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

[Jabber Jabber]

Originally Posted by illinidarrin

The only thing i worry about is the fact that other coaches may use this against us in recruiting. They really didn't have anything on Beckman before. Now, they can say to a kid " do you want to go to a school that is coached by a guy that has no ethics and is pretty slimy with his tactics?" You know thats going to come up when we are in a recruiting battle with these other schools now.

Yes, they could. But most successful coaches are considered slimy by opposing fan bases. It's just too bad that Beckman is being painted as such by the biggest sports media company in the world. We all know it's a complete farce, but sadly, if a lie gets spread around enough, most people accept it as fact.

I think this (non)issue goes away in a couple more days. If not, and we're still hearing about this during camp, TB should visit Bristol to state his case and confront those who think he was in the wrong (Mike & Mike, DICK, etc).

This slander has gotten out of hand.

[dansaint]

someone needs to point this out to DICK.

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/28/sp...u-players.html

Penn State played this same game back when SMU got their penalty.

[Mark Seifert]

Originally Posted by Jabber Jabber

Yes, they could. But most successful coaches are considered slimy by opposing fan bases. It's just too bad that Beckman is being painted as such by the biggest sports media company in the world. We all know it's a complete farce, but sadly, if a lie gets spread around enough, most people accept it as fact.

I think this (non)issue goes away in a couple more days. If not, and we're still hearing about this during camp, TB should visit Bristol to state his case and confront those who think he was in the wrong (Mike & Mike, DICK, etc).

This slander has gotten out of hand.

First off, sports media basically invented trolling decades before the internet started.

This stuff is designed to get a rise out of people, and somehow -- year after year -- fans don't get that, and it keeps working. And rival fans come into sports fan forums month after month (see: Hunterpsu) with the specific purpose of riling people up, and it pretty much works every time -- no matter how obvious it is.

Second off, winning is all that matters to the sports media in these scenarios.

USC hires a coach with a dodgy history, and recruits a PSU player just a year or two after USC itself gets spanked by the NCAA? WOO! Illinois recruits PSU players hard because we're just trying to reboot our program? BOO! What's the difference? I'll let you judge that.

Kentucky nudges a well regarded National Championship-winning coach out the door, and eventually hires a notorious coach with two vacated Final Fours? WOO! Illinois fires a coach who is a good guy but has had awful w/l record in recent years, giving him a year or two longer than most other major progams would have? BOO! What's the difference? I'll let you judge that.

Guys, it's all about the W's to the media and to our rivals. Don't let anybody tell you different. History is written by the victors.

[Dan]

Nice find dansaint

[DaytonIllini]

Originally Posted by dansaint

someone needs to point this out to DICK.

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/28/sp...u-players.html

Penn State played this same game back when SMU got their penalty.

Classic.

[illiram]

This "holier than thou" attitude from the other Big 10 coaches is cracking me up.

Bret Bielema is the biggest bully in the Big 10. How many times have we seen him run up the score on mediocre teams?

Pat Fitzgerald will always dislike Illinois since we didn't recruit him harder in 1990.

Urban Meyer should take his whole team out for tattoos....his treat.

Dick Vitale should stick to basketball and lusting over Duke and North Carolina.

These people are starting to annoy me. I love our new coach Tim Beckman for having the balls to send our assistant coaches to Happy Valley wearing Illini gear. Our coaches have nothing to hide. This guy isn't going to be afraid to go for it on 4th and 1. He is putting us on the college football map with this controversy....I love it!!!!

[msphdillini]

First time in 26 years, I agree with Dick Vitale.

[DaytonIllini]

The only thing I regret is that they didn't arrive in Happy Valley in Snacks's old car with the Illini marching band and the Chief marching behind them.

Even if we get nothing out of this player-wise, I am glad it happened. I don't want coaches that cheat but I want coaches that work hard and are not afraid to beat every bush.

[Illini125]

I don't think the negative recruiting thing will be an issue at all. Even without this, it's always going to be part of the recruiting game and even though Beckman is new on the scene and we're assuming the other coaches don't have any material on him, they probably already have plenty. If we're worried about other coaches describing him as "slimy and shady" or whatever, I'm pretty sure coaches have been targeting guys like Urban Meyer with that one for awhile now and it hasn't hurt him.

Compared to the negative recruiting that went on against Zook- lame duck coach, will be fired any day now, no job security, below average coaching skills. I can't see this story being any worse for Beckman's recruiting than the last few years of Zook recruiting gave us.

[FormerIllini]

Please, oh please, illinifan31 tell me you sent that link to Dickie V. I think it's time for him to be put in his place.

[mdonsbach]

Originally Posted by FormerIllini

Please, oh please, illinifan31 tell me you sent that link to Dickie V. I think it's time for him to be put in his place.

You bet!!!

https://twitter.com/Illinifan4life/s...89996992368640

Ironically I have seen no response from him...go figure.

[UofIChE06]

I know most of you hate them but they are still a destination school.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ir-commitments

The we Breneman referred to are wide receiver Will Fuller, quarterback Christian Hackenberg, defensive lineman Garrett Sickels, and offensive linemen Brendan Mahon and Andrew Nelson.

Looks like they are keeping most of their high level recruits.

[Ransom Stoddard]

Originally Posted by msphdillini

First time in 26 years, I agree with Dick Vitale.

Agree with him for what? He's working without facts and with a clear agenda. His "other Illini fans agree" statements are pretty much nonsense as well. Except, maybe, for msphdillini.

[Illini125]

Originally Posted by UofIChE06

I know most of you hate them but they are still a destination school.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ir-commitments



Looks like they are keeping most of their high level recruits.

I don't think it's too surprising that those guys are sticking around. They're either too attached to the school already, or maybe don't care about the punishments. When scholarship reductions start to hit and the negative recruiting starts, that's when the trouble will begin.

It only takes a few transfers to get the ball rolling, and if they're at key positions that will hurt them as well.

[illinifaninaz]

Man I love all you guys on Illinoisloyalty proving Duke Vitale wrong I will never like that guy baby!!

[Illini125]

If I recall, Vitale was defending Paterno back in November when people were calling for him to be fired. So no surprise he says stuff like this. The outrage over this story vs what happened at Penn State is just ridiculous. Can't wait for this story to blow over. It will eventually, but that's the thing about offseason storylines. When you're starved for info, you'll milk everything as long as possible.

Why was he even talking about football anyway?

[illinifan31]

Originally Posted by FormerIllini

Please, oh please, illinifan31 tell me you sent that link to Dickie V. I think it's time for him to be put in his place.

He actually said that he doesn't mind if it's other schools recruiting PSU players, just not Big 10 Schools, and not in the "manner" we did it in apparently. I told him that Iowa and Purdue admitted to probably going after them, and why he called out just us, but he never replied.

[IlliniSon]

I'm sure the current group of Penn State players THOUGHT they were being recruited to a REPUTABLE university with a GREAT tradition. Now that the facts are known, they have every right to leave and pursue their best interests. Beckman & staff did the right thing. Dickie V should shut his pie hole and consider the rights of the players and how they were lied to by the previous administration.

[foby]

Originally Posted by Illini125

Why was he even talking about football anyway?

Same reason he talks about baseball......HE LOVES TO HEAR HIMSELF TALK!

[foby]

Originally Posted by dansaint

someone needs to point this out to DICK.

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/28/sp...u-players.html

Penn State played this same game back when SMU got their penalty.

Karma's a *****

[mattcoldagelli]

If you were to start a list of the people who encourage the lionization of coaches in college sports, Vitale would be at or near the top of it.

[Sybok]

Dick Vitale‏@DickieV

Recruiting PSU kids-ILLINOIS 1st class school but reports how they visited bothered me. Legal but let them call u @ ur campus! #ORANGECRUSH

Someone should tweet and let DukieV know that they did contact UI coaching staff first. It was clear long before he posted this stuff on twitter. What a goofball.

[WinOrElse]

Originally Posted by mattcoldagelli

If you were to start a list of the people who encourage the lionization of coaches in college sports, Vitale would be at or near the top of it.

That's no lie. Especially when it came to Paterno. Vitale is part of the problem, not the solution. I appreciate his enthusiasm, to a point, but I've always thought of him as a gutless hypocrite. This whole affair just enforces that opinion.

http://espn.go.com/espn/dickvitale/s...o-was-one-kind

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sport...pinion-despite

[IlliniX]

Originally Posted by illiram

This "holier than thou" attitude from the other Big 10 coaches is cracking me up.

Bret Bielema is the biggest bully in the Big 10. How many times have we seen him run up the score on mediocre teams?

Pat Fitzgerald will always dislike Illinois since we didn't recruit him harder in 1990.

Urban Meyer should take his whole team out for tattoos....his treat.

Dick Vitale should stick to basketball and lusting over Duke and North Carolina.

These people are starting to annoy me. I love our new coach Tim Beckman for having the balls to send our assistant coaches to Happy Valley wearing Illini gear. Our coaches have nothing to hide. This guy isn't going to be afraid to go for it on 4th and 1. He is putting us on the college football map with this controversy....I love it!!!!

What did Dookie V. say?

[Dan]

Penn State players fair game

Criticism of Illinois coach and his pursuit of transfers is misplaced.

Now that the NCAA has hit the school with severe sanctions, the Penn State players have the opportunity to go somewhere and play immediately. That's what NCAA president Mark Emmert said when he hit the program with the four-year bowl ban, and that's why new Illinois coach Tim Beckman immediately dispatched members of his coaching staff to State College to talk to several Penn State players about the possibility of coming to play for the Illini.

But then Beckman had to deal with a ton of wrong-placed backlash. People were acting like he was stealing players. He wasn't. They acted like he was doing something unethical to Penn State, you know, hitting them when they were down. But he wasn't, and neither was any other school that put in inquiries about the Penn State players and actively recruited them.

"We're just following rules," Beckman told reporters at the Big Ten football media days, explaining that Penn State was informed of the entire process. "It wasn't a sneak attack. It was all out front."

http://www.stltoday.com/penn-state-p...9a329a1a7.html