Most reports said Thomas had plenty of money to work with at least in his courtship of Sumlin.
Correct. $3 million plus was on the table.
Most reports were wrong then. He was option 5
The money and where on the list Beckman was have nothing to do with each other. Coaches make what the market dictates they will make. There really aren't Power Five programs where their ability pay is more of a barrier than their ability to attract a coach who can command the big money.
Whitman offered $3.5 million per to Lovie on Day 1 of the job. You think he just found a pile of gold coins in a spare room of Bielfeldt? Don't be silly.
The option 5 thing is true. 1 was Butch Jones, 2 was Kevin Sumlin, 3 was Larry Fedora, 4 was Chris Petersen, and 5 was Beckman. But what difference does that make? Should Thomas not have done due diligence, seen how much money he had to play with and make great options like Sumlin and Petersen turn him down? He did the same thing with the basketball hire, and the hail mary for Brad Stevens was very nearly completed. One would think the Lovie miracle would make Illini fans realize the wisdom of chasing down longshots.
Thomas' mistake is not that Tim Beckman was his 5th choice, but that Pat Narduzzi and Paul Chryst were his 6th and 7th respectively, especially Narduzzi who he had worked closely with, had a great relationship with, and knew he was head coaching material. Now, it's easy to forget that this was well before Narduzzi was the hottest assistant on the market. He was a big piece in Dantonio's turnaround of MSU, but their defense hadn't yet become the talk of the nation.
But still, how you have a credible hire you know and like in hand, sit down for an interview with Tim Beckman and say "I'm pushing all my chips into the middle for THIS GUY", it's never going to make sense. Yes, he got glowing reviews from Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer, yes his turnaround of Toledo was very impressive, yes, things might have been quite different if he had been able to bring Matt Campbell and his whole staff along. But....how can you have a conversation with that guy and hand him a seven figure check and put your career in his hands? I'll never understand.
Chalk it up to Thomas' aversion to hiring a coach without head coaching experience
This is correct. This is why Narduzzi was told he didn't get the job, as well as what Thomas said publicly. Using that as a litmus test is truly bizarre.