What is more shocking Spurrier leaving Gators or Zook returning? Nothing in Gator Nation could have been more sudden and surprising than the retiring of Steve Spurrier.
Unless it was the sudden and surprising hiring of Ron Zook.
Introducing Ron Zook, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and Gators of all generations . . . your new head football coach at Florida.
Huh?
In a matter of five days, the Gators have handed the headsets from Spurrier to Zook, which is like leaving a super model for Plain Jane.
Zook is a delightful, enthusiastic fellow and may do a fine job. No offense.
And no offense is just the point.
They replaced Spurrier with a defensive strategist who never has been a head coach, a yell guy who specializes in defense but didn't exactly impress Spurrier when he served as Steve's defensive coordinator from 1991-93.
In fact, Spurrier demoted Zook from that role to special teams coach in 1994.
Again: Huh?
Was Zook simply the first coach to say yes after Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and the Denver Broncos' Mike Shanahan said no?
Stoops and Shanahan both had Gator ties as former assistants. Zook's a Florida man, too, but is he the best man?
And at what point should have UF athletics director Jeremy Foley stopped the ol' Alabama practice of sticking with a coach just because he branched out from the school's family tree?
What was the rush?
Foley didn't have a hard deadline, or even a curfew. Or did premier candidates Jon Gruden, Rick Neuheisel, Gary Barnett and Mike Bellotti secretly pass on the job? Did Foley have Jimmy Johnson's number in the Keys?
Stoops was no fool. He has to deal with Nebraska and the occasional Kansas State uprising, but not Florida State, Tennessee and coming soon to a UF schedule the national champion Miami Hurricanes.
Shanahan was no fool, either. He used Florida's vacancy to gauge the wind in Denver after an 8-8 season and wrangled a lifetime handshake from owner Pat Bowlen.
But why did the Gators stop at Zook's door?
So much for Foley supposedly needing to make a splash and find an offensive whiz in the wake of Spurrier's exit and Rex Grossman's threat to bolt for the NFL.
Zook was the defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints and secondary coach for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers before that.
That squealing sound you hear from Gainesville is Grossman, the star quarterback and Heisman runner-up, peeling out to the pros.
This can't possibly be good enough for Gator Nation after the Stoops and Shanahan letdowns.
Spurrier was a sure thing. Zook is the unknown.
Spurrier was big-play offense. Zook is big-play defense (although the Saints didn't make enough of them this year.)
Spurrier was a recruiting magnet. Zook is going to need to introduce himself and show two forms of ID.
If Foley is coloring outside the lines here, the color is beige.
He has put his reputation on the line with this gamble.
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