Illini Co-Offensive Coordinator Chris Beatty Fired (Edit: Now Confirmed)

Submitted by UMgradMSUdad on

Nothing has been substantiated yet, but there are reports that Illinois has fired co-OC Chris Beatty.  Given the tire fire that was Illinois football, it's probably no surprise that someone from that staff was going to be let go.

http://www.illinoisloyalty.com/

Edit: As BrownJuggarnaut pointed out in a post below, the story is now confirmed.

Here is a story from the Daily Illini: http://www.dailyillini.com/sports/men_sports/football/article_dcaa024a-578c-11e2-8ab8-001a4bcf6878.html

Key bits from the article include that the Illini were 119 out of 120 NCAA teams in total and scoring offense and that this is their fifth OC change since 2008.

 

Blazefire

January 5th, 2013 at 5:25 PM ^

B-Illini (Tim Beckman) -

  M-Dog, you busy? Hit me up!

 

 

Rocket Soup (Matt Campbell) -

What's up, Tim? How's Champaign at Christmas?

 

B-Illini (Tim Beckman) -

Oh, it's great! You shoulda been here for New Years. 38 Special played the party. We blew the doors off. Oh yeah. Listen, I was thinking about you, and I wanna do you a favor.

 

Rocket Soup (Matt Campbell) -

How's that, Tim? I'm pretty busy right now with recruiting. End of year push, you know.

 

B-Illini (Tim Beckman) -

Listen, maybe you should give that up. I saw the Idaho Bowl. Everyone saw it. Those potatoes have eyes, you know. You got pretty well mashed. Lets not kid ourselves, you got fried. LOL

 

Rocket Soup (Matt Campbell) -

Well, you know, Tim. Our starting QB, RB and the nation's leading tackler were out with injuries. We'll bounce back. Where did Illinois go bowling this year, again?

B-Illini (Tim Beckman) -

ZING! Always the kidder with the ribbing. You got me, M-Dog! C'mon, though, nothing for the potato jokes? Are you baked? LOL Anyway, I want you to come be my OC here. We'll get the band back together! You can get outta that two bit dump.

 

Rocket Soup (Matt Campbell) -

I don't think so, Tim. I really like being a head coach. Plus, I mean, I heard Ron Zook still hangs out outside the athletic complex, trying to talk to recruits on visits. That's kinda creepy.

B-Illini (Tim Beckman) -

No no no! It's great! He's like our own personal living statue! C'mon, whatdya say? It's the Big Ten! I'm gonna get Greg Robinson as DC, and we're gonna own the place! We'll make it all the way to uh... Detroit, no problem. Who doesn't like Little Ceasers?

 

Rocket Soup (Matt Campbell) -

Sorry, Tim. I just don't think that's a move I wanna make right now. We're gonna do some big things this coming season. The players are anxious for spring.

ZookAtThat has joined the conversation

ZookAtThat (Ron Zook) -

C'mon Matt! Coach really needs you! I've got some great hair care tips that I only share with the coaching staff! It's great here! We're everyone's biggest rivals!

 

B-Illini (Tim Beckman) -

Whatdya say, Matt?

 

 

B-Illini (Tim Beckman) -

Matt?

UMgradMSUdad

January 5th, 2013 at 6:56 PM ^

I've wondered the same thing.  Sometimes it seems just an attempt to get a higher salary for one of the guys.  Not many (if any) ADs are going to approve $400,000 for a position coach, but, hey if he's a co-coordinator, why not?

UMxWolverines

January 5th, 2013 at 7:06 PM ^

I'm  not really that convinced that Tim will even work out there. He wasn't that great at Toledo. If I'm going to hire a guy right out of the MAC, he better have gone something like 12-0 or 11-1 and been competitive against some bcs teams. Boise State DESTROYED them both times they played under Beckman.

UMgradMSUdad

January 5th, 2013 at 7:57 PM ^

I just re-read the entire Daily Illini Article 

It turns out that the other co-OC is being demoted to a position coach, and they're doing a national search for a new OC.  And this is how they split the play-calling last year:

Beatty and Gonzalez spilt play-calling duties in 2012, with Beatty selecting the plays on first and second down and Gonzalez calling the plays on third down, a process that has drawn criticism. It prompted Beckman to say he'd get more involved in the offense after a 17-3 lost to Minnesota on Nov. 10.

http://www.dailyillini.com/sports/men_sports/football/article_dcaa024a-578c-11e2-8ab8-001a4bcf6878.html

LSAClassOf2000

January 5th, 2013 at 8:40 PM ^

Per TeamRankings.com:

 

ILL Offense Value (rank)
Points/Game 14.2 (#123)
Yards/Game 280.1 (#123)
Points/Play 0.204 (#123)
Yards/Play 4.0 (#122)
3D Conversion % 33.75% (#102)
4D Conversion % 33.33% (#111)
RZ Scoring %

76.00% (#95)

It will be interesting to see who is willing to come into this situation - it seems like the high turnover and the perceived lack of security will be problematic for Illinois, especially if they are hoping for someone that can both recruit for Beckman's system and improve upon those numbers. 

Bo Knows

January 6th, 2013 at 2:49 AM ^

I know that there are situations with co-coordinators where during games one calls plays from the sidelines while the other is in the booth relaying the alignment of the opposition.  Not saying that's what happened at Illinois this past year, but it does happen.  

And I really hope that play-calling wasn;t shared like suggested above, that is disastrous.  Well, judging by Illinois's season... maybe that is what happened.