Football
Beckman Fills Out OSU Defensive Staff
By John Porentas

Jim Tressel has his defensive coaching staff back to full strength.

Tim Beckman Photo by Jim Davidson

The Buckeyes have been short one defensive coach since Mark Snyder left for the head coaching job at Marshall. To bring his staff back up to full muster, Tressel has hired 39-year old Tim Beckman away from the Bowling Green staff where Beckman has served since 1998 and where he was eventually named defensive coordinator by Gary Blackney.

Prior to Bowling Green, Beckman coached at Elon University and Western Carolina. He also spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Auburn, including the 1989 campaign which concluded with the Buckeyes and Tigers meeting in the 1990 Hall of Fame Bowl.

While at Bowling Green, Beckman was a three-time nominee for the Frank Broyles Assistant Coach of the Year Award and was a finalist for that honor in 2001, when the Falcons led the Mid-American Conference in total defense, scoring defense, rushing defense, total turnovers gained and scoring margin.

Last season Beckman's defense held the opposition to 182 total points while the BGSU offense rolled up 532. The Falcons were particularly stingy in the first quarter. BGSU outscored the opposition by a whopping 184-32 margin in the first quarter last season.

In 2002 Beckman led the Bowling Green defense in a game against the Buckeyes in Ohio Stadium. The Buckeyes won that game 24-17, a game in which OSU was held to just 7 points in the second half. The Falcons scored the last 10 points in that game and came within a whisker of recovering an onside kick in the fourth quarter that would have given them a chance to tie or win the game.

Beckman has a long history with Tressel despite never having worked for him.

"I've known his father longer than he's been born," said Tressel.

"His father played his final year of college football in 1958 for my dad in his first year of at Baldwin Wallace. He has a great coaching background and great family," said Tressel.

Beckman attended Berea High School, the same high school attended by Tressel.

"Tim is a graduate of Berea High School, which is a scholarly place, to make sure you all know that," quipped Tressel when introducing Beckman to the media on Friday.

Beckman began his career at Bowling Green on the staff of Gary Blackney and was retained by Urban Meyer when Meyer succeeded Blackney at BGSU. When Meyer left Bowling Green to take the head coaching job at Utah, he asked Beckman to come with him. Beckman, however, opted to stay in Bowling Green for personal reasons.

"We had a death in the family," explained Beckman.

"My wife is from Findlay and her father passed away about three days prior to Coach Meyer taking the job," Beckman said.

Beckman put his family life ahead of his coaching career and opted to stay in Bowling Green in support of his wife rather than follow Meyer to Utah.

"We had an opportunity to follow Urban out to Utah but there's some things in life that I think are very important, and my family is very important with me," said Beckman.

Beckman's loyalty to his family impressed Tressel, as did his ability to be a team player on the OSU coaching staff. In order to join the Buckeyes, Beckman had to drop his title as coordinator. When he agreed to do so, Tressel was definitely impressed.

"A guy who has been a quarterback for six years and all of a sudden he says I want to be a part of this group and and work with these guys and I don't need to wear that title that I've worn, that's pretty special," said Tressel.

Beckman will come to Ohio State as a defensive backs coach, specifically to coach cornerbacks. Current defensive backs coach Paul Haynes will handle the safeties.

Both Blackney and Meyer gave Beckman a glowing recommendation.

"Gary tells me he's the best coach he's ever had," said Tressel.

"He worked for Urban Meyer and Urban told me that he's just one of those extraordinary guys, and extraordinary person and an extraordinary coach," Tressel said.

Spread and DBs a Specialty: Beckman's experience in what has become a wide-open MAC league was a trait both Tressel and new OSU defensive coordinator Jim Heacock found attractive. They also liked Beckman's extensive experience with defensive backs. It also didn't hurt that Beckman spent four years practicing against Urban Meyer's spread offense every day at practice at BGSU.

"About a month-and-a-half ago, we decided to all come together, Ohio State, Maryland, Marshall and Bowling Green came down here to meet and talk about how to defend the spread offense," said Beckman.

Beckman explained his interest in the spread offense, and in defending it.

"I think it's the up-and-coming offense that you're seeing throughout college football," he said.

"At Bowling Green we went from 2-9 Coach Blackney's last year to 8-3 the next year with the same guys. It had a lot to do with the offense.

"I've had to defend it for the last four seasons out there on the practice field.

"I imagine that might have had something to do with what brought me here.

"I also feel I do an excellent job with recruiting and do an excellent job with coaching and scheming against any kind of offense.

Beckman's expertise against the spread was a real plus, but as important was his ability to coach DBs.

"I've got 13 years experience as a defensive back coach," said Beckman.

That skill will fit in well with Heacock's organizational plan for the OSU defense.

"Everybody will have a position, and Tim will have the cornerbacks," said Heacock.

"Paul (Haynes) is going to have the safeties, Luke the linebackers and me the front," said Heacock of OSU's new coaching alignment on defense.

"There were several different options that we had, like a defensive line guy and me kind of bouncing around," said Heacock.

"We had different options, but I think the thing we came down with was the idea that with four guys on the staff, we wanted to balance up as much we could.

"We felt like with Luke and myself being involved with the front seven most of our lives, we felt good about that, but like maybe having a couple of guys on the back end would balance us up a little bit.

"With a four-man staff, it really kind of makes sense to go a couple on the front end and a couple on the back end.

"We feel like Tim brings a lot to the table as far as being in the press box. He's been up there, he feels very comfortable in the press box.

"He's called defenses, he's been a coordinator, he's coached linebackers and secondary, and been very involved in game planning, so there's a lot of different aspects that he brings to our staff that we feel very comfortable with," said Heacock.

Recruiting Warrior: Coaching does not end with Xs and Os at the college level. Recruiting is a critical talent for a coach, and Beckman, who has been a recruiting coordinator in his coaching career, is deadly serious about recruiting.

"I take pride in the way I recruit," he said.

"I think that's the backbone of the football programs that we've had."

Beckman recruited the Cleveland area for the Falcons, the same area that Mel Tucker recruited for the Buckeyes. That should give him plenty of pre-established contacts and relationships with the high school coaches in that area.

"We've been very successful at Bowling Green at recruiting the Cleveland area," said Beckman.

"I take pride in it. I consider it another game. The football season is over and now the next game we've got to compete in is the recruiting battles with your opponents out there on the streets. I feel that recruiting is the backbone," he said.

Beckman has already begun beating the bushes for the Buckeyes.

"Right now I'm actually going to be out on the road recruiting up in Cleveland and other areas," he said.

Giant Slayer: Beckman isn't likely to be awed by Big Ten competition. In 2002, the Falcons played three Big Ten teams, losing only to the Buckeyes and registering wins over both Purdue and Northwestern. The defeat at the hands of the Buckeyes was, as a matter of fact, the only Big Ten defeat his teams suffered in his career at BGSU's coordinator.

"When I was at Bowling Green we beat Purdue, beat Northwestern twice, beat Missouri twice and Kansas," said Beckman.

Beckman also saw some pretty impressive offenses in MAC play, many of them the spread.

"Five of the MAC opponents that we played last year were in the top-25 in offense in the country, so you're seeing the spread," said Beckman.

"I think it's something as a defensive coordinator and as a defensive position coach you'd better find a way to stop it, because more and more people are going to it."

Settling In: Beckman will hit the deck running at OSU, hitting the road immediately to recruit for the Buckeyes, Then, he'll start the process of getting to know his position players already on the roster.

"The process begins right now with recruiting, and when coach has us in a week from now it's important for me to get involved with my position players," said Beckman.

"I think of them as my extended family.

"I want them over to my house. I want them to meet my children. I think it's very important that we treat them as my extended family. That will be the next step when I get off the road next week.

"I look foward to just sitting with Coach Heacock and talking ball when the recruiting is over, and getting ready for Miami and Texas."

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