Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
Florida head coach Urban Meyer and his Illinois counterpart, Ron Zook, have made amends, at least for the moment.
The two coaches reportedly spoke on the phone Saturday and patched things up, a day after Meyer criticized the locker-room culture he inherited at Florida, an apparent shot at the Zook regime in Gainesville. Meyer, who never mentioned Zook by name, said freshmen on the team were abused by older players and "treated like non-people."
Zook fired back in a statement released late Friday night, saying, "Once again, five years later, we're blamed for something else at Florida."
Florida and Illinois aren't scheduled to play each other any time soon, so this is likely a dead issue, though Zook can't feel he's completely out of the woods when it comes to his past in Gainesville. There were undoubtedly issues both on and off the field during Zook's tenure at Florida, but he also recruited players that formed the foundation of the 2006 national championship squad.
Colleague Bruce Feldman summed it up well in a recent column, writing: "I realize lots of UF fans can't stand him, but in fairness to the Zooker, it wasn't like he left the cupboard bare."
Coaches certainly have inherited worse situations than Meyer did in 2005.
Florida head coach Urban Meyer and his Illinois counterpart, Ron Zook, have made amends, at least for the moment.
The two coaches reportedly spoke on the phone Saturday and patched things up, a day after Meyer criticized the locker-room culture he inherited at Florida, an apparent shot at the Zook regime in Gainesville. Meyer, who never mentioned Zook by name, said freshmen on the team were abused by older players and "treated like non-people."
Zook fired back in a statement released late Friday night, saying, "Once again, five years later, we're blamed for something else at Florida."
Florida and Illinois aren't scheduled to play each other any time soon, so this is likely a dead issue, though Zook can't feel he's completely out of the woods when it comes to his past in Gainesville. There were undoubtedly issues both on and off the field during Zook's tenure at Florida, but he also recruited players that formed the foundation of the 2006 national championship squad.
Colleague Bruce Feldman summed it up well in a recent column, writing: "I realize lots of UF fans can't stand him, but in fairness to the Zooker, it wasn't like he left the cupboard bare."
Coaches certainly have inherited worse situations than Meyer did in 2005.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG
Adam Rittenberg
Rittenberg joined ESPN.com in 2008 after four years at the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald, where he covered sports at Notre Dame, Northwestern, DePaul and several other colleges. He lives in Chicago.
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