So We Hired Another Zook December 9, 2011
Can this one organize, inspire, and lead a football team?
I know it’s totally unfair to be 13 minutes into the Tim Beckman era and already compare him to Zook. But watching the press conference just now, it was all I could think about. Intensity. Makes caffeine nervous. Raspy voice. Probably wants to smash the podium with his fist. If he had mentioned water skiing, my facial tic would have reappeared. Unfair, but it’s there. He has many of the same mannerisms and shares Ron Zook’s intensity.
Which means he’ll likely be a fantastic recruiter (yay!). It will be tough to scrape together this class in the next 6 weeks, but in the 2013 class, I absolutely expect a return to a top-25 recruiting class. It’s no secret that Ron Zook had lost his recruiting mojo. I think Tim Beckman recaptures that. And soon. Some have mentioned the 2013 class in Illinois to be one of the deeper classes in years. Matt Alviti, Ty Issac, Aaron Bailey, Kyle Bosch – all names you will be very familiar with by this time next year. Hopefully because several of them are committed to Tim Beckman and Illinois.
But can he organize, inspire, and lead a football team? That’s the 9 million dollar question. I wrote a long post about Ron Zook after he was fired, mentioning how, well, here, I’ll just quote me.
For the players, this is why they loved him. Fiercely loyal. Willing to go to a Florida fraternity house to stick up for his guys. Offended that Bob Asmussen would ask him about his job situation while Trulon Henry was still in the hospital. He recruited these guys, and he was going to stick by them until he gave them a hug on Senior Day and sent them off to life. I believe Ron Zook honestly saw himself as a mentor for youth first. To some kids, he was a father figure. To some kids, he was their biggest supporter.
But to very few kids was he a coach. He could solve an internal dispute and he could encourage a kid to get to class, but he couldn’t set up a competent punt return. He could sit at his desk and talk to a kid about the dangers of binge drinking, but he couldn’t decline a penalty and set up Iowa with a fourth down situation. It’s almost as if he thought of himself as a mentor and friend first and a coach second. And when that’s your structure, you’re set up to fail.
Which is why “good riddance” isn’t possible for me tonight. Talk to Eddie McGee and he’ll tell you Ron Zook changed his life. Not in a showy way like Lou Tepper, but in a tangible, real, father-figure way. Ron Zook has one of the more infectious personalities of anyone I’ve been around. Remember when Taylor Bell of the Sun Times wrote a hatchet job, Zook asked to meet with him, and he turned around and wrote a glowing follow-up? Only Ron Zook could pull that off. It’s the reason he got the Florida job and the reason he got the Illinois job.
But the flipside is the reason he lost the Florida job and the reason he was fired today: he’s just not very good at running a college program. It seems strange, doesn’t it? A coach with his record could put together 10 seasons as a BCS-conference head coach. And the reason that happened is even more strange: he’s good at everything but football.
That’s where I’m at after watching this press conference. Tim Beckman will either be good at the things Ron Zook was not and become the most wildly successful Illini coach since John Mackovic, or he will be Ron Zook 2.0.
Because Zook with a disciplined, organized team was the dream, right? At the end of the Tepper era right through the Turner era, save for Kittner to Lloyd, we just didn’t have the talent to compete. The roster that Ron Turner left for Ron Zook was one of the worst in major conference football. I think back on the 2003 season (or even the 1997 season) and all I can think about was the dread the night before a game. We knew that we knew that we didn’t have the talent to even keep the game close the next day.
And then along comes Zook with the best 4-year recruiting run in the history of Illini football. And suddenly we’re in the Rose Bowl. And suddenly there are 40-some thousand season ticket holders. We finally have the talent to compete, and that talent has led us to Pasadena. All hail the Zooker.
But then if fell apart. The discipline wasn’t there. The players were getting arrested. The game management was poor. Put simply, Ron Zook couldn’t go toe to toe with Bret Bielema or Mark Dantonio and win. Their recruits were more organized. Their teams were more focused. And eventually, it led to Zook’s firing.
Enter Tim Beckmann. Ron Zook II. An intense recruiter who loves throwing Life Savers at Woody Hayes and lasagna. Like Zook’s press conference 7 years ago, I was ready to strap on a helmet and hit the field. I know he’ll be a successful recruiter. I know he’ll graduate his players. I know he’ll eventually energize the fans.
But can he coach? Can he inspire? Can he lead? Can he organize? Can he win?
If he can, he’s our dream coach. A recruiter who wants to win in the Big Ten at Illinois. Watch out, Leaders Division, here we come.
If he can’t, he’s Zook.
I think that persona these days is becoming more common in coaches. The high energy, up and at ‘em, in your face types. Sure, there are some boring, dry coaches too.
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He did answers most of the questions without stumbling which is what Zook always seemed to do.
Would you have put Zook in the “chair” that you put Beckman in when you made your short list though?
And can you answer your own questions about Beckman? Do you think he can coach/lead/organize/etc,?
Just curious as to your thoughts. I would assume yes since you said you’d be happy if he was the hire.
I think his track record and actions are obvious that he shores up some areas that Zook was weak… discipline, focus, organization. And I expect a big improvement off the field.
The question in my mind is if he can put together a staff that can coach up and can he manage the game.
All in all – I’m happy with the hire. He could be that long-term program builder that Illinois needs. (our Alvarez as they say) Only time will tell.
Oh and Robert — please… can you make that this post the last time you call him Ron Zook 2.0 and Ron Zook II??? Ugh.
Too soon to label him a recruiter.
I did like the energy out of him…and he struck me as an ass kicker type of coach…whereas Ron Zook was a players coach.
Recruiting Illinois is key, and Beckman has very little experience here. Keys to recruiting instate will the assistant coaching hires.
Boy, tough thoughts. Zook had the zeal that you loved. Snickers from Florida told us he couldn’t coach, and then the Rose Bowl. But the fact was, he couldn’t coach. Enter Petrino and Koening. Even then RZ would muddle things up. Can Beckman do it? I hope so.
We have heard from every possible source that Beckman is extremely well organized and a tenacious disciplinarian. So I feel confident that he is different from Zook in those key areas.
From what I’ve read about his stint at Toledo, Beckman likes to hire good people, delegate and hold them responsible. Again, this was a major problem for Zook.
Beckman is more articulate that Zook, but possesses some of the same positive intensity/energy.
If I have a concern with Beckman it is that he doesn’t appear to have the strategic/tactical football intelligence that separates the really good coaches from the try hard gang. Hayden Fry, Barry Alvarez and Mike White were always thinking a step ahead of the opposition, an advantage that a school like Illinois might need to move up the pecking order. Don’t get me wrong, Beckman is light years ahead of Zook in this area, but I get the sense he will need to hire very bright coordinators (pry Campbell away from Toledo and retain Koenning) in order to be successful.
To illinibacker,
I am sympathetic to the II comments. For ten days now i have been reading about the future failures of each prospect, even before they were hired. It does seem that it would be nice to allow TB to take the field with his team, maybe even a few times, before we carve him up.
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Robert, we know that long before Rantoul you will be ready and rarin’ to go. Don’t let a little buyer’s remorse interfere!
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Im just hoping that our new stud can whomp UCLA’s new stud. Do they have one yet? Hope not.
this is the meh-est of meh hires. we did exactly what i thought we would – hired a MAC coach. this guy was 21-16 at Toledo. His record demonstrates little improvement from year 2 to year 3. he’s a defensive coach and the signature game he had at Toledo involved his team giving up 60+ points and losing. i’m not worried we got Ron Zook 2.0 – i’m worried we got Danny Hope 2.0
Danny Hope has Purdue bowling for the first time in forever.
I would have prefered that some one would have told MT at the last moment, “what the hell are we doing? lets stop and think about this for a moment?”
Since 1968 we have not upgraded one single coach from the bush leagues to the majors. We have not developed one single player into an assistant and later a coach. We have only promoted one assistant to coach and that was a disaster and no one wants go there again, so VK gets the shaft even if he is the greates DC to walk our sidelines the last 40 years (or ever?)
Our best hires have come from raiding other competent major programs, i.e. White-Cal and Kruger-Florida. I wouldnt say Tulsa-Self was a major but he would have developed wherever he went.
Every time Illinois has tried to develop or grow a coach it has been a disaster. That’s why this hire is another attempt to reinvent, what we have previously established without a doubt, doesnt work for Illinois. Go back to what has given us some success and steal a good coach from someone else. When Illinois try’s to develop a mid-major into a major coach, all we get is a mid-major team and coach. A MAC coach can make it work at Michigan and Ohio State because its UM and Ostate and the recruits will come no matter what. That doesnt work here and likely never will. First the recruits dry up, the talent goes away, the wins are fewer and its time to hit the reset button after our mandatory 7 years.
Just like the Bears should officially never even attempt to groom a youngster into a quarterback, Illinois should completely dismiss and forever turn thier back on trying to grow a coach and go back to what has worked the best for us.
Now if we were actually to attempt to devlelop somebody with any in-state relationships with the coaches, that would knock me off my chair. Thats why Monken never had a chance
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Damn – we’re already using Ron Zook 2 and other Zook monikers? On day one? C’mon. Zook was unique in how bad of a game manager he was. Having Zook part 2 right after Zook would be like having a player hit 2 home runs in a row hit the foul pole. If home runs were, you know, a bad thing.
You left out the biggest difference between Beckman and Zook – Beckman has already proven that he can be a successful head coach of a program by building it up for 3 years. That’s a lot different than Zook’s head coaching experience at Florida where he was basically just riding the talent without a lot of coaching. At the time, we thought he was still good enough to win 7-8 games a year at IL even with his flaws, but we were wrong. I think this prior head coaching success is a huge plus for Beckman. I think we need to give him a fair shot – enough with the Ron Zook comparisons until he actually earns them. Just because he’s high energy and enthusiastic doesn’t mean he’s the same as Ron Zook.
Robert…..Never have I felt perplexed after reading one of your posts. I always seem to nod my head in agreement with virtually everything you say on here. Then I read the title of this one and almost fell off my chair. Seriously. You could not have picked a more damning five words. WOW! I’m still some what in shock….especially after I watched a tape of whole thing.
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Realizing the tone of the body of your writing isn’t quite as bad as the heading, it still seems primarily a “glass half empty” assessment. I’ll just hope that a few years from now someone, if not me, will remind you of how wrong you were with you initial post press conference thoughts.
Wow, the Zook references are a bit harsh. I am admittedly a pessimistic fan when it comes to the Illini and even this hire in particular. However, I listened to the presser and came away with a glimmer of hope for the program. He may end up a bust, true, but now is the time that every Illini fan should be optimistic and positive for the future – the off-season – where we dare to dream that we are better than we really are.
Robert,
Kind of a downer from you. If you are not enthusiastic abt Beckman, who will be? Lose and every coach is a Zook.
I count on you to give a accurate, realistic appraisal. I sure hope this isn’t it.
And I am afraid it is.
I am down on this hire mostly because I was seeking the anti-zook. And the youtube video of him yelling at a guy who asked him why he didn’t take timeouts @ the end of a game right before an opponent scored was about as zookian a thing as I can imagine, and it made my stomach turn sour.
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That said, I’m not sure why everyone is upset @ Robert’s take, because he didn’t really give one. He just pointed out the obvious–that this guy has qualities that are comparable to Zook–and that he hopes he also has the organization and discipline skills that Zook lacked. I don’t think he said whether he thought he did or not.
Robert, congratulations, you scooped everyone.
the Cody Westerlund chat over on illini Hq had these gems from Toledo area press he talked to.
Good recruiter, assistants are the key here
Very stubborn
Prone to boneheaded, inexplicable game time decisions
Now i wonder where have we heard all this before? Zook 2.0 is dead on. Doesnt seem to have the intelligence to know when to change and adapt.
“Gentlemen, we are going to run this play over and over again until it works. Their defense will never suspect it. That is the key to wining this game”
Beckman isn’t Zook. You know how I know that?
Zook took a perennial SEC title contender and National Championship contender into a perennial also-ran in the conference. Florida had gone 10-2, 10-3 and 9-4 the previous three years (in reverse chronological order), winning the SEC East twice and the SEC once during that period. Zook took that 10-2 team left by Spurrier and added a ton of talent, but went 8-5, 8-5, 7-5 during his three years there.
Beckman took over a historically strong MAC program (two recent coaches included Gary Pinkel and Nick Saban) fallen on hard times. It had gone 3-9, 5-7, 5-7 the previous three years (revere chronological order), winning no conference titles and finishing second-to-last in its division the last two years. Beckman took over that losing team in the midst of a cheating scandal and went 7-1 the last two seasons in the conference. Their non-conference losses in the last two years have been to quality teams (BCS conference, Boise State x2 and Wyoming).
Beckman may” sleep fast”, he may be intense, he may be a good recruiter…he might even really like lasagna. He may not be the guy for Illinois, even. But he’s not Ron Zook – he’s proven that he can improve a team and a program.