Beckman happy to be back
COLUMBUS, Ohio — As the Illinois team buses rolled up to Ohio Stadium just after 6 p.m. Friday, they were escorted by three state troopers on motorcycles. One of the troopers was wearing an orange helmet with the same design as Illinois’ game-day helmet — minus the facemask.
“Todd Kerin, his son (Zac) played for us at Toledo,” Illinois coach Tim Beckman said after the team’s brief walkthrough at the Horseshoe. “He’s heading the escort, and that’s why he’s got the Illinois helmet on.”
As Beckman stepped off the bus, a hug was awaiting him from a member of the Ohio Stadium staff. The first-year Illinois coach shook hands and shared a few more hugs as he led the Illini onto the turf Friday evening.
Beckman is familiar with the folks at Ohio State, having spent the 2005 and 2006 seasons as an assistant coach with the Buckeyes under Jim Tressel.
“It’s great to see friends,” he said. “We’ve got some good memories of this place.”
Another familiar face will grace the opposing sideline today in first-year Ohio State coach Urban Meyer. Beckman and Meyer’s friendship goes back to their college days, and Beckman was an assistant under Meyer at Bowling Green in 2001-02.
“Awesome,” Beckman said when asked about his time at Bowling Green with Meyer. “He’s a great person, great friend; he’s got a great family. I’ve enjoyed knowing him, and we’re still very, very close.”
Beckman knows Meyer won’t take it easy on him or the Illini today, and Illinois is expecting a heavy dose of Heisman Trophy candidate Braxton Miller, Ohio State’s quarterback and the Big Ten’s leading rusher.
“He’s a very good player. I remember him well in high school on up,” Beckman said. “Braxton is a fine football player.”
Illinois freshman offensive lineman Joe Spencer, a native of Mason, Ohio, was greeted by some familiar faces, too. Four high school friends, who are Ohio State students, braved the 39-degree temperatures waiting for the Illinois bus to arrive and shared a moment with the 6-foot-4, 290-pounder.
Despite being considerable underdogs against the sixth-ranked and unbeaten Buckeyes, Beckman maintained Friday that his team is confident entering today’s contest.
“Any time you come in to play an undefeated football team, you’re going to be excited about playing,” he said. “(Patriots rookie safety) Tavon Wilson’s coming in tonight to speak to them. We’re excited about having him, and I know this football team is excited about playing.”
In many ways, there are parallels between Beckman's tenure and Gary Moeller's. I recall Moeller was the darling of Bo Schembechler who couldn't turn it around at Illinois. Moeller failed to adapt his preferred style to the talent on hand. And, I don't believe (I'm not sure) Moeller came to Illinois with any head coaching experience. But, Moeller had Big Ten coaching experience that didn't translate to Illinois, but served him well when he returned to Michigan, where talent overflowed. Beckman comes with close associations to head coaches not unlike the stature of Tressel and Meyer. Like Moeller, fans hoped the molecules of great coaching would flow through Beckman to Illinois' success.
As I compare today's environment with that of Moeller's time, I sense very little patience. Moeller, was cut almost two years of slack, but fans can only take run left, run right, pass down the middle and punt for so long. Beckman has been given no slack.
I feel sorry for Beckman, his staff and the players because of the hateful comments posted publically by Illini fans. I'm embarassed for the Illini nation to have people who choose to make personal attacks against coaches and writers. I'm guessing Beckman is relieved to be in friendlier territory. We know the environment in Illinois is hostile and toxic. It must a living hell for the Illinois football staff right now and that saddens me.
Wholeheartedly agree. What is really sad is that all these "fans" of the program are piling on Beckman and his staff for the inept play and the lack of talent. Do they deserve some of the blame? Sure. But I think everyone is pretty quick to forget that this team lost it's last 6 regular season games last year. We lost several key defensive starters (4 of which were drafted, I believe) along with offensive veterens including our best weapon in AJ Jenkins. I know people want to watch the games and blame Beckman and Sheelhasse but look at the talent, or lack thereof, on the field. It's pitiful. There's little to no depth on either side of the ball. We have probably the worst group of receivers in our conference and the offensive line has been banged up. Defensively it's just breakdown after breakdown. Even Hawthorne has been getting burnt. I know he's probably been nursing some injuries but he's suppossed to be one of our defensive standouts. You would have to think there will at least be a few changes to this staff after the season is over but Beckman CANNOT be one of them. If Thomas would happen to fire him, no coach would want to come here and look how many turned us down after the Zooker got canned. We've got to give the guy some time to bring in a few classes and let them develop before you can deem his tenure a failure.
What's going to happen when the basketball team loses more than a couple big games this year? If we get rolled in the Braggin' Rights game because we can't keep up with Missouri's speed should we start calling for Groce's head? No, everybody will say 'oh wait, this guy is going to bring in his own players and his system will work here'. Why doesn't Beckman get that same benefit of the doubt? It's so frustrating because you go to the games and even when we were winning the first half of the season last year people were still sitting on their hands. It's a no-win situation in a lot of ways here. If people want to bitch, fine, that's their right. But when it's going good, get off your damn feet and be a little supportive of these guys. I was at the Wake game when we slaughtered them in basketball during the Final Four year. I've never been in a louder stadium or arena than that night. It was deafening all 40 minutes. Now that said, that was a huge game and we were a top 5 team, but if you're only going to support our teams and athletes when we're ranked in the top 20 I'd just assume you go somewhere else.
In review of Coach Beckman's arrival at Illinois, I choose simply to judge the things he is in control of, not those summarily out of his control.
Securing a commitment from Aaron Bailey is surely the highlight so far. Watching several other Big Ten teams, it is amazing how much better a team looks with a quarterback capable of reading defenses and making the appropriate pass.
But the low lights are just too many to provide Coach Beckman with much of a honeymoon period. Compared to Groce and Bollant, Beckman is clearly the third most polished at press conferences, and by a significant amount. Winning the introductory press conference doesn't mean the most memorable thing said is LASAGNA. Judgement on that may vary, but there are more serious matters.
1) Creating an odd, false rivalry with "That team up north" Northwestern. When has that ever been a goal?
2) Sending the entire coaching staff to Penn State was a public relations misstep.
3) While small, even in my eyes, the Big Dip at Wisconsin was another PR error.
4) On the field, I do not understand going with a shot gun formation in a 1st and goal situation from the 1 yard line. Similarly, I believe a new coach can make a difference most by really buttoning down special teams play. We see the results so far.
Yes, I chose to respond, and did so with the above thoughts. I am a season ticket holder who felt it was time to move on from the Zook era. I'm also willing to give Coach Beckman a chance. So imagine how those who really dislike him feel if I've type thed above respose and am still pretty neutral on Beckman?
That all seems fair enough to me. But in all fairness 1) I could care less about what any of them say in a press conference. Nick Saban and Bill Belichek are as bland and boring as they come but they're probably the two best coaches at their levels. 2) Beckman isn't the one that created this false rivalry although I would agree that he's fueling it. But he didn't start the agenda of wanting to win Chicago over, which was why the whole thing started in the first place. 3) I'll agree the play-calling is absurd at times but he's dealing with very limited options beyond handing the ball off to the RB's and he isn't the one calling the plays. But he's the head coach and he is the one responsible although I'd bet good money one or both of the offensive coordinators are gone next year. 4) I suppose I'm in the minority when I say I had no problem with how he handled the PSU situation.
I'm not saying he is or isn't the right guy for the job but in no way can we know that without letting him bring in at least 2 recruiting classes. We want to talk about regression with this team, well the regression started after we were 6-0 last season. We lost 6 games in a row and then lost a boat-load of NFL talent. We all know that Zook's worst recruiting classes are the ones littering this current roster and obviously it's lacking in most areas. The build is going to take a few years, I don't care of its Tim Beckman, Urban Meyer, or Vince Lombardi. This isn't a team capable of winning a Big10 championship and we shouldn't treat it as such. We aren't very good and I put very little stock in that being because of Tim Beckman.
Interesting and well thought out comments, Swifferfan. Yes, things seem to be more toxic these days than during the Moeller era. Part of that may simply be the times, but I also think that the end of season losing streak did a lot of damage. Last year, it seemed that the staff had lost controll ad influence with the team. And the team itself seemed to lack resiliency and "grit".
In my 40+ years as an alum and a fan, I don't recall a team that regressed the way that this bunch has. If a player or team doesn't have that inner core of toughness, I'm not sure that any coach can instill it. Even the Valek teams didn't toss in the cards the way that this team does.
I'm at a point where I'd almost prefer watching a team of walk-ons.
I suspect if the fan base had a forum like the internet back in Moeller's days (and others- the list is long) you would have read and heard just as many complaints. I agree that today our populace is less tolerant and more critical but back in those days the only place you could express your frustration immediately was the coffee shop with your buddies!
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