Illinois Likely to Extend Football Coach Ron Zook's Contract

College football coaches typically do very well for themselves. Not only has compensation increased impressively over the years, but head coaches rarely coach the final year of a contract.

In some cases, colleges are exceptionally overzealous about adding years to the contracts of their coaches. One such example is set to happen this week, when the University of Illinois approves a one-year contract extension for football coach Ron Zook.

What is somewhat curious about this extension is that Zook's contract -- most recently extended in 2007 -- already runs through 2013. Not only that, but Zook is coming off a very underwhelming 5-7 season, as Illinois followed up on their Rose Bowl appearance by not qualifying for a bowl game.

As Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.com notes, this extension is likely a reward for Zook's elite recruiting ability. Thinking that the on-field fortunes will turn around more decisively once more of these talented young players get their feet wet in the college game is defensible. However, Illinois is bound to look pretty silly here if Zook's game management skills end up being what everyone thought they were at Florida (terrible). By extending his contract by a year, the university is setting up a situation where they'd have to pay him a higher buyout should they let him go. At $1.5 million per season, that becomes a hefty pricetag should they part ways before 2014.

Zook is 18-30 overall in four years with the Illini, and has won just ten Big Ten games. Six of those ten wins came in the Rose Bowl season of 2007, when Illinois was 6-2 in conference play.

The bottom line on Zook is that we don't know enough yet. Yes, he's helped get an important renovation done to Memorial Stadium. Yes, he's made the program more attractive for local recruits and top talent. Yes, he's helped re-energize a fanbase that had the life sucked out of it by the previous regime. But he hasn't won enough games to prove himself as a coach.

It might only be an additional year, but it doesn't seem that Illinois has made a necessary or terribly smart move here.