Illinois hires Beckman as football coach
Meh.
If you want excitement about Illinois' hire of Tim Beckman as football coach, look elsewhere. I could be wrong. Maybe the former Toledo coach is destined to be the next great legend in college football (and maybe he won't even have that story end as Joe Paterno's and Jim Tressel's just did). Even if he does, that probably means a few years of Bill Self-like success before Beckman moves on to greener pastures.
The 46-year-old Beckman went 21-16 at Toledo. Before that, he was the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State. He's also served as a graduate assistant at Auburn. It's not the worst resume in the world, but it hardly makes Beckman a can't-miss prospect. And it sure seems like the Illini are settling after they were rumored to be pursuing Houston coach Kevin Sumlin as recently as the middle of this week.
Ron Zook probably had to go, and I do prefer that Illinois went the up-and-comer route rather than hiring another retread like him. New athletic director Mike Thomas had made comments suggesting he was ready to make a splash, though, and Beckman isn't that.
