The Sickos Committee explores Journeyman Coaches - Part 9 - Ron Zook

We continue to Part 9 in our many deep dives where we try to find “Where in the world is this coach??”

Ron Zook Playing Career

Ron grew up in Loudonville, Ohio and was a multi-sport athlete who received a track scholarship to Purdue. Ron had opportunities to play football at much smaller schools but  Ron wanted to play Division I football as a defensive back. Ron went to be a walk-on at Miami Ohio and by his senior year he was a co-captain and starting defensive back. 

For the playing career of Ron Zook, you’d have to drive 3 hours and 13 minutes for a total of 197 miles.

Ron Zook’s Coaching Journey Begins

After graduation, Ron went to be the defensive backs coach at Orrville High School. In 1978, Ron landed his first college coaching job at Murray State as the Defensive Backs (DBs) coach.

Murray State beveled oh so nice.

In 1981, Ron landed his first Defensive Coordinator (DC) job at the University of Cincinnati. After two years, he left Cincinnati for the same position at Kansas. After his brief one year stint at Kansas, Ron found his way to the SEC for the first time as the Tennessee DB’s coach from 1984 - 1986. In 1987, Zook was hired by Virginia Tech 1st year Head Coach Frank Beamer as the associate Head Coach and DC. In 1988, Ron left Blacksburg and headed back to Ohio at THE Ohio State University to become the DBs coach. 

For this leg of Ron Zook’s coaching career, you’d have to drive 46 hours and 3,030 miles. 

Ron Zook to Florida, the NFL and back to Florida.

Ron found his way to Florida in 1991 and was the DC and DBs coach from 1991 - 1993 under Steve Spurrier. In 1994, Spurrier seemingly demoted Zook to Special Teams (ST) coach for the season. But in 1995, Spurrier then promoted Zook to Associate Head Coach and ST Coordinator. In 1996, Zook was promoted to DC but left Florida and Spurrier to head to the NFL as the Pittsburgh Steelers ST Coach. In 1999, Zook took the DBs coach job with the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2000, Zook found himself in New Orleans as the DC and helped the Saints win their franchise’s first ever playoff game.

We beveled the Saints logo from the 2000 season as you’ll notice a trend in Ron Zook’s career from this team.

In 2002, Steve Spurrier was hired as the HC for the Washington Football Team and the Florida Gators were looking for a new Head Coach. After the job was turned down by other candidates, Ron Zook took the Head Coaching job at Florida. A day later the website FireRonZook.com was born and thus began a tumultuous tenure with the Gators. Ron was fired in 2004 by the Gators but found a new Head Coaching job with the University of Illinois in 2005. Ron had the magical 2007 season with the Illini taking them to the Rose Bowl and where he won Big Ten Coach of the Year. However, he couldn’t sustain the success and was fired after the 2011 season when the Illini became the first team to start 6-0 and finish 6-6. However, it was the first time Illinois won back to back bowl games. 

For this leg of Ron Zook’s coaching career, you’d have to drive 74 hours and 4,964 miles. 

Ron took a break from coaching for two years where he did some work with CBS as a studio analyst and he was a banker in Ocala, FL.

The Return of Zook

In 2014, Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy (they both were on the 2000-01 Saints staff) called Ron back to the NFL to become the Special Teams Coordinator. Ron was not retained after the 2018 season. In 2019, Ron found his way to Maryland as a Senior Analyst and remained on staff through 2021. In 2023, Jim Haslett (Saints Head Coach in 2000-01) hired Ron to be his defensive coordinator for the XFL’s Seattle Sea Dragons. 

For the current leg of the Ron Zook coaching journey, you’d have to drive 74 hours and 4,926 miles. (We credited the “Ron Zook the banker” stop as the beginning of this leg.)

Ron Zook’s Journeyman Totals

College Playing Career

• 3 hours and 13 minutes for a total of 197 miles.

Coaching Career

• Drive 46 hours and 3,030 miles. 

• Drive 74 hours and 4,964 miles.

• Drive 74 hours and 4,926 miles.

Journeyman Travel Totals

• Approximately 197 Hours and 13,117 miles.

Dennis Erickson maintains the lead for Journeyman Coach travel in driving with 261 Hours of driving and 17,040 miles. June Jones maintains the lead with most hours flying and most flight mileage of 63 hours and 28,557 miles. June Jones also maintains the most combined flight & driving with 307 travel hours and 44,906 miles traveled total.