Illini Football Coach Asks News Media to Help Him 'Build a Champion'

University of Illinois football coach Tim Beckman asked news reporters to help him with recruiting efforts by publishing positive coverage of the team and watching what they post on social media.

Because if everyone is working together, Beckman said, the Illini can “build this thing into a champion.”

The coach’s comments came at a press conference Wednesday as he wrapped up his recruiting efforts.

“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?”

“Illinois has improved from two wins to four wins to six wins in his first three years as head coach,” notes FightingIllini.com. He’s yet to have a winning season.

Later in the day, when questioned on the Boers and Bernstein radio show, Beckman explained his request for reporters to work with him to ensure positive, uplifting coverage of his efforts and his team.

“I’m asking for help. I didn’t go after the media one bit. I was just saying if we could all be in this together, that’s all I said. Let’s be in this thing together. Let’s build this thing together into a championship program. Let’s talk as much as we can on trying to build it together.

“Why can’t we talk about some of the positive things?” he asked on the radio show. “And again, the only thing I’m saying is we’re all in this together.”

Everybody except Northwestern fans. And NIU, EIU and SIU fans, one would imagine. And anybody who doesn’t care about football.

“I want it to be a champion. I want it to be like Ohio State did this year. There’s no question about that. I’m trying to build it to be the best and one of the proudest things the state of Illinois has.”

Beckman has a 12-25 record in three years as the football coach.

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