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."

stltoday.com