chicagomod11 said:
Agree on the contrast. The long tenure of a majority of our assistants is due to the head coach's treatment. Everytime that the neighbor from the west changes coaches I wonder if this time will make the difference and the program makes a lasting change. The Illini has consistently proven that the fear is not necessary.
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might want to check a map chicagomod
 
It's scarry because they do have some talent there right now and with the talent pool in the state of illinois, they could turn things around very quickly. I remember in the 80's and early 90's when Illinois football was very solid.
 
IATrainMaster101 said:
It's scarry because they do have some talent there right now and with the talent pool in the state of illinois, they could turn things around very quickly. I remember in the 80's and early 90's when Illinois football was very solid.
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Then you must also remember that Mackovic was a huge cheater. I sure do. :rolleyes:
 
IATrainMaster101 said:
Yeah, I remember. But I'm not so sure they have to cheat to be pretty good again.
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Maybe, maybe not. (Lack of) quality coaching is IMO about 50% of their problem. I have been saying for a long time that I just don't see that much talent on the illannoy roster, top to bottom. They have a few bright spots, but really only a handful. A lot of recruiting sizzle a few years ago, but very little production steak, if you'll allow the clumsy metaphor. :eek:

Or to put it another way, even KF and his boys couldn't make chicken salad out of that blue & orange chicken sh!t. :D
 
VintageHawkeye said:
Maybe, maybe not. (Lack of) quality coaching is IMO about 50% of their problem. I have been saying for a long time that I just don't see that much talent on the illannoy roster, top to bottom. They have a few bright spots, but really only a handful. A lot of recruiting sizzle a few years ago, but very little production steak, if you'll allow the clumsy metaphor. :eek:

Or to put it another way, even KF and his boys couldn't make chicken salad out of that blue & orange chicken sh!t. :D
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I think a lot of what you percieve to be lack of talent may be just a matter of underperforming / lack of development. I would be willing to bet that there are plenty of guys on that roster that could develop into a pretty tough team with the right coaching staff and a full year to work.

I also believe that there are enough kids in the state of Illinois each year that the right staff could get in on to make turning things around pretty quickly.
 
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