It has been a wild week here in "Illini Nation" as Zook likes to say. What began with possibly the most disappointing and shocking performances by an Illini team in recent memory has evolved into a week of second  guessing and shake ups on the part of the coaching staff and the equivalent of vultures circling a wounded animal in the desert on the part of the media.

Zook, more than ever before, is feeling real pressure to deliver on the promises that the 2007 Rose Bowl season and several seasons of quality recruiting  have made. The fan base is not Florida's, it is not demanding BCS games year in year out, it only demands the two things that Zook has had the most difficulty in demonstrating as of late, improvement and consistency. The most frustrating aspect of being an Illini fan over the last two season has been the fact that we never ever really know how the team will perform week in week out. One week is an offensive explosion the next is a flat showing where the players seem uninvolved. If the fans, boosters and athletic department are disappointed in Zook for anything it isn't going to be losses, but an inability to show that the team is moving in the right direction, or any direction frankly.

The heat  has been turned up on Zook after last week and it is clear that he is cognizant of it. Two players suspended, several players losing playing time as a result of poor play and what has to be the most visibly angry and determined demeanor that I have seen from Zook in his entire tenure here at Illinois. He knows exactly the road that this could lead down, because he has been there before.

No I am not saying anyone will be trying to run Zook out of town if we have a losing season. If will take an incredibly poor showing for me to get on that band wagon. But I am not as easy to convince as others, and Zook knows the situation at hand. There are more actual expectations this year than any season he has had in Champaign, he has said all along also that a coach can only be truly evaluated by taking a recruiting class all the way to graduation. Well guess what, that is this year. What sort of evaluation would a five year track record of only having one winning season and one bowl loss.  Throw out the first two awful seasons and the team is still stands at only 14-12 over the past two seasons and last Saturday. Zook knows he must turn this team around, he has entirely too much talent on this team to have made such a poor showing and I believe if it is in his power to do it, he will do anything it takes to get this team into shape and ready to play. If not, the seat will only become hotter.

This is not an indictment of the coaching staff for a team's showing in just one game. But the media climate has decidedly began down the old "embattled coach" road already. I for one believe that Illinois should be very appreciative of what Zook has done and should continue to do here at the U of I. Brian Cook said recently that as long as the Illini have Zook they have a chance to pull one out of no where and make a run. Not every team can say that in the Big Ten, and only rarely has Illinois had a coach that can say that. Make no mistake, Zook might be the best coach that the administration could hope to hire. We are not a dream job like Michigan, we do not pay our coaches huge money like the SEC, and we do not live on a natural recruiting ground like Ohio State or Texas. And most of all, there is only a limited history of success here.  Before anyone starts thinking "we can give Zook the boot and then hire a really great coach to win with his players like Urban Meyer did." I would prescribe for you a healthy dose of reality. Illinois has played stepping stone more than destination for coaches, and when coaches do stick around they have struggled most of all to win recruiting battles.  Say what you will, but Zook has produced consistently on the recruiting front beyond what Illinois' natural place in the order has been.

You may get wildly inconsistent  bi-polar teams, but I guarantee you, that Illinois is still better off with Zook as the coach than anyone it could pull in off of the open market.