This is the moment all y’all have been waiting for, isn’t it? It’s OK. Go ahead and admit it.
When last we heard from Ron Zook at the collegiate level, he was being ousted as the head coach at Illinois in November of 2011 after seven seasons. Nearly eight years later, The Zookster is back at in the college game as Maryland confirmed Wednesday that the veteran assistant has been added to Mike Locksley‘s extended football staff.
Specifically, Zook will serve as a senior analyst who will work with the Terrapins’ special teams and defense. As it’s an off-field role, the 65-year-old Zook will not count against Locksley’s limit of 10 on-field coaches.
Zook and Locksley have an extensive history together, first when the latter served as the former’s running backs coach at Florida in 2003-04. Locksley then followed Zook to Illinois, where he spent three years as the Fighting Illini’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach before taking the head job at New Mexico.
Zook posted as 23-14 record as the head coach at Florida from 2002-04 and 34-51 at Illinois from 2005-11. Since being canned by the Illini, he worked as a special teams coordinator/assistant for the Green Bay Packers and in a similar capacity with the Salt Lake franchise in the now-defunct Alliance of American Football.
