Former Illini football leader Tim Beckman is still out of coaching, and it doesn’t appear that he’ll be returning any time soon. The former Illinois and Toledo Head Coach likely won’t get a gig this upcoming season and he’s definitely not ready for one, claims an individual who helped lead to his demise.
Former Illini offensive lineman Simon Cvijanovic, probably more than any other single individual (outside of Tim Beckman himself) led to the University dismissing the former coach one week before the 2015 season began.
Cvijanovic tweeted all his issues and grievances with Beckman on Mother’s Day 2015, opening a discourse that led to an investigation, which then led to revelations that resulted in the end of the Tim Beckman regime. It was an era that was so disastrous, on every level possible, the termination of Athletic Director Mike Thomas was needed as well.
Beckman’s character red flags were present at Toledo, and Thomas failed to do his due diligence. Cvijanovic appeared on WDWS Saturday Sports Talk, giving a very lengthy, detailed and thought-provoking interview over the weekend.
He was asked by host Mike Kiser if Tim Beckman belongs in the coaching profession today.
“I think the report that came out shows that he’s unfit for handling developing young men, so I don’t think it would be a good fit for him,” he responded.
A week ago it was made public that Cvijanovic settled with the University for $250,000, in a dispute regarding medical costs incurred from injuries suffered while playing football for the school.
He was also asked how long does he believe the University should be held liable for injuries suffered while playing for the school
“I think indefinitely, if it is something of their liability, and that’s the way other athletic programs handle it, I feel they should as well.”
In April of 2016, Beckman settled out of court with the University of Illinois for the same exact amount- $250,000. This past August, he landed a volunteer assistant job at North Carolina. However, Beckman quickly stepped down, releasing a statement saying that he did not wish to be a distraction to the program.
Cvijanovic also said that if given the chance to do it all over, he would not pick up the sport of football again.
“I think the people who love the sport, some of the most football fanatic are some of the people who haven’t experienced its darkest travesties…If you’re a parent and you’re putting your son out there, you’re basically putting him in harm’s way.”
While Tim Beckman was almost universally despised by the Illini football fan base, due to his very poor win-loss record and consistent pattern of making laughably horrible speaking gaffes, Cvijanovic is more polarizing.
Some see him as a hero who was brave enough to take on the establishment, and try to change the status quo. Others view him as a snitch attempting to destroy the game that they love. Still others see him somewhere in between and/or some kind of complicated combination of the two polarities. Of all the things that he had to say on the WDWS podcast, the most interesting and incendiary was this below:
“If you need that (the bloodsport aspect of football) as a grown man or grown woman in society, who isn’t playing a sport and you need that to come home from your 9-to-5 job, and you need to put that on the TV then I think there’s something wrong, like if you like watching the bombings in the Middle East and being entertained by it, people are being hurt.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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