Ron Zook Swings The Gate Open And Skis Back Into The Big Ten

In these doldrums of winter, football news shines a beacon of light!

The inevitable reunion of Zook with his protege, former Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, is sure to be a boon to the already-burgeoning Maryland recruiting base, and if you question this, let me counter your argument with the following:

The former Gateway Bank Business Development Officer had the following to say to the press regarding his new role as special teams coordinator:

ZOOK: “Thanks, good to be here, you know I worked with Mike a number of years back and he’s got exactly what it takes to develop the Maryland Terrapins into just, fine fine young men. I I I’ve admired his energy, how little he sleeps and he’s taken one of my sayings, the words I coach by, even farther than I ever did. It’s not about X’s and O’s. It’s about Jimmies and Joes. It’s not about assignments or schemes. It’s about Terrences and Rakims.”

“What we’re, what I’m, we need to run here is what I believe — I’m not gonna — everyone wants to talk about the Packers, and and maybe that’s what they were talking about a few years ago is the Packers but I don’t wanna talk about the Packers, because I never worked directly for them. That was actually my brother Don Zook. Look at the picture!”

“But yknow, Don and I, we talk about a lot of things, we talk about life, we talk about offshore powerboat racing, we also talk about special teams a lot, and both of us, when we talk about returning kickoffs? Out of the end zone? When you catch the kickoff in the end zone? I think about Ayrton Senna, when we went wakeboarding together in the ‘91 offseason, when he said to me ‘Hey Don, or Ron or whoever, if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver,’ and we’re gonna coach racing drivers here at the University of Maryland. That’s the name of the game, go fast, we’ll get that fixed.”

“A big problem I have with today’s game, where I have you know a real chance to help, make a difference in people’s lives, is how sportsmanship is, whatever happened to sportsmanship? You know, when your — when your opponent has to punt, haven’t they been through enough trouble? Nobody ever wants to punt, so I’ve always preached, you show love by losing yards on the return or losing the ball entirely, yknow this world’s made of love and that’s what the game of football’s all about.”

“Thank you so much for Zooming me, we’re we’re we’re just so excited about the kind of improvements we can make here at Maryland, you know I saw a team that every practice was getting better, now we just need to continue to get those things fixed.”

“...”

“...It’s not, I mean I’m trying to leave, I guess we’re having technical difficulties on our end, but we’ll get that fixed in practice this week.”