Consider this my resignation as the conductor of the runaway freight train that is the “Defend Tim Beckman” debacle, as it’s all but a spec on the horizon after Illinois embarrassed themselves Saturday afternoon against Purdue.
In defending Tim Beckman, I wasn’t expecting the man to come in and be the new Urban Meyer, Hugh Freeze or Lane Kiffin, but I did expect him to come in and show us a somewhat resemblance of progress over the first few years.
I wrote about this time last year, I thought Beckman was getting unfair criticism from the Illinois fan, and I’m not going to rehash all that but at this point, what I saw first hand Saturday, I’m at a point I can’t defend this man any longer.
This team stinks.
Actually, let me be more specific: this coaching staff STINKS! The players on the field have talent and ability. I truly believe that. I believe Wes Lunt, Geronimo Allison, and Mike Dudek are All Big Ten type talents.
I believe this defense has the ability to be at the very least competitive against the likes of Purdue or a Texas State like opponent. But what I’m watching on that field on a week after week basis is an absolute disgrace. I think guys like Carroll Phillips, Jihad Ward and TJ Neal are exceptional talents, but they are not getting used correctly.
The poor coaching and criticism needs to go well past Tim Beckman, though the majority of the blame is going to fall on him and for good reason.
I’m going to start with defensive coordinator Tim Banks.
For three years now, Illinois has zero pass rush. The Illini have been at the bottom of the league in sacks as a team for three years under Tim Banks. In fairness, let’s see if not bringing the extra bodies on the rush is paying off in the coverage down the field? Oh wait, Illinois was at the bottom of the COUNTRY in pass defense last year. And the year before that.
And the lack of a defense hasn’t changed. In 2014, this Illinois defense is 93rd in passing defense in the country and 111th in rushing defense in the country. Given the majority of their opponents are third rate, that is absolutely terrible.
Tim, honestly, can we get a pass rush of more than say, I dunno, four or five guys? I mean the standard offensive formation lines up five offensive lineman, that doesn’t include those formations that has a blocking tight end or a running back that sits in the backfield and chip blocks.
While I’m high on the young D-lineman Illinois puts up front, none of them are good enough to win one on one matchups regularly, and when they do, it’s only one or two guys that actually get free.
I can count for you on one of my hands the number of times I have seen Illinois bring more than five guys on a pass rush.
Too many times are we watching pass rushers get within a fingers grasp of the QB, only to watch him escape and find an open receiver down field because the secondary can’t hold up as receivers break off their routes to help their QB.
Can we also get Carroll Phillips on the field more? The man is a beast at the LEO position (a weakside linebacker, I consider them to be a linebacking edge rusher) and has a sack, a fumble recovery and if I’m not mistaken has even forced a fumble. I think he could exponentially improve the Illinois pass rush.
I’d be OK with things if my only complaint was Illinois isn’t getting a pass rush, but clearly the problems go well beyond that.
Saturday, I froze my butt off in the stands watching Illinois make an absolutely terrible Purdue team look like Nebraska or Wisconsin running the ball down the field at will. And when I say “terrible”, I don’t just mean like Illinois terrible, but one of the worst football programs in the country annually for a number of years now.
It wasn’t so much the effectiveness with which Purdue ran the football Saturday because Akeem Hunt is actually a very good running back. But the absolute ridiculous play calling from a defensive standpoint was appalling to say the least.
I watched Hunt wear the Illini out between the tackles all afternoon. In fact, I’d contend it was only on a limited basis Hunt actually got outside the tackles to run the ball, and when I say he got outside the tackles, I mean in a designed run, such as a stretch or pitch. But in the 2nd quarter, the Boilermakers have the ball on a third and short and hand the ball off to Hunt who runs right through the Illinois defense for a 54-yard touchdown.
To me that was the turning point of the game. But what really grinds my gears about the play, is Purdue is lined up in a three wide set, Illinois is in a standard nickel defense. Now on third and short, it would make sense Purdue is probably going to a short pass play or a run. So what does Illinois do, they put two linebackers in the box with one safety back because STAR Earl Thomas is coming on a blitz from the strong side.
Hunt hits the hole, the Illini’s best defensive player is no where near the play because he’s bull rushing the left tackle and because they’re blocking six and only need five, Hunt has one man to beat, runs right by him and rumbles into the end zone in the play that really turned the tide for Purdue.
But the defensive breakdowns didn’t end there.
On an 80 yard TD pass to tight end Danny Anthrop, Zane Petty takes an absolutely terrible route to Anthrop who’s running the sideline, Petty misses the tackle and the slowest skill player on the field takes it to the house for another tide turning play in arguably, the worst loss of the Tim Beckman era.
While Petty’s terrible route and missed tackle isn’t all on coaching, what makes the play all the more embarrassing is Anthrop had pretty much conceded he was going to get tackled or knocked out of bounce, but instead found himself with 40 yards of free space to trot on into the end zone.
Petty’s disgraceful attempt at a tackle and the many big plays Purdue was able to rattle off was too much an indicator of how poorly coached this defense is.
The tackling for Illinois has been so poor in recent years it’s no wonder teams run and throw all over them.
I can’t kill the players though for all the short falls. Banks on multiple occasions discusses “putting [his] guys in positions to be successful”.
If that’s his standard and he feels the play calling and game planning he’s doing is adequate, then Tim I’ve got a message for you: You have failed miserably. Not only does your unit regularly fail to bring the QB down or any player for that matter, you regularly fail to have the team prepared.
What about the 28 point first quarter in Washington in week 3? Need I point out the ridiculous start Ameer Abdulah had in the Nebraska game? How about Akeem Hunt running all over Illinois like the second coming of Mike Alstott? The inability of the Illinois defense to improve is less about the personnel on the field, and more the flaws of the Illini schemes.
If Tim Beckman isn’t relieved of his head coaching duties this week, can we as a fan base, at least be spared of the absolute asinine play calling and breakdowns in fundamentals on defense?
And while this week in particular, there has been a spike in Illinois fans calling for Tim Beckman’s job, and rightfully so, the cry isn’t anything he’s not immune to. However, I think the expectation is once Beckman is out, Illinois is going to land the next big coach in the landscape of college football, and folks, I’m here to tell, that is not happening.
Let me repeat that. That. Is. Not. Happening.
The whole mindset of the Illini fan is quite frankly befuddling.
Prior to the disolvance of the BCS Bowl Series, Illinois played in just two BCS Bowl games in the 25 year history of the series, and in both games were absolutely spanked. In fact, leading up to both games, it was heavily argued Illinois was very much out of place. Now this was all of course prior to the introduction of the Big Ten Championship game, but none-the-less, those arguments at the time were not only valid, but legitimized by their performance against national championship caliber teams.
The Illini’s last National Championship was in 1951 and it’s last Big Ten Championship was in 2001. And since 2000, Illinois has appeared in just four bowl games. Not fourteen, not four BCS games, not four New Year’s Day or New Year’s Eve Bowl games, but four TOTAL bowl games.
At the Division I college level, finishing with a winning season, no matter how mediocre it may have been, basically means you’ve qualified to play in a bowl game. And guess what, four bowl games since 2000 means Illinois has had four winning seasons since 2000.
With all that said, I have absolutely no idea what makes any competent Illinois fan think up and coming coaches want to come to the University of Illinois to coach.
Let’s continue to keep logic in play here. Jobs like the University of Southern California, Auburn University, Ohio State, Washington, UCLA, Texas and many, many others are frequently opening up.
Again, what on God’s green earth makes anyone on planet earth think a coach is going to transplant their family to Champaign, Illinois for a short three year stint, to rebuild a non-football school, for fans that have unrealistic expectations, for a historic losing program, when jobs like the ones mentioned above are constantly coming available?
No young, middle-aged, or experienced coach of any sort is going to do that.
Now, Illinois might get a hot-shot assistant from somewhere like Alabama or Oregon or Michigan State, but that guy isn’t staying around long, because Illinois isn’t a place you go for longevity. You go to Illinois to show you can recruit Chicago and the midwest, then you end up at the big school.
Sound familiar? It should, because that’s exactly what Bill Self did. Yes, I am well aware Bill Self coached basketball, and we’re discussing football. But truth be told, Illinois is a stepping stone for elite coaches like Bill Self, in football and basketball. Football especially because there is zero winning tradition here in the 21st century.
Like it or not, it’s a fact.
So who does Illinois get?
Well you go get a Tim Beckman like coach.
Yes, I realize Tim Beckman has completely failed as the head coach of this football team. But it’s the guy like Beckman you get.
Stepping stone guys or young hot shot coaches can’t be your target because eventually your program will fall apart. Do I have a guy in mind? No. I really don’t.
The coaching landscape of college football right now is so shaky given the Michigan job is likely to open up, whether it’s during the year or after the season is over. My guess is Jim Harbaugh gets pulled back to the college ranks, which could shake things up even farther. I’m sure there are going to be guys that go pro as those jobs open up, but this expectation that Illinois deserves a winner is beyond logical, it’s completely make believe.
I’m as big of an Illinois fan as the next guy, but no one has been able to turn this program into a consistent winner, and until the institution invests in someone who will be here long term to do that, it just isn’t going to happen.
There’s a lot of intriguing names out there, but those guys are just waiting for the next Texas or USC to pop open so they can get back in the game. Hell they may even settle for an Iowa or Northwestern before they’ll come to Illinois.
Now for recruiting.
I can’t even recount how many articles I’ve read complaining about Illinois not being able to keep the best high school football players in the state.
Much like a young coach, why would any player in Illinois come to Champaign when there’s not only greener pastures the same distance in every cardinal direction but south, but there’s literally greener pastures farther south and west.
Again, this idea that Illinois kids should want to come to Illinois isn’t logical. And for fans to expect Tim Beckman to walk into the living room of players like Clifton Garrett, a freshman LB at LSU, or Niles Morgan, a freshman LB at Notre Dame, and convince them to come to Illinois after just a year and a half is an insult to their intelligence when guys like Brian Kelly and Les Miles have likely been after them twice as long.
Hell, in less than a year, not even John Groce, who is just now proving to be quite a recruiter, could convince the state’s top basketball player, Cliff Alexander, to come to Illinois.
Football recruiting is a much deeper game than basketball recruiting.
And don’t look now, but Beckman has in fact, landed the state’s second best prospect in 4-star Jacksonville OL Gabe Megginson.
In fact, Darius Mosely and Aaron Bailey were also 4-star in state recruits Beckman was able to land. The argument could easily be made they were Ron Zook guys, which isn’t completely unfair, but I think due credit does need to go Beckman’s way for keeping them on board in the midst of the coaching change.
In fact, prior to Beckman, Zook’s last decent prospect was 4-star recruit Terry Hawthorne, in 2010.
Don’t mistake this for me defending Beckman, because as I said before, I think the man has done a horrendous job at the helm of this program, and after the worse loss under his tutelage, I think Illinois needs to go a different direction.
What I am saying though is, don’t always judge a book by it’s cover.
There’s something to be said for developing players and recruiting within a system. There’s also more to college football than landing that top 10 class, a 74th ranked class has been known to produce 8 wins after two years.
Look at Mike Dudek, the three star Chicago prospect is likely to the Big Ten Freshman of the Year at the rate he’s going, and widely wasn’t known before about week two or three for Illinois fans. Those are the kinds of guys Illinois should want. Not exclusively, but sometimes blue chip players give you more than a four or five star recruit does.
Plenty of programs operate this way and are more than successful doing so.
