Zook: Fights are Ok, Losses Aren't

The U. of Florida leadership may have wanted to send a strong message when it fired embattled head coach Ron Zook, but the message may not be the one the SEC power wanted to send.

Zook’s teams have played well with winning records, just not as well or as many wins as Steve Spurrier’s teams. And then Zook got into an “altercation” with members of a fraternity a day or two after several of his players got into a fight at the frat house.

That was disturbing enough, but even more disturbing was the way the Florida administration tolerated it, until Zook got thumped at home by Mississippi State. At which point, they fired him.

So the message from Florida is: it’s ok for a coach to get into it with university students so long as he is winning. But any coach that can’t back up his misbehavior with victories will be shown the door in Gainesville in a hurry.