We thought it'd be fun to take a run through the media maelstrom that has hit Illinois Football and Ron Zook this week. Here goes:
Matt Hayes of the Sporting News examines Illinois' meteoric rise in this article. It's another one of the many incredulous looks at Zook's recruiting magic, which he has now turned in to magic on the field. Yep, of course there's discussion of Zook's tears following the Wisconsin game!
The Sun-Times talks about how Zook has the Illini Football team "flyin'" here in this article.
Are you wondering what Kirk Frerentz thinks of the job Ron Zook is doing at Illinois? If so, then you have to check out this article. Of course, Frerentz acts like he's not surprised that Illinois is suddenly an awesome team.
It looks like Zook's on the field success is going to help his bank account. Illinois is allegedly trying to lock him up through 2012. They're looking to bump his already over $1 million annual salary by a couple hundred thou' a year. Zook, of course, claims he's not sweating the contract stuff at all. He just wants to win, baby.
InsideIllini.com posted a decent article that attempts to analyze why the Illini are "so good" so far. The article is kind of all over the place. It hypes their young talent, especially Martez Wilson. It gives most of the credit for the team's success to good coaching and to the players being tired of being doormats, however. The article claims that the most important game of the season so far was the Syracuse game, and credits that game with being the catalyst for everything that has happened since.
Here's an article from the Daily Illini that says the Illini are in now way going to overlook the "stumbling" Hawkeyes. Let's hope not! Iowa REALLY stinks!
The Detroit Free Press has posted an article titled "The Big Tennys", in which it dishes out mid-season awards. Illinois earned the title of "Biggest Surprise". Surprise!
Mark Tupper (we call him the Tubby Tuppster) writes a hype article about Illinois' bowl projections. Tupp Doggy Dogg can't resist injecting that Rose Bowl hype. Awesome!
If you want Zook's take on Saturday's game at Iowa, here is a condensed version of this week's press conference.
As you can see, the media wires are just FLOODED with Illinois stories. It's about time! Many of them still express cynicism about Zook. Emphasis is on how he's a great recruiter, so good, in fact, that his talent gathering abilities make his "bad coaching" meaningless. I don't buy any of it! I mean, look at Charlie Weis over at Notre Dame. They've had some good recruits come in there over the last three years. And Weis is in his third year just like Zook. Yet Notre Dame is a miserable 1-5! I think it's high time Zook start getting some credit for his coaching as well as his recruiting. Maybe it's that stupid "swinging gate" thing he has the Illini do on extra points. Stop doing that play, Ron, and you'll start getting the credit you deserve!
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