You've got to wonder if Florida head football coach Ron Zook has ever seen National Lampoon's "Animal House."
If he has, Zook's threat to "take this house down" in front of fraternity members and a university administrator isn't just inappropriate - it's asinine.
In the wake of a fight between members of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and players on the football team, about a dozen football players showed up at the fraternity house to argue, The Associated Press stated from police reports. A meeting, in which Zook participated, took place in an attempt to prevent further conflict.
It's understandable that Zook cares deeply about his players and might have become emotionally involved in the incident.
But he overstepped his bounds as a university employee who naturally has a great deal of influence when, according to the AP, he told fraternity members that "I'm not going to let you take the (expletive) football team down."
Christopher Bullins, the dean of students who oversees Greek life, witnessed the event and relayed Zook's statements to police, the AP reported. This is not a case of the fraternity's word against that of the coach.
After Bullins asked Zook and members of the team to leave, one player pointed out Justin Bailey, a fraternity member who had been involved in the fight with football player Steve Rissler. Rissler had suffered a laceration and a broken nose from the incident.
Bullins said that Zook told Bailey: "Oh, you're the one who hit Rissler? Oh, you're going to get yours."
Florida Athletics Director Jeremy Foley, who asked Zook to try to defuse the situation after a call was made to police, told the AP that the matter was being handled internally. But he didn't defend the coach's actions.
