Illini Sports Blog

Ron Zook's house on the market in Champaign

Recently fired University of Illinois head coach Ron Zook has a 6,000-square-foot house he is trying to sell in Champaign, Ill. With five bedrooms and five walk-in closets (so recruits and their parents would be comfortable when staying overnight), the house has an oversize wet bar and entertainment center with plush theater seating. The home has been on the market for seven months, its price reduced $26,000 to $799,000. Mr. Zook's house also features Florida Gators memorabilia: a large, stuffed alligator head. He hasn't been the coach at the University of Florida since he was fired in 2004, but the taxidermy trophy head sits in the office of the Champaign home.

Mr. Zook and his wife, Denise, have built 13 homes in their 31-year marriage, moving every two or three years over the course of his career. But, he says, "as a coach, you want a place you can call home. You buy or build a house with resale in mind, but it still has to be home." He's now working for CBS Sports and living in a house he built in Lake Weir, Fla.

online.wsj.com

Filed under: Former Illini, Illini Football
Follow IllinoisLoyalty on Twitter