Big Ten Football Media Days - Tim Beckman vs Bill O'Brien

[GeorgiaIllini]

The NCAA declared open season on PSU players. Our coaches are doing their job and seeing if they can make our team better in light of that change in the rules. They are also offering the PSU players an opportunity to avoid being victims themselves of the NCAA sanctions. This is a non-story.

Finally, I am not really sure why they felt the need to stay off the PSU campus - its not like that is holy ground or anything.

[IlliniKat91]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaIllini

The NCAA declared open season on PSU players. Our coaches are doing their job and seeing if they can make our team better in light of that change in the rules. They are also offering the PSU players an opportunity to avoid being victims themselves of the NCAA sanctions. This is a non-story.

Finally, I am not really sure why they felt the need to stay off the PSU campus - its not like that is holy ground or anything.

Probably because that would be crossing a line. I mean, it's one thing to not call a guy you don't know (when you aren't required to contact him, but his boss) about recruiting his guys. It's another entirely to go and actively recruit on another school's campus; it really would make us look classless to stand outside apartments and football facilities to try and pull in transfers.

Keep in mind, there's a reason why the ESPN story (and others) seemed to reflect so poorly on us: they implied that we were being ultra aggressive in recruiting transfers on another school's campus. The kind of bad PR we got from a false story seems to indicate that staying off campus was a wise move.

[Indicchief]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaIllini

The NCAA declared open season on PSU players. Our coaches are doing their job and seeing if they can make our team better in light of that change in the rules. They are also offering the PSU players an opportunity to avoid being victims themselves of the NCAA sanctions. This is a non-story.

Finally, I am not really sure why they felt the need to stay off the PSU campus - its not like that is holy ground or anything.

Sir, I know your intentions are right.

However, the issue - to be clear - is that the IL coaches were contacted.

To make the team better, etc is only after this fact. This detail should never get lost IMHO.

[Calvin]

Lotta sanctimonious bulls@#$ going on. ESPN of course is loving it --good for ratings/hits.

Insiders know this is just laughable posturing by certain partisan sports fans who don't understand how the NCAA has set up the playing field.

I heard a pro-Spartan sports personality saying how stupid these coaches were sounding (at least to him) getting on their high horse (including Sparty!). USC is not so stupid, and neither should any coach who can help his team by looking for talent that wants to have a chance on a bowl eligible team.

Teams and fans that want to hate Illinois will have a little more fuel on the fire, and that's ok. At least we're relevant.

[Dan]

IlliniProductionsHD

[KJKobs]

(PSU LB Michael) Mauti: "I know for a fact Illinois was after our players." He is very passionate and agitated by Illinois' actions.
@BTNTomDienhart

[AHSIllini32]

Well no crap Mauti! Our friggin coach came out and said we talked to your players! Jesus, it's like he's pissed that we are following NCAA rules. He can be as agitated as he wants, we'll put him in his place come the end of September.

[MadtownIllin]

Would love to have seen a reporter with the cajones to ask Meyer or Bielema if:
1. "Have you been contacted by any Penn State players?"
2. "If you were contacted by any Penn State players, would you open discussions with them on options for attending your program?"

It's easy to be on your sanctimonious high horse when either no one has called you or you have no interest in any of the players..:rolleyes:

[hermie1985]

One gets the feeling it would have been okay had PSU coffers been raided by the football elites. A PSU recruit headed to Illinois is unthinkable. Surely they are worthy of LSU, Alabama and the likes. This mentality isn't just College Station but nation wide. I have no doubt the football world expects the rebirth of Penn State from the ashes before Illinois ever figures into the national discussion. It is us against the world and I think Beckman's personality is A+ for that challenge. Go Tim!

[TyinLex]

Bravo Tim Beckman, Bravo.

[IlliniRunIn07]

Originally Posted by hermie1985

One gets the feeling it would have been okay had PSU coffers been raided by the football elites. A PSU recruit headed to Illinois is unthinkable. Surely they are worthy of LSU, Alabama and the likes. This mentality isn't just College Station but nation wide. I have no doubt the football world expects the rebirth of Penn State from the ashes before Illinois ever figures into the national discussion. It is us against the world and I think Beckman's personality is A+ for that challenge. Go Tim!

That's my thinking too. Dinner is ready to eat, but we're supposed to wait our turn while USC, UF, OSU, and all get the first serving. I like that Beckman doesn't think like that. We'll eat when we want to. That's the way it should be.

[scubadunk]

Originally Posted by MadtownIllin

Would love to have seen a reporter with the cajones to ask Meyer or Bielema if:
1. "Have you been contacted by any Penn State players?"
2. "If you were contacted by any Penn State players, would you open discussions with them on options for attending your program?"

It's easy to be on your sanctimonious high horse when either no one has called you or you have no interest in any of the players..:rolleyes:

I like how Brady Hoke said Michigan wouldnt recruit PSU players even though they already picked up one. Its like Bielema who says he wouldnt do it to a Big Ten team but freely goes after ACC quartbacks every year recruiting other teams players. Same thing the Illini did just less exposure because of the poor state of PSU football. The program did it to themselves not the players. Let the players decide what is right not the media or the other coaches.

[carmelillini]

Originally Posted by GilThorpe

I actualy find it ironic that PSU is now WAY MORE protective of 19 year old men than they were for 15 years of 10 year old boys. I scratch my head

[Dan]

There are no ground rules here other than the ones made up by the Illini's first-year head coach and his peers who have shown up in State College locked and loaded. They were ready to grab them some Nittany Lions when the NCAA announced those players could transfer without restriction. Beckman said two Penn State players even called him before Monday’s announcement of the NCAA penalties.

"There were certain individuals that reached out to us," Beckman said. "It wasn't that we were calling them blind."

Some might call it poaching, unethical, picking over the remains. The NCAA calls it legal and that's really all that matters. When the association burned Penn State to the ground on Monday, it did the right thing by releasing those players. But it didn't provide a handbook of best practices. The result: A program that has barely begun healing, now knows a new level of aggravation.

Dennis Dodd

[Dan]

Thresholds

Pat Fitzgerald has a problem with it... while trying to convince the NCAA that Kyle Prater is a hardship case and should not have to sit out a year for his transfer. Urban Meyer has a problem with it... after poaching four players from Penn State's 2012 class after the Sandusky allegations came out. Bret Bielema has a problem with it, and has even complained in the past about Urban Meyer bring "SEC recruiting" to the Big Ten by chasing Wisconsin's committed players last year, and then said today that he has no problem recruiting committed players "if they're interested in Wisconsin".

Isn't it fun to draw lines? To place thresholds? I'm OK in this instance, but not in that instance. This is OK, that's too far. I was against that last year, but I kinda need to do it this year. We all want to win, so we all adjust our stomach for blurry lines just enough to keep our food down.

http://alioneye.com/2012/07/26/thresholds/

[AHSIllini32]

From that article Dan linked above:

One Big Ten coach told CBSSports.com that he would feel like "a bag of [expletive]" if he solicited Penn State players. In the same breath, the coach admitted to telling his staff to monitor the Penn State roster, just in case.

Is this d*mn coach serious??? He contradicts himself in back to back sentences!!!!

[Illini125]

Mauti is such a dope. The way he says, "I know for a fact..." makes it sound like he did some detective work and broke the case open. Anyone who has been following this story at all knows it happened. There's no cover-up, no secret here. I saw some article where Mauti was calling the transfer punishment "a joke." TS buddy.

Also, he has a mullet and that requires no further comment.

[RHITIllini]

Originally Posted by Illini125

Mauti is such a dope. The way he says, "I know for a fact..." makes it sound like he did some detective work and broke the case open. Anyone who has been following this story at all knows it happened. There's no cover-up, no secret here. I saw some article where Mauti was calling the transfer punishment "a joke." TS buddy.

Also, he has a mullet and that requires no further comment.

He's a real Sherlock Holmes

[USNIlliniFan]

Originally Posted by Illini125

Mauti is such a dope. The way he says, "I know for a fact..." makes it sound like he did some detective work and broke the case open. Anyone who has been following this story at all knows it happened. There's no cover-up, no secret here. I saw some article where Mauti was calling the transfer punishment "a joke." TS buddy.

Also, he has a mullet and that requires no further comment.

He's probably upset 'cause nobody wants him. Seriously, as a coach I would be very hesitant to pick up a senior with the understanding of the scholarship implications for the next year.

[Dan]

QB @Scheelhaase2 signs a helmet for a young #Illini fan before #B1GFootball Kickoff luncheon: http://pic.twitter.com/NZFJhwuS


Coach Beckman and #Illini players sign autographs for fans prior to the #B1GFootball Kickoff Luncheon. http://pic.twitter.com/FDltDE7E


http://twitter.com/IlliniFootball

[Hunterpsu]

I thought the Illini coach did not come off as well as Wisconsin and Northwestern....Ohio state coach seemed confused...Purdue seemed needy of players...but off all it seemed that Illinois came off the worse..young college guys and future recruits likely turned off by his approach...

[RHITIllini]

Originally Posted by Hunterpsu

I thought the Illini coach did not come off as well as Wisconsin and Northwestern....Ohio state coach seemed confused...Purdue seemed needy of players...but off all it seemed that Illinois came off the worse..young college guys and future recruits likely turned off by his approach...

What are you even talking about?

[PeoriaSteve]

Originally Posted by AHSIllini32

Well no crap Mauti! Our friggin coach came out and said we talked to your players! Jesus, it's like he's pissed that we are following NCAA rules. He can be as agitated as he wants, we'll put him in his place come the end of September.

Yo, Mauti, your players contacted Illinois, idiot!

[Sybok]

Originally Posted by Hunterpsu

I thought the Illini coach did not come off as well as Wisconsin and Northwestern....Ohio state coach seemed confused...Purdue seemed needy of players...but off all it seemed that Illinois came off the worse..young college guys and future recruits likely turned off by his approach...

Nah. He comes off as being energetic and proactive. People who want to win play for guys like Beckman, not whiny coaches who make stuff up.

[lstewart53x3]

Originally Posted by Sybok

Nah. He comes off as being energetic and proactive. People who want to win play for guys like Beckman, not whiny coaches who make stuff up.

lol this guy doesn't even know the name of the illinois coach or any of the other coaches in the B1G for that matter. I don't know if he is the most credible source of info. Plus, he has psu in his name, so he's probs not an illini fan.