Coaches can make or break a team – just ask Florida Gators fans in Gainesville. Like Illinois, they have experienced head coach Ron Zook and what he can do to a team.

While Zook does have some great attributes, particularly recruiting, he is far from the in-game, X’s and O’s type of coach that can deliver wins with a young, inexperienced team. A team like the one Illinois has fielded the past two seasons.

Since arriving here on campus two years ago, Zook has gone 4-18. Terry Hoeppner, on the other hand, has taken a less than impressive group at Indiana and taken them to the middle of the pack in the Big Ten.

The Hoosiers could go bowling this holiday season with a win in its last game, while Illinois will be sitting at home for the fifth straight season.

But credit must be given where credit is due, and Zook deserves it when it comes to recruiting. He signed a top-30 recruiting class last season after going 2-9 in his first year at the helm.

He landed Juice Williams, who has since been anointed the savior of the program. My question is: how can you steal a top-rated recruit from top-level teams such as Ohio State, Penn State and Purdue when you went 2-9 the season before? Zook obviously knows what he’s doing when it comes to recruiting.

But I figured his third, and most recent, recruiting class would be his toughest. After using the prestige of his big-time football past on his first class and telling his second crop of recruits that they would play right away, what else could he say? Coach Zook obviously proved the doubters wrong, addressing Illinois’ top concern when Arrelious Benn verbally committed to the Illini.

“It’s Illinois for a lot of reasons,” Benn told USAToday. “I just felt comfortable with coach Locks (Mike Locksley) and Ron Zook. I think it’s a team on the rise, and with coach Locksley as the offensive coordinator, I know I’ll get the ball a lot.”

Am I missing something? A team on the rise? Is this kid blind? Zook could probably sell a ketchup popsicle to an Eskimo wearing white gloves. My guess is that dropped balls won’t be a problem next year when Arrelious Benn is running routes for Illinois. (If you haven’t already seen his highlight tape, run a search for his name on youtube.com – this kid is amazing.)

Some of Zook’s critics have said he’s a poor developer of talent. At Florida, Zook landed another quarterback similar to Juice – one that was a dual-threat and had a shotgun for an arm. Chris Leak was the No. 6 prospect overall and the No. 2 QB in the land.

If I could pick any coach to develop a young and talented quarterback such as Juice, Zook would be on my list. If Zook’s main knock at Florida was not utilizing and developing Leak, that’s a crock. Just look at the quarterback’s statistics.

In Leak’s sophomore season, the last under Zook, Leak experienced his best numbers, throwing for nearly 3,200 yards, 29 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions for a 144.93 quarterback rating.

Although the Gators have been happy with Zook’s successor, Urban Meyer, Leak should not be the reason – all of his numbers are down from his sophomore season.

The Florida fans’ discontent might be derived from Zook’s predecessor. How can anyone follow up Steve Spurrier, the man who practically built the Florida football program.

That’s like asking Ron Harper to replace Michael Jordan, or Bobby Mercer to take over for Mickey Mantle in left field. Expectations for the replacement are so high that they can never be reached.

Sure, Leak’s signing was supposed to put the Gators back in the business of winning titles. It didn’t happen and after three tumultuous seasons at Florida, Zook was run out of Gainesville.

Fans said he could recruit, but couldn’t coach and cost the Gators some important wins against top-ranked teams.

And this has not stopped at Illinois for Zook. Although the Illini could be 2-10 with a loss this weekend against Northwestern, several potential wins could have turned the season around.

Zook, his coaching staff, or both made critical mistakes in the Indiana, Ohio, Penn State and Wisconsin games – all potential wins for the Illini, ruined by extra-point mistakes, bad calls and second-half blunders.

The latest mistake came against Purdue, when Zook went for a touchdown on fourth down late in the game instead of taking the sure-shot field goal.

Without a few bad decisions such as that, this team had potential to be 6-5 or even better. But, as Zook would like to say, hindsight is 20/20 and the error in judgment can’t be corrected.

Some Illini fans have begun to point fingers at Zook over these close losses. But give Zook the benefit of the doubt this season, let him get two more years under his belt, and then, if he still hasn’t produced, take the route of the Gators.

Troy Murray is a junior in Communications. He can be reached at [email protected].