Former Florida Coach and Longtime NFL Assistant Ron Zook Joins Maryland Staff
By Scott Rogust
Mike Locksley is still adding to his first coaching staff at Maryland, and now, he's just added his former boss.
Locksley announced that he hired former Florida and Illinois head coach Ron Zook to his staff on Wednesday. Zook will serve as a senior analyst for the defense and special teams.
Maryland coach Mike Locksley announced that Ron Zook, his former boss at Florida and Illinois, will join the staff in College Park as a Senior Analyst working with defense and special teams.
— Don Markus (@sportsprof56) August 7, 2019
Zook has a long coaching resume at both the collegiate and professional level. In terms of head coaching, Zook controlled the sidelines with the Florida Gators and Illinois Fighting Illini, putting up a 57-65 overall head coaching record. He was a co-SEC Eastern Division champion (2003) for the regular season, and later became Big Ten Coach of the Year (2007).
Interestingly, Locksley served as Zook's running back coach in Gainesville (2003-04) and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks/tight ends coach (2005-08) in Urbana-Champaign.
Mike Locksley announces addition of former boss to Maryland staff https://t.co/DGf9I60cVI
— Saturday Tradition (@Tradition) August 7, 2019
At the end of his collegiate coaching career, Zook spent five years with the Green Bay Packers as a special teams assistant and coordinator (2014-18). Most recently, Zook was a special teams coordinator and secondary coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the now-defunct Alliance of American Football.
Now, Zook's former protégé has rewarded him with a gig on the Maryland football program as they look to compete in the always competitive Big Ten Conference.