Beckman hires Tim Banks as defensive coordinator

University of Illinois head coach Tim Beckman announced the hiring of Tim Banks, who spent the past two seasons as co-defensive coordinator at Cincinnati, as defensive coordinator for the Illini on Tuesday. Banks oversaw an impressive defensive turnaround for the Bearcats over the past two years, which propelled them to a six-win improvement from 2010 to 2011.

"Tim Banks is a great fit for the University of Illinois," Beckman said. "He led an outstanding defense at Central Michigan and made a great improvement at Cincinnati this past season. Tim and I worked together at Bowling Green and I consider him one of the brightest young coaches in the nation. Tim will run a very aggressive defensive system that will work very well with our personnel."

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