At first glance, it seems like a legitimate question. An Illini blog asks, if Fitz could get a 10-year extension based on his W-L, bowl, etc. results during his tenure, why shouldn't Ron Zook? I mean, they've had similar Big Ten records, similar number of bowl games... one of which was a BCS bowl for the Pumpkinheads.
Let's dive into this one and totally shred it to bits after the jump.
Before going on some diatribe about strength of schedule for non-conference games, the blogger cites the following head-to-head statistics:
Big Ten record since Fitzgerald took over in Evanston? Fitz 18-22, Zook 16-24. Wins vs. ranked opponents? Fitz 3, Zook 3. Bowl record? Fitz 0-3, Zook 1-1. BCS Bowls? Fitz 0, Zook 1. Head to head? Fitz leads 3-2 (3 games at Northwestern, 2 games at Illinois).
That all looks fairly even, but how about these numbers?
4, 3, 4, 5, 8 (30, 20, 23, 35, NR nationally)
Those are the rankings of the Illini recruiting classes in the Big Ten (not including Nebraska) from 2006-2010 as evaluated by Rivals. I'm sure Northwestern's would have to be comparable too, right?
10, 8, 10, 8, 9 (NU NR nationally during the entire period)
Remember all those heralded recruits that Illinois pulled in? Benn, Williams, Mendenhall, Wilson, and the like... many of them play in the pros now. What does Illinois football have to show for it? 16-24 Big Ten record. 3 wins over ranked opponents. 2-3 record vs Northwestern. Just 2 bowl games (1-1). Seems like, with that kind of recruiting, Illinois should be blowing people out of the water, no? I mean, if Pat Fitzgerald can get Northwestern to an 18-22 Big Ten record with the recruiting classes he's had...
Who cares about non-conference schedules?
According to the blogger, everything that Fitz has done is a farce because he's had easy schedules:
So it's easy to look at Fitz's 34-29 overall record in Evanston, compare it to Zook's 28-45 in Champaign, and make a determination about which one is the better coach. Nobody bothers to see that Fitz is 16-4 against non-conference opponents while Zook is 11-12. And absolutely no one researches the schedules to see that Fitz had one of the easiest non-conference schedule over those 5 years while Zook had one of the toughest. Wins are wins are wins, so hand Fitz a fountain pen.
Maybe nobody researches the non-conference schedules of the two schools (most of which were set before either coach assumed his position) because they are too busy wondering how five years of highly-talented Illini squads are producing a conference record that is 6 games under .500! Against essentially the same competition for the past 5 years (NU & Illinois' missed Big Ten opponents during that span were a combined 82-46 and 85-44, respectively), Northwestern out-performed the Illini-- there's no disputing that.
Any demeaning of the 'Cats and their student-athletes is purely unintentional. There's no question that NU has had a lot of great talent and high-quality kids under Coach Fitz who 'Cat fans rightly shouldn't and wouldn't want to trade for anybody, and given our history, obstacles, and everything we've had to overcome, an 18-22 Big Ten record after 5 years from our first-time head coach is a good place to be moving forward. We're not there yet, but we know how to get there.
Fitz got a long-term extension because he's led the program to a level of stability not seen in quite a while at Northwestern. Forget the three straight bowl games. In conference play, he's already bested the record of the first five years of nearly every coach who has preceded him in the last 40 years. His students do well in the classroom and in the community as well, and he is willing and able to be the face of the program. Schools like Penn State and Michigan who draw the top talent from across the country are interested in Fitz because they see his teams, which feature talent drawn from a pool considerably smaller than that from which they would be able to draw, consistently overachieve in every way.
On the other hand, Illinois has consistently had some exceptional athletes under a veteran head coach in Ron Zook-- some real high quality talent pursued by top schools across the country, and they have underachieved considerably. Isn't that why Florida got rid of him? Once he was gone... what happened to the Gators? Do you think Michigan and Penn State have any interest in him? "Boy, he sure does play tough non-conference schedules... we could use a guy like that!"
So, Illini fans, go ahead, use that logic to keep the Zooker with you until 2020. The rest of the Big Ten Conference will thank you for it.
(And let's not even talk about the 2005 Fighting Illini, who, under Zook, were so bad, their Wikipedia page was deleted due to "no meaningful content".)
Filed under: Football
Tags: football, Illinois, northwestern
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