Tim Beckman Asked The Media To Stop Being Mean To Him About Illinois Football Because Recruits Read The Bad Press And Make His Job Harder

(Source) Tim Beckman has a knack for saying some pretty silly things. I’ve pointed this out before. Beckman, who has managed to make it to a fourth year as Illinois’ head football coach despite a 12-25 record, pleaded Wednesday for the media to be more positive in its coverage of his program.

The Illini had a better-than-usual signing day with the last-minute addition of four-star running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn, but Beckman sure stepped in it with his request for positive coverage. Here’s what he said:

And the last I’m gonna leave this up to you guys, k? We’re all in this state. We all want to build the best football team that we can. We want to build champions and be a consistent champion. K? So I’m gonna put it on you. What are they reading? K? Social media is big nowadays. What are you saying? What are you saying? Well, I can say that we’ve gotten better every year. OK? I can say that our academic standards have gone skyrocket. I can say that our young men in this program right now are doing what they need to do to be successful at life. OK? So the challenge again, as I said after that Northwestern game, the challenge is still how important is the University of Illinois to you? Because it is very, very important to us. And we know that we can be successful if we’re all in it together. Because our intentions are to build a champion. Ok? One day at a time, whatever it takes. But our intention is to build a champion.

[snip]

I think as much positive stuff as we can continue to broadcast about this great institution and the athletic programs we have and how our athletic programs are moving forward in, really, every category of sports that we play, what we’re doing academically. I think there’s a lot of things you can talk about positively with this program.

[Beckman is then asked specifically if he’s asking the media to be more positive]

Everybody. Everybody. Let’s build this thing into a championship, and the more positive stuff you can talk about, the better off we all are.

I’ll tell you what, I’m now a Tim Beckman fan for life because this is some wildly delusional shit I can get behind. You guys are mean to me and Illinois football and that’s why we stink and can’t recruit. Genius. No one tell Tim Beckman that the media’s job is to report on what they see, and if they see a ton of losses and bad football they’re probably going to say as much. No no no. That will be our little secret. From now on we’ll all play nicey nice. Illinois football? THE BEST. Recruits? SO FAST, SO SMART! Uniforms? In one word, FIRE FLAMES!!! Way to go Tim, let’s do it bro. You’re like the lost boys eating dinner. If you use your imagination, you can have a feast. If you remain positive about Illini football, Rose Bowl here they come!