GBMWolverine: Coach's Corner -- Michigan Football -- Tim Beckman -- Illinois New Football Coach -- Profile

Posted at 6:00am — 1/9/2012

GBMWolverine: Coach’s Corner — Michigan Football — Tim Beckman — Illinois New Football Coach — Profile

GBMWolverine Readers: We decided to do a breakdown of new Illinois football head coach Tim Beckman

Overview:

Coach Tim Beckman recently was selected as the new Head Coach at a Big Ten institution, namely Illinois. Coaches who have worked their way up the ladder of success covet any BCS head job, and the Illinois position had to be attractive to Beckman. Conversely Beckman’s success and offensive prowess had to be attractive to the Illinois interviewers as well.

Beckman has tutored under some of the top coaches in college football. He was the defensive coordinator for Urban Meyer at BGSU, and also for Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. Beckman was also the defensive backs coach for Pat Dye at Auburn and for Jim Tressell at Ohio State. He even played for a legend, Dick Strahm who led Findlay College to four NAIA National Championships and is in the College Football Hall of Fame.

His father (Dave Beckman) was a coach at all levels of the sport so he has been around the football his entire life.

We have been familiar with Coach Beckham since his time as coordinator at BGSU. In our opinion he is a young dynamic head coach with the energy and philosophy to be successful at Illinois, a school with good potential in a state with good, if not great, talent.

Time at Toledo:

Time at Toledo:

Coach Beckman inherited a mess at Toledo. The team was coming off a 3-9 record, and had lost scholarships because of academic issues, and had a dark cloud hanging with a point shaving incident.

Coach Beckman turned the program around in three years with hard work and exceptional drive. The Rockets improved to 8-4 under Coach Beckham during the last two seasons. This feat is noteworthy as the Rockets played good competition and finished as Co Champs of the West Division of the MAC. In the two seasons the Rockets recorded a 14-2 MAC record, and finished with a Military Bowl Victory.

Philosophy:

If Coach Beckman follows script, Illinois will play a version of the spread offense, have a wide-open philosophy and superior special teams. He will recruit hard with an emphasis on speed and will hit the state of Florida aggressively.

Coach Beckman will attempt to put together a 1st class staff and let them coach. He almost landed former ND DC Jon Tenuta for example. Coach Beckman is a former recruiting coordinator and he will put this experience to work. His roots are in Ohio and we feel confident the Buckeye state will not be overlooked. In his recruiting efforts. If Coach Beckman has the same effect on Illinois as on Toledo we will have the Illini in the championship hunt shortly.

Will be a lot tougher to compete in the Big Ten at Illinois, but believe he can turn that program around from being one of the lower tier programs in the Big Ten to the middle tier on a regular basis and once in awhile battling for the top spot in their division kind of like the formula that Iowa uses right now.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff

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