Bob Asmussen answered more than 40 questions during his weekly football chat. Read the transcript here

By now, Zook is used to being poked, prodded

You would think, wouldn't you, that a coach who recruited the physical makings for Florida's 2006 national football championship would be given a pass in Gator Country five years later.

But there are those who can't let go. The disrespect lingers. Just as unforgiving Illinoisans refuse to credit Bill Self for setting up Bruce Weber's early basketball run, bitter Floridians and an I-told-you-so media take opportunities to jab Ron Zook.

When Gators coach Urban Meyer made an innocuous comment last week about "breaking the culture ... where freshmen were treated like non-people," it was immediately assumed he was referring to Zook's bad policies. An Orlando Sentinel blog jumped on it, and the fireworks followed.

Meyer, of course, called Zook to apologize. And Zook felt obligated to make an official response that included the comment: "This is disappointing because it implies we didn't look out for our players. I have never been accused of that. In fact, it is the opposite. There is no place for hazing in college football and we've put a stop to that if we've ever seen it."

Things happen

Here is my interpretation of the story based on follow-up explanations.

First, it appears that Gator freshmen were, because of space limitations at one point, lockered separately from veterans, and some of those upperclassmen may have acted improperly.

"Meyer didn't mention Zook, but he referred back to a couple of players fighting," said Arnold Feliciano, sports editor of the Gainesville Sun. "At one time, the freshmen were kept in a separate area because of the configuration and limitations of the locker room. Some guys had to go elsewhere. That has changed. There have been three renovations of the area since Zook left. It is now state of the art.

"Meyer mentioned some freshmen who got hazed, and it turned up in a blog by a beat writer from the Orlando Sentinel. Everything gets blown up on the web, and that's what happened. Reading it, some people came to the conclusion that the buck stopped with Zook, and it was his responsibility in terms of discipline. People ran with it."

Looking back several days later, Zook shook his head:

"David Jones of Florida Today called and gave me the opportunity to tell my side of the story. People know that's not the way I am. There was nothing I could do at the time because the locker room wasn't big enough for everybody. But we have always integrated the freshmen into our program. Look at all the freshmen we have played."

This is the latest case of blaming the coach for inevitable problems within a 100-man squad of extremely aggressive young men. Fights happen. That doesn't mean Zook could have prevented the reported hazing or even knew about it.

Things change

Orlando's Mike Bianchi reversed his field and offered a "come on guys, lay off" column.

Bianchi was one of Zook's most severe critics when Florida was an 8-5 Outback Bowl team in 2002 and 2003. Bianchi still gets grief, he claims, for resurrecting Steve Spurrier's resignation quote about how it was time to let somebody else captain this "big ol' battleship that is Gator football."

"Who knew," wrote Bianchi after Zook's first seven games, "that Spurrier had turned the battleship over to Gilligan?"

On Monday he concluded: "That was then. This is now. And it's time for everyone – and especially Meyer – to leave Zook alone."

Responding Tuesday, Bianchi said by telephone: "Those occurrences dated back long before Zook, maybe before Spurrier. They had a separate locker room for freshman for years, maybe even dating to the time when freshmen weren't eligible.

"Meyer just stuck his foot in his mouth." In Florida, with the Gators ranked No. 1 and going for their third national title in five years, Meyer is king. His new contract calls for $24 million over the next six years, making him the SEC's first $4 million coach. He can do no wrong.

When Meyer attracts premier recruits, it is considered normal. When Zook cracks through for Arrelious Benn and Martez Wilson, doubting questioners ask: "How did he do that?" Meyer's authority stems from a three-school, eight-year record of 83-17, compared to Zook's 41-44 mark at Florida and Illinois.

But look at it this way. Every time somebody takes a poke at Zook, he counters. With all the pointed explorations, if he wasn't doing things right, we'd know about it by now.

Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at ltate@news-gazette.com.