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Tim Beckman, that’s right Tim Beckman. For those of you who don’t know who he is, I will give you some background. For the last three seasons (2009-2011), Beckman was the head coach for the University Of Toledo. There he lead the Rockets to back to back 8 win seasons in 2010 and 2011. They also made back to back bowl game appearances during that span.
They lost the 2010 Little Ceasars {Motor City} Bowl, and this season he led Toledo to the Military Bowl. Beckman was unable to coach the game because of his hiring at Illinois, but Toledo defeated Air Force 42-41. Beckman’s first year at Toledo wasn’t so great though, the Rockets only went 5-7 in 2009. But Beckman has proven he can turn a program around.
When Tim Beckman took over the Toledo program, he replaced long time Rockets head coach Tom Amstutz. Amstutz did take the program to glory by leading them to two Mid American Conference championships and 4 MAC West Division championships between 2001 and 2005. The Rockets also went 2-2 in 4 bowl games during that span.
The Rockets were one of the best offensive teams in college football during that time. They’re power running attack produced NFL running backs like former Chicago Bear Chester Taylor. But rumors of recruiting violations and three straight losing seasons from 2006-2009 led to his demise. Tim Beckman was brought in from Oklahoma State where he was the defensive coordinator.
Under his leadership not only did Toledo’s defense improve, but they also changed the face of the offensive identity of the Rockets by bringing in the spread offense. Tim Beckman’s Rockets were one of the best scoring offenses in the Mid American Conference. The Illini already run a form of the spread led by Nathan Scheelhasse.
But defense was Illinois biggest weakness during the 2011 season. While Beckman may improve the Illini when it comes to X’s and O’s, the bigger question is whether or not Beckman will be able to recruit in Big Ten territory. For the immediate future, The Fighting Illini already have some pieces in place.
But in the long term, Tim Beckman will need to make some noise in the recruiting department in order to be successful at Illinois. But the Illini have already set the wheels in motion in a positive direction by defeating UCLA in the Kraft Fight Hunger bowl on New Years Eve. We can only hope and pray that better days are on the horizon for the Fighting Illini football team.
The Bears season may be over but the offseason is just getting started. After 10 years the powers that be at Halas Hall have finally pulled the plug on Jerry Angelo. He was fired from his general manager position on Monday. Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz and Quarterbacks Coach Shane Day will be leaving as well.
But Lovie Smith will remain the Head Coach of the Bears and now the search is on for a new general manager. Despite all that the Bears accomplished under Angelo, he hasn’t always made the best decisions. Before Jay Cutler, Angelo had paraded in some of the worst quarterbacks in NFL history. He wasn’t the best draft guy, and on many occasions he failed to land big free agents.
The Bears are still looking for that elusive super bowl title, and hopefully a new general manager with a fresh perspective can help the Bears finally get over the hump. And lastly we have a Terrell Owens update. There is both good news and bad. The good news is that he may finally have a team to play for in 2012.
It’s not an NFL team, instead it’s the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League located in suburban Dallas, Texas. Although nothing has been made official yet, reports are that the deal is worth six figures ranging from $250,000 to $500,000. But again nothing has been finalized and we will keep you updated.
As for the bad news, on Tuesday night T.O. used his Twitter account to announce the death of the grandmother whom he affectionately referred too as “Grandmama”. As documented on his VH1 reality show, she had been battling Alzheimers for many years. We here at Q101 send our thoughts and prayers with Terell and the Owens family.
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Well, we were hoping the unthinkable wouldn’t happen but it did. The Illinois Fighting Illini football program completed one of it’s worst seasons in school history. They started the season 6-0 with high hopes and a lot of promise. But they finished the season 0-6, their worst losing streak since the 2006 season when they lost 7 in a row. After Illinois lost their first 4 games, rumors about Ron Zook’s job security started buzzing.
But the Fighting Illini lost the final 2 games of the season, the last game was on Saturday a 27-7 loss to Minnesota. Minnesota was the 2nd worst team in the Big Ten this year, beating Illinois was only their 3rd victory of the season. And after this disaster of a season, Ron Zook was fired from his head coaching job on Sunday morning. His dismissal ends a 7 year reign in which he compiled 34 wins, 50 losses, no conference championships, finished 5th the Big Ten Leaders division this year, and only 1 bowl victory.
His recruiting ability has been called into question because while he had a winning season every year while coaching at the University Of Florida, he only had 3 winning seasons at Illinois. His success at Florida was mainly because he had some of Steve Spurrier’s leftover recruits. While at Illinois he used mostly his own recruits and was mostly unsuccessful. Ron Zook will eventually land on his feet. I predict that he will either coach a smaller university, or he will be hired as an assistant coach.
But now Illinois Athletic Director Mike Thomas has to find a new coach for the U of I’s football team. Should Illinois get into a bowl game this year, Defensive Coordinator Vic Koenning will be the Interim Head Coach for that game. But eventually a new coach and a new staff will be brought in for the 2012 season. As for candidates to replace Ron Zook are concerned, the coaches on everyone’s Christmas wish list have already been claimed.
Urban Meyer was hired this week by conference rival Ohio State, and former Michigan and West Virginia Head Coach Rich Rodriguez was named the new coach at Arizona. So who’s left? Well the name on the Illini faithful’s wish list is former Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach. Leach who was fired after the 2009 season for a controversial run-in with a Texas Tech player has not coached since then. And according to reports Mike Thomas has already received a flood of e-mails and phone calls demanding that Leach be hired as the new coach.
Leach is the man who invented the “Air Raid Offense” which was adapted as a spread offense which is now used by several college and high school teams. Leach who coached Texas Tech from 2000-2009, posted an overall record of 84-43, and posted a bowl game record of 5-4. He never won a Big 12 Conference title, but he did win the Big 12’s South Division in 2008 which was his best season at Texas Tech.
Before coaching the Red Raiders, Leach was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma during the 1999 season where he worked with eventual Heisman Trophy winner Josh Heupel. Before that he ran the offense at Kentucky for the 1997 and 1998 seasons where we worked with the number one draft pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, Tim Couch. Leach has a reputation of breeding record breaking quarterbacks. Aside from Tim Couch and Josh Heupel, Leach has also made prospects out of Graham Harrell, Kliff Klingsbury, and B.J. Symons. But Thomas has said that he will “take an appropriate course of action in finding a new football coach”. Another possible candidate could be recently fired UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel. Although his overall head coaching record stand at 87 wins and 58 losses, 3 of his 4 seasons at UCLA were losing seasons. This year the Bruins went 6-6 this year, and won the Pac-12 South Division by default because of USC’s football team being on probation. But it wasn’t a pretty season at all.
But Neuheisel is quite the offensive mind himself, he is a big proponet of the West Coast Offense. He is also a man with his own line of quarterbacks such as Kordell Stewart, Koy Detmer, Marques Tuiasosopo, and Cody Pickett. But only time will tell to see who will be Illinois’ next coach. But after the misfortunes with both Ron Zook and Ron Turner, I am sure the University Of Illinois will make the right decision this time around.
NBA Lockout Ends
On a couple of side notes unrelated to this matter, the NBA will open it’s practice facilities to players today. Players can workout, and strength/conditioning coaches along with medical personnel will be allowed to monitor workouts. However coaches and executives will not be allowed to attend workouts. But on the plus side, teams can speak with player agents. But no official deals can be made until the new labor agreement {Which came to light early Saturday morning} is officially ratified by both the players and owners.
NBA Commissioner David Stern has said that he hopes that teams can start making transactions on December 9th.
T.O. Touchdown?
As for the latest on free agent wide receiver Terrell Owens, there are rumors buzzing about that Owens could end up with the New England Patriots before the season is out. Owens’ agent Drew Rosenhaus has been spotted on the sidelines at Patriots games and has been seen visiting Patriots practices.
Even though Patriots Receiver Chad Johnson (No, “Ochocinco”) is also client of Rosenhaus, he normally doesn’t frequent teams sidelines as often as he has been with New England as of late. Could the addition of Owens push Johnson to become more effective on offense? Or would such an addition crash and burn like it did in Cincinnati? I guess we have to wait and see….
By Q101.com Blogga Gabe “The Animal” Salgado
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On the final week of college football’s regular season, the Illinois Fighting Illini football team has their backs against the wall. The 2011 season began with promise. After winning the Texas Bowl to finish the 2010 season on a high note, the Illini kicked it into high gear in the offseason. When the 2011 spring football program took place this year, there was a lot of buzz and excitement for the upcoming season. Quarterback Nathan Scheelhasse was ready to lead this team, Senior Running Backs Jason Ford and Troy Pollard were ready to anchor the ground game, and a group of young receivers and offensive linemen were ready for the big time.
And the Illini proved to be big time at the start of the season by winning the first 6 games. The offense was prolific, the defense was decent but had it’s moments, special teams was competitive, and it seemed like Ron Zook had finally poised his team to take over the Big Ten and make a run for the BCS. But then offensive production slowed down which in turn affected the defense. Special teams wasn’t so special, and the team fell apart which resulted in a 5 game losing streak.
How the Illini fall apart so fast still remains a mystery. Did the team get tired after the first 6 games? Did the Illini hit a string of bad luck? Or was it the fact that the Illini had an easy schedule for the first 6 games and then reality sunk in when conference play started? Whatever the case is, the Illini are in a fight to save the season. They are also in a fight to try and save Ron Zook’s job. In my previous report: http://q101.com/2011/11/joe-pa-may-not-be-the-last-big-ten-coach-to-exit/
I talked about Ron Zook’s coaching history and mentioned how he has always had solid teams but was unable to win conference championships and has a 1-4 record in bowl games. I also touched on his struggles with recruiting. While Illinois is bowl eligible this year, they could be left out of the postseason if they lose their final game this Saturday. Remember, not all 6 win teams get into bowl games. And the one’s that do have to make one heck of an impression on the bowl selection committee.
Perhaps arch-rival Northwestern will get a bowl over Illinois because the Wildcats have won 5 in a row compared to Illinois losing 5 in a row. There is also the Purdue Boilermakers who will be bowl eligible should they beat Indiana this weekend. They may get in a bowl game over Illinois because the Boliermakers own a victory over the Fighting Illini. Should Purdue win on Saturday, the Big Ten will have 10 bowl eligible teams.
And at the most only 6 or 7 will get a bowl game, especially if the Southeast Conference has anything to say about it. The best way for Illinois to improve their chances of going bowling is to win their final regular season game this weekend. And they have a perfect opportunity to do it when they head to Minnesota to play the Golden Gophers. Minnesota is the 2nd worst team in the Big Ten this season {Only Indiana is worse}.
Minnesota has only won 2 games all year, only 1 conference win, and last week they were the reason Northwestern became bowl eligible. I could only hope that the Illini have been busting their asses in practice this week and that the Illini team who started 6-0 will show up on Saturday. Not only are the Illini playing to save their season, they are also playing to help Ron Zook keep his job. But in all honesty, even a berth in the postseason may not be enough to keep Ron Zook employed at the University Of Illinois. But if this team truly cares about their coach and truly wants Ron Zook back next season, then the Fighting Illini must play like there is no tomorrow and beat Minnesota. The Illini Nation is currently holding their breath and praying for a miracle.
Also, the guys at High Motor Guy let me join in on their podcast this week. We discussed Jay Cutler’s injury: http://www.highmotorguy.com/2011/11/22/hmg-podcast-11-22-11/
By Q101.com Blogga Gabe Salgado
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Although he denied it in an interview yesterday, I think it is safe to say that Illinois Head Football Coach Ron Zook is on the hot seat. When asked about his job security Zook responded by saying “Now is not the time.” But he also said “I love the University Of Illinois and I want to stay here.” When he was asked further questions about his employment he immediately changed the subject. Ron Zook is in his 7th season as the head coach of the Fighting Illini football program.
This year the Illini started the season 6-0, but have gone 0-4 since then. During this losing streak the offense has gone downhill and the already shaky defense has gotten worse. While the Illini are already bowl eligible, many feel that the Illini can and should be doing much better than they are now. And I for one agree with that sentiment. While I think Ron Zook is a good coach when it comes to X’s and O’s, he still has his flaws such as recruiting and being able to take a program over the hump.
Let me remind you of Ron Zook’s head coaching history…… He first came to Illinois in 2005 after 3 seasons at the University Of Florida. He was originally the offensive coordinator for Steve Spurrier, he was named the Gators head coach after Spurrier left to coach the NFL’s Washington Redskins. Zook lead the Gators to 3 winning seasons between 2002-2004, compiling a record of 23 wins and 14 losses. Midway through the 2004 season, Florida announced that Ron Zook would be fired at the end of the season.
Although the university was not completely clear on the reason for his firing, there were many theories as to why. I have 2 main reasons for why he was fired: 1. He never won an SEC conference championship, nor did he win the SEC’s Eastern Division during his time there. And even though the Gators went to a bowl game every year during his time at Florida, they never went to a BCS bowl {2 Outback Bowl’s and a Peach Bowl}, and they lost every bowl game they played in. If I was an athletic director, I’d say 3 winning seasons is pretty damn good.
But college football is very political, especially with BCS schools. So Ron Zook was fired but was almost immediately hired by the University Of Illinois. Zook was hired to be the Fighting Illini’s head coach after previous coach Ron Turner left to become the offensive coordinator for the NFL’s Chicago Bears. Also leaving was the majority of Turner’s recruits who either graduated, turned pro, or transferred. There were some recruits who were still on board but for the most part Zook had to do his own recruiting for the 2005 season.
Zook was expected to make an impact from the start, but the Illini began a rebuilding process instead by going 2-9 {0-8 Big Ten record}, and finishing last in the conference. 2006 was even worse with a 2-10 record {1-7 Big Ten}, and finishing 10th in the conference that year. It seemed like the Fighting Illini were finally starting to turn the curve in 2007. That year they finished 9-3 behind Ohio State, and got an at-large bid to the Rose Bowl. It was Illinois first Rose Bowl appearance since 1984.
But Zook was still unable to get a bowl victory as the Fighting Illini fell 49-17 to the USC Trojans. After 2 more losing seasons {5-7 in 2008 and 3-9 in 2009}, the athletic department at Illinois decided to shake things up. They gave Ron Zook a new offensive coordinator in Paul Petrino, and made changes with a few position coaches as well. This resulted in a 6-6 2010 season and a victory in the Texas Bowl over Baylor. Even though Ron Zook finally got his first bowl game victory as a head coach, it still did not please the Illini nation. After the first 6 weeks of this season, it looked like the Illini were finally living up to Big Ten standards. They won their first 6 games of the season with sizeable margins of victory. The offense was running at full speed and the defense didn’t have much to worry about.
But since then the Illini has been on a 4 game losing streak, the offense has not been as productive and that has put the defense backs against the wall. This is been ongoing storyline with Ron Zook’s tenure at Illinois. And as much as I think Ron Zook is still a good coach, I also feel that his time may be running out at Illinois. The fans and the alumni are already voicing their displeasure with the current state of the team.
And if this losing streak continues, Ron Zook will most likely be out of a job. Illinois has 2 games remaining on the 2011 schedule, luckily this week’s game is against Minnesota. But they wrap up the season against the #17 Wisconsin Badgers led by star Quarterback Russell Wilson. The Wisconsin game will be a tough one for sure. But after the way Zook’s time has gone at Illinois, even if they do win these last 2 games it may still not be enough for Ron Zook to keep his job.
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After starting the season 6-0, the Illini have lost their last three games and find themselves in 3rd place in the Big Ten’s Leaders Division. The reason for this losing streak is poor play on offense. Illinois has only scored 28 total points during this losing streak, during the six victories Illinois averaged 30 points per game. The Illini offense also averaged 400 yards per game during the first six games. During the last three games Illinois has only averaged 250 yards per game.
And all of the sacks that the offensive line has given up throughout the season has finally caught up with them. The defense has done a solid job. They’ve only given up an average of 18 points and 280 yards per game. But the recent struggles on offense have hurt this Illini team. And with the dynamic Michigan Wolverines coming up this week, followed by Wisconsin next week, the defense will be tested by the top two offenses in the Big Ten.
With that being said, Illinois Head Coach Ron Zook needs to re-focus his offense if the Illini are to finish the season on a high note. The Illini are already bowl eligible but they will not get a BCS bowl bid this year. However, Illinois can still get into a decent bowl game depending on how they finish the season. Ron Zook is not on the hot seat yet, but if this losing streak continues he could end up there.
The Illini has their backs against the wall and now is the time to deliver. If they don’t, the Fighting Illini won’t have much fight left in them for 2011.
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