Illinois coach: No regrets going after Penn State players
Illinois coach Tim Beckman, whose team opens Big Ten play Saturday against Penn State, said he had no regrets about going after some Nittany Lions players other than how much attention it got.
Illinois coach: No regrets going after Penn State players
Joe Juliano
Tim Beckman of Illinois is one of three first-year head coaches in the Big Ten, but it didn’t take him long to get on the bad side of Nittany Nation when it was discovered he had sent coaches to State College to recruit Penn State players shortly after the NCAA assessed harsh sanctions against the football program.
It just so happens the Nittany Lions will begin Big Ten play, for the first time under head coach Bill O’Brien, on Saturday at Illinois.
So Beckman was asked if he had any regrets about going after Penn State players last July and causing ill feelings among a wide cross-section of fans, players such as Michael Mauti, and perhaps coaches (who have not complained publicly).
“This game is developed, I believe, for opportunity,” Beckman said at his weekly news conference. “When we had that opportunity to go out and ask young men if they were … to come to us and tell you that they would like an opportunity to speak to us. That’s what college football is about.
“I regret that it ended up being this talk-about but it did give a young man the opportunity to make his decision on what he wanted to do.”
Beckman did not identify the player. Offensive lineman Ryan Nowicki, a redshirt freshman who has Illinois roots, eventually transferred to play for the Fighting Illini.
Beckman said he was following “what the NCAA allowed us to do.” In announcing sanctions, the NCAA said coaches could visit Penn State players, who would be allowed to transfer without having to sit out a year.
Beckman said someone from his staff received a call before the sanctions came out from a Penn State player and that he pursued it. When eight members of his staff arrived in State College, he said he got word out to “them,” suggesting more than one player, “that we would be off-campus.
“If they’d like to, they could (contact us). If they didn’t like to, then we wouldn’t pursue them any further.”
Beckman said he spoke with O’Brien in Chicago but it wasn’t clear if the matter had been resolved in that conversation.
“I hope so,” Beckman said. “But this game is about the players and about playing on the field. I know they’ll be prepared and I believe that coach O’Brien does a great job … I know coach O’Brien does a great job getting his players prepared and ready. It’s going to be a 60-minute battle, no question.”
O’Brien was not available for comment. He will address the media Tuesday at his weekly teleconference.
Mauti, who was a vocal critic of coaches going after Penn State players, chose not to directly answer a question after Saturday’s win over Temple regarding how he felt about meeting Illinois. He was not among the list of players whom the football program is making available this week to speak with the media.
Asked how his team would match the anticipated intensity from Penn State, Beckman said it shouldn’t be a problem “because it’s a Big Ten football game.”
--Joe Juliano
I hope PSU goes 0-50 in for the next few years.- Guess you already lost that one. By the way, shouldn't your parents be monitoring your computer access? I assume you are about 6 years old because no adult goes by the name BIlli...unless of course you are...never mind you catch my drift. — Penfold18
- If they only win one more game this year, I hope it is this one.— Penfold18
- It's widely known in NCAA circles that Beckham would **** a snake if he could get someone to hold it for him. If Beckham was in an automobile accident, not a lawyer in this country would bother to chase the ambulance. It's believed that 45 Univ. of Illinois sports donors have withheld pledges following his actions at State College. In those circles, Beckham is thought of as a vulture. According to some, "there are just some things you just don't do." In response, Beckham reportedly said, "What do you mean?"— Claudio Vernight
- The death penalty would have been more appropriate...count your blessings— cb54
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“When we had that opportunity to go out and ask young men if they were … to come to us and tell you that they would like an opportunity to speak to us. That’s what college football is about.".... What a jerk.
— ACBaughman - Given how weak the Big Ten is this year, PSU should be in every game and contend for the division title. If that happens they may be able to get the number one QB recruit and TE recruit who have both verbally committed to stay. Hopefully then they can stay competitive until these unwarranted and draconian sanctions that were handed down by the hypocritical and inept NCAA without any due process are lifted.— psualum2000
- Not nieve to what the rules are in college FB recruiting but I think the NCAA needs to look at themselves! The sanctions put on PS way too harsh but it was a way to show power plus picking up extra millions! Beckman was within the rules and I just hope coaches with his values pay for their actions.
— bill poore - No legal procedings. No investigation by the NCAA. No checking on the accuracy of the Freeh report. Just the decision of 1 man, Emmertof thge NCAA, and a Penn State admin istration and board of trustees that just want the situation to go away. Innocent football players and a new coaching staff that wasn't even marginally involved in the Sandusky scandal were the ones to pay the price. If Freeh suspected that other PSU personnel were involved in covering up the Sandusky atrocities, it should have named names. If it was only the 3 indicted administrators and the dead football coach, why should the rest of the univerity be singled out for punishment?— Drumgoole
- Coach Beckman lacks the class to be a major college head coach. Illinios is a second-tier B1G institution anyway and if there is one time that PSU should roll up the score--this is it! Kneel down and throw the bomb! Curious to see if more PSU fans are at the game than the home team.— Larz13
This season is Joe's fourth season on the paper's Penn State beat. He previously covered the Nittany Lions for United Press International from 1976 to 1984.
Emily Kaplan is the Inquirer’s fall intern covering the Nittany Lions. She is a senior at Penn State and has covered a variety of sports for the university’s student-run paper, The Daily Collegian. Over the last two years, she has reported for The Associated Press from State College.
A Montclair, N.J. native, she has also interned at MLB Network, NHL.com and covered the 2012 Olympics in London. Follow her on Twitter here @EKaplan24.
