With Tim Beckman now officially dismissed, we re-live his ten funniest instances of poor media skills while leading the University of Illinois. We are republishing this from September 23rd, last year. So this is before the “OSKEE” train wreck at Big Ten Media Day this year, the “you take away 10 plays, 30 points and we win” or whatever that was after Purdue, and numerous other gaffes.
Enjoy
Tim Beckman is somewhere between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin when it comes to public speaking abilities. At his worst, he can be Rick Perry level bad. As I pointed out in my weekly radio spot on 1620 The Zone on Tuesday, Beckman is often a bit lacking in “talky-talk” abilities.
Consider this a “greatest misses” album: ten instances of Tim Beckman saying something goofy, unintelligent, or otherwise unprofessional.
1. Food fetishes
This list is not in any particular order. It’s a very subjective and arbitrary listicle. Beckman’s food references at press conferences have diminished, and they were innocent and harmless enough. Still, Tim Beckman introduced himself to Illini Nation by making way too many lasagna references in his opening press conference. He then followed that up by centering his first spring game around a Jimmy Johns bet. Then there was “STEAKS AND CAKES!”
Again, it’s not heinous. Kind of cute actually. But could ever imagine John Mackovic or Mike White doing something like this?
2. Stolen slogan? W.I.N.T.
A Chicago talk radio station over-plays the drop of Tim Beckman saying “our motto is W.I.N. Whatever is needed today.” You’re missing a letter there coach. Also, W.I.N. (What’s Important Now) is Northwestern’s slogan, and they had it first. I pressed Becks on this at 2013 Big Ten Media Day, and he claimed that he used the catch-phrase back in 2006 at Bowling Green. In the grand scheme of things though, who really needs these motivational cat poster slogans anyway?
3. Mispronouncing his own player’s name
Austin Teitsma: is it “Tights-mah?” or “Teets-ma?”
Becks didn’t know last year, and I’m not sure if I do anymore at this point.
4. The chewing tobacco incident in 2012
This is not what Tim Beckman said, but what he did. And his mouth was involved. If you’ve been a head coach in the MAC for several years, you should know better. You would think Becks would have had a thorough understanding of basic sideline rules and regulations.
5. 2014 National Signing Day Shot at Northwestern
There’s nothing like cherry-picking your recruiting class facts in order to take an unwarranted shot at your rival to the north. Especially when those cherry-picked stats and rankings end up being wrong and make you look foolish. Oh, and your recruiting class itself is rated much lower than NU’s class. The “state of Chicago” and “the team that’s actually in Chicago” (when it’s actually in Evanston) was a nice touch.
6. Not one, but two GEMS in the Emerald City last weekend
“We won the second half” — Tim Beckman
Yes, but that’s because you were down 35-5 by the second quarter, and Washington had class enough to not run up the score on you. You won the second half because the final two quarters were in fact “garbage time.”
7. “You take three plays and 21 points out of this game and we’re right in it” — Tim Beckman
Okay, well if you take away the three meals where I ate deep fried cheese mixed with bacon grease and sausage gravy, well then I ate quite healthy today. Also, removing those 21 points STILL HAS you losing by four!
8. Openly recruiting Penn State players in the wake of NCAA sanctions
This was a big topic at Tim Beckman’s first Big Ten Media Day in 2012. It made the program look like amateur hour. No other Big Ten school went to go aggressively poach PSU players. Then the coaching staff’s PR spin of what went down in State College was also bush league. Oh, and the only thing that came from this black eye for the program?
A back-up OL who never even played at Illinois and then transferred to a FCS school. So all that ill will created for absolutely nothing.
9. LOUD NOISES!!!! I DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE YELLING ABOUT!!!
Although Beckman has phased out this habit, there have been too many times when he’s sounded a lot like…..“MY NAME IS PHIL DAVISON AND I’M RUNNING FOR STARK COUNTY TREASURER.”
Tim Beckman was trending on Twitter nationally during 2013 Big Ten Media Day, simply because he WAS TALKING TOO LOUD
10. Miscellaneous but consistent unprofessional press conference behavior
“Did I do good?” Beckman asked moderator Doug Meffley at 2014 Big Ten Media Day once his session at the podium was completed.
“No questions from the phone line? cool!” is how Beckman closed another presser last year. It’s funny enough, but again it comes off as someone who’s in over this head. Not really a major issue, at least he shows some personality. And these pressers often badly need some color. However, imagine Nick Saban or Mark Dantonio acting like this.
In summation, all of these gaffes, as funny as they are, pale in comparison to Beckman’s record on the field. At Illinois, he’s 1-18 versus teams from the power five conferences. Also, that one win came at the hands of the worst Purdue team in a generation. He may be 3-1 this year. However, he beat two mid-majors and a FCS team. Beckman needed late desperation points in all three games in order to win.
Last year they started 3-1 and you saw the dumpster fire that was conference play. This season’s 3-1 non-conference results are much less impressive than last year’s. So the argument about whether to retain or Tim Beckman or not at the end of the year is, as they say in the legal world, “an open and shut case.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 the Zone.
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