Ron Zook

Ronald Andrew Zook (born April 28, 1954) is an American football coach and former player who recently served as the defensive coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL.

He graduated with a bachelor's degree in comprehensive science in 1976.

Zook started coaching football immediately upon graduating from college, beginning his career in 1976 as the defensive backs coach at Orrville High School in Orrville, Ohio under head coach Mo Tipton.

In 1978, Zook began his college football coaching career when he became a graduate assistant at Murray State University.

Through the 1980s, Zook held coaching positions with a number of college football teams, serving as a defensive coordinator at Cincinnati and Kansas and as a position coach at Tennessee, Virginia Tech, and Ohio State.

Beginning in 1991, Zook served as defensive coordinator for three seasons at the University of Florida under head coach Steve Spurrier.

After the 1993 season, Spurrier reassigned Zook to be the special teams coordinator, a move considered by many to be a demotion due to the team's unsatisfactory performance on pass defense.

Zook's special teams units performed well enough during the 1994 season that he was offered the defensive coordinator position at Michigan State, prompting Spurrier to give him the title of associate head coach to help keep him at Florida.

Florida defensive coordinator Bobby Pruett left to become the head coach at Marshall University in January 1995 and Zook was promoted to take his place, becoming Florida's defensive coordinator once again.

However, the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers offered Zook the job of special teams coordinator just one month later and he accepted, leaving the college game for a time.

With Zook leaving, Bob Stoops was brought in to run Florida's defense.

He has worked as an assistant coach in the National Football League (NFL) with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1996–1998), Kansas City Chiefs (1999), and New Orleans Saints (2000–2001).

After leaving Florida, Zook served three seasons as special teams coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, then was the defensive backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1999.

In the 2000 and 2001 seasons, Zook served as the defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints.

In 2000, the Saints finished 10–6 with Zook's defense ranking tenth in points allowed.

DT La'Roi Glover led the team with 17 Sacks followed by 12 from DE Joe Johnson and 11 by DE Darren Howard.

He was the head football coach at the University of Florida from 2002 to 2004 and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 2005 to 2011.

Zook is a native of Ohio and an alumnus of Miami University, where he played college football.

In January 2002, Steve Spurrier resigned from Florida to explore head coaching opportunities in the NFL, eventually signing with the Washington Redskins.

Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley sought to replace him with either Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan or Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, but each decided to remain with their respective teams.

Foley's next choice was Zook, who accepted the job.

Given the success of Spurrier's 12-year tenure, expectations at Florida were high, and seemingly settling for Zook was not popular with many students and supporters.

Others did not understand why the university would hire a man who was demoted as a coordinator on the same staff to be head coach.

Within a day of Zook's hiring, one fan started a website called FireRonZook.com that gained national media attention.

Many fraternity houses hung banners from week to week either praising Zook or calling for his firing.

Zook was head coach at Florida for three seasons.

The Gators compiled records of 8–5 (2002), 8–5 (2003) and 7–5 (2004).

While Zook's tenure saw modest success, it was well short of what Gator fans had come to expect.

In his three seasons, the Gators lost six games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

By comparison, Spurrier lost only five home games in 12 years.

Many of the losses were fourth quarter comebacks by the opposition, causing many fans to question the prevent defense that was employed.

In August 2012, he was hired as a college football studio analyst by CBS Sports.

He was also employed as the special teams coach for the Green Bay Packers.

KC finished with a 9-7 record, 16th in passing yards allowed, and James Hasty had seven interceptions and Cris Dishman finished with five interceptions.

In 2019, he was the special teams coordinator and secondary coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football (AAF).

Ronald Andrew Zook was born in Ashland, Ohio and raised in nearby Loudonville.

At Loudonville High School, Zook played basketball, track, and football.

Upon graduating, he was offered a track scholarship to Purdue University and received offers to play football at several small colleges in the Midwest.

However, Zook wanted to play Division I football, so he decided to walk on at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

He made the team, and by his senior season, Zook was a starting defensive back and a co-captain for the Miami Redskins.