Florida may have fired new Illinois football coach Ron Zook, but Illinois athletic director Ron Guenther wants to emulate the Gators.

Florida football did not have a distinguished history before Steve Spurrier became its coach, and Guenther hopes Zook can do for Illinois – and its undistinguished history – what Spurrier did for Florida.

“Everyone is talking about the wonder stars you can get,” Guenther said. “When he became available, you had to put him on that (coaching) list.”

Zook, who coached with Spurrier at Florida from 1991 until 1995, sounded like a certain former Florida head coach when he spoke of his goals for Illinois.

“There is no reason whatsoever that Illinois, in time, can’t compete on a regular basis for the highest goals,” said Zook, who will not coach Florida in the Peach Bowl. “That means Big Ten championships and beyond.”

Zook, who signed a five-year contract worth about $1 million per year, would not say how long it would take to bring glory back to Illinois, but Guenther, who is more familiar with the Illinois players, was not as shy.

“I think we are a lot closer than the public views of how close we are to getting it done,” Guenther said. “Our first step is to win more games and get into the bowl games. If we can continue to do that and bring people in, we will be able to compete for a Big Ten title.”

And Zook can bring people in.

He signed 10 Parade All-Americans in his three years at Florida. Guenther said he realized Zook had a passion for recruiting within five minutes of meeting him.

And five minutes is about how long it took Zook to begin contacting potential recruits for Illinois once he got the job Monday night. Zook has yet to talk with the nine players who committed to Illinois under Ron Turner.

Zook has recruiting ties in Florida but wants to build the base of his recruiting around Illinois athletes.

“This is where we have to make our money, right here in the state of Illinois,” Zook said. “Then we branch out from there.”

For Zook, recruiting really comes down to the players selling the team.

“People make the place,” Zook said. “These guys here (the players) are the guys that will do the job.”

The rest of the coaching staff will not be filled out until next Monday at the earliest, but Zook said he has already started calling – and receiving calls from – potential candidates.

The team did not meet with Zook until after the press conference, but the Illini fell in love with the idea of Zook coaching them upon hearing about it.

“One team’s loss is another team’s gain,” said running back E.B. Halsey. “And I think this is a tremendous hire not only for this football team, but for this University.”

The Illini will now have winter workouts, spring practice and Camp Rantoul to learn Zook’s playbook.

But the same goes for Zook learning about his team.

“They think they have to prove themselves to our coaching staff,” Zook said. “But we have to prove ourselves to them.”