First off, I don't mean this to be a Zook bashing post. Ron Zook has obviously given it everything he's got. I don't question his passion or his heart or his character. And I thought he made a lot of good coaching moves right from the start. He convinced Rex and Taylor to stay. He hired what appeared to be a successful and experienced staff. A staff that would continue to do the things UF had been doing well. He retained Coach Dixon and Coach Odom, which I thought would help the players (and the new coaches) with the transition and maybe provide some carryover from the Spurrier regime. He rehired Red Anderson to help get us back into talent rich Dade and Broward counties. And the new staff held the recruiting class together well. After spring practice, Coach Zook visited every high school in the state to introduce himself and show them the love that some felt Coach Spurrier hadn't given them. Coach Zook has done a lot. But as hard as Ron Zook has worked, it is obvious he is in over his head. UF needed an experienced head coach. What they got is someone who is learning on the job and taking his lumps. Ron Zook has no established identity to stamp onto a program. And thus he has no confidence in his coaching style. He is developing that. And until he does he will continue to be very reactionary, instead of confident that his philosophy and style will lead to success. Contrast that with Steve Spurrier. Spurrier didn't beg Emmitt Smith to come back like Zook begged Rex Grossman and Taylor Jacobs to come back. He asked Emmitt if he was staying or going. He said if you stay we can use you and if you go good luck. Gator fans really wondered about that, all the way up until the season started and UF started winning games. But Steve Spurrier never wondered. He had a system and style that he had confidence in. And he instilled that confidence in his players. Players with confidence in themselves tend to make plays. Steve Spurrier took over a team that had gone 6-6, 7-5 and 7-5 the three years before he got here. They were fresh off a 34-7 pasting at the hands of a decent Washington team in the Freedom Bowl, and had lost their biggest playmaker and field leader in Emmitt Smith. They had looked a lot like the Gators I've seen the last couple of weeks: in position to make big plays but unable to step up and make them, especially at crucial times. And more often than not making big mistakes instead of big plays. All that changed immediately under Steve Spurrier. All of the sudden, guys were stepping up and making plays. In all phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams. Some of that Steve Spurrier confidence carried over to this season. UF came out of the gate hot and stomped UAB. Then the Canes rolled into town. The Gators made some plays and led early 10-6. But when we began to struggle against a good team, the confidence faded. The wheels fell off. And I'll never believe those who say Coach Spurrier would have been beat just as bad. No way. Rex would have torched that 2-deep zone. And that game would have gone down to the wire. Our team lost that carryover of Spurrier leadership and confidence in the Miami game. And we looked bad the next week against a horrible Ohio team. We got some big breaks early in the Tennessee game, and we seemed to get the confidence back. The offense and defense played great against an overmatched Kentucky team, but special team failures put the doubt back in there. Then came the second half implosion vs Ole Miss. Followed by the complete meltdown vs LSU. Rex is no longer taking his steps and firing the ball with confidence. He is bouncing around in the backfield, looking lost and making bad decisions. Taylor Jacobs has dropped a bunch of passes lately, many of which would have resulted in big plays. Plays he made look easy last year and even earlier this year. Earnest Graham is not running with the authority he started out the season with. Aaron Walker has disappeared. Where has Todd Johnson been recently? He has gradually slumped into obscurity. Steve Spurrier came in with an air of confidence and an established system for winning. Zook lacks that confidence and that established system for winning. You can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice. That is the difference, and despite what they say the players feel it too. You can see it in the way they are playing. I know it's not as simple as what I just stated. I know Ed Zaunbrecher hasn't coached Rex well. I know the offensive staff hasn't meshed well. I know the defensive staff took too long to properly evaluate its personnell. The special teams made the same mistake. But there is more to it than that. Something more pervasive. We should have corrected the correctable errors by the time we went up to Oxford, Mississippi. But instead of getting better, we got worse. We fell apart. We choked. Our leadership disappeared. And instead of bouncing back on our home turf against LSU, we looked impotent. Unraveled. Lost. Will Ron Zook develop the confidence he needs to be a successful leader and the system he needs to be a successful coach? At this point, nobody really knows. But I do know that Jeremy Foley needed to find a proven leader with confidence and a system for winning to fill the gaping void that Steve Spurrier left. Jeremy didn't do that, and we are all suffering now because of it. Because, much like the UF players, most UF fans aren't really sure if Ron Zook can get the job done. With that said, I wish the best of luck to Ron Zook. I'll be there again on Saturday, cheering for him and cheering for the Gators. Like I did before Steve Spurrier was our coach. And like I will after Ron Zook is our coach. - Southwest Florida Gator