CHICAGO - -The Illinois football team isn't giving credence to reports that head coach Tim Beckman mistreated players.
In front of a crowded room at Big Ten Media Days on Thursday, Beckman deftly avoided addressing a lengthy story in Thursday's Chicago Tribune alleging Beckman mistreated his players. Hours later, in a room far less crowded but much more vulnerable, his players answered for him.
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While Beckman dodged, his players defended him, reiterating their support and denying the allegations in The Tribune.
The Tribune story notes that Beckman's current players were "overwhelmingly positive," calling the team culture a "family atmosphere." The former players, on the other hand, didn't pull punches in describing what they characterized as player mistreatment.
"I know there's a thing called tough love and all that, but at times I felt like he took it to the extreme, going up to guys, trying to snatch their helmets, cussing at players — basically talking bad to them, degrading them," Akeem Spence, who played one year for Beckman and now plays for the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said, via the Tribune.
Kenny Knight, who played receiver under Beckman, claimed in the story that Beckman once threw him to the ground after Knight got in a verbal altercation with a teammate. The report also contained accounts from players who felt there was pressure to play hurt.
But on Thursday, when reporters asked Beckman about the allegations, and about his role in the team's medical affairs, he deflected.
Beckman's first question was about his coaching style, and asked him to respond to the player mistreatment allegations. His response was not.
"I've been around football for 50 years of my life," he said. "I've been around some great, great individuals throughout my career, from high school coaches on up to the college coaches that I've been able to play for. You know, we're focused right now on a 2015 football team. We took off from last year after a great end of the year. And we've been focused since January on becoming a better football program. The philosophy that we continue to use is what these football players believe in football."
When asked about his role in the medical process and determining whether players are fit for game action, he said: "I really don't think it's changed at all. We have doctors. We have medical personnel that understand injuries, and we utilize those things. We're excited about the current young men that we have. But doctors make decisions."
It's not unusual for coaches to deflect less friendly topics at large media events. But the severity of these allegations seemed to warrant at least some comment, especially when, later in the interview, he touted the importance of building life-lasting relationships with his players.
Some of those relationships shone through later in the day at player roundtables, where the Fighting Illini answered questions their coach did not.
"(The allegations are) disappointing, but on the same note, they're going to say what they want to say," said senior linebacker Mason Monheim. "All that matters is who we have in our room. A lot of guys didn't want to be involved in the investigation because it could be a distraction."
As for the reports themselves, Monheim said that as far as he can tell, he receives the same treatment from Beckman as players on other teams do from their coaches.
"It's football. I'm hard on my teammates and they're hard on me. And that's how it should be. It's football. It comes with the territory," he said. "In no way, shape or form have we been abused or anything like that."
Senior running back Josh Ferguson echoed the sentiment that Beckman's treatment of players was not different from the standard.
"I think, if anything, there's a difference in the type of player. I come from the type of family where being corrected and constructively criticized is something of the norm. Coming to college ranks is no different. It kind of just comes down to how you were raised."
Monheim said he had no knowledge of the situation Knight described, though he did say that in situations like the one described by Knight, it would not be out of the ordinary for someone to step in and break up any confrontation between teammates.
"Whenever a fight happens, whether it be a coach or a player, we just break it up and then we keep going with practice," Monheim said.
Ferguson said that Beckman has tried to keep his players away from the distraction of the allegations, and even defended Beckman's choice not to address questions on the matter at his press conference.
"I think at this point it's all about football," Ferguson said. "I think those allegations are pretty much behind us. These are a few voices compared to hundreds."
When the allegations began, starting with Simon Cvijanovic's accusations in May, Ferguson said players immediately began to show support for Beckman.
As he recalled, his message then was something like this: "We're here for you, we're backing you til the very end of it, whatever's going on. We'll get through this like everything else we've been through."
And on Thursday, Ferguson and others did their best to make good on that promise.