A collective refusal to acknowledge a .500 regular season? That's a bit of a stretch. Zook had one single season with a winning record in the B1G. And only one season (the same) with a winning regular season record. Winning a game in a LOL bowl is nothing to reminisce fondly about.
5 straight winning seasons overall, 5 straight winning conference records, 5 straight conference finishes of 3rd or higher. Yes, he crapped the bed his last 2 seasons but it was still exciting football, and I was there for every single game. White has the 2nd highest winning percentage of any Illinois coach since 1912.
Mackovic recovered the program immediately with 4 straight winning seasons, 4 straight bowl invites, and no worse than a 5th place finish in conference. For better or for worse, the period of 1982 - 1991 is the best 10 season stretch in Illinois football. It's pretty disingenuous to knock what White accomplished because of his last 2 seasons.