How Illinois Could Have Avoided This Mess with Tim Beckman

Based on the wording—and more importantly, the timing—of Tim Beckman's firing Friday, it was clear that Illinois could no longer continue with him as its head coach.

With a mere week remaining until the Fighting Illini's season opener against Kent State, Illinois announced it had relieved Beckman of his duties citing "preliminary results of an external review into allegations involving the program." That review was the byproduct of claims of mistreatment from former Illini offensive lineman Simon Cvijanovic.

Several ex-Illinois players backed up Cvijanovic's claims in a July report in the Chicago Tribune by Jared S. Hopkins and Shannon Ryan.

"The preliminary information external reviewers shared with me does not reflect our values or our commitment to the welfare of our student-athletes, and I’ve chosen to act accordingly," Illinois Director of Athletics Mike Thomas said in a statement. "During the review, we have asked people not to rush to judgment, but I now have enough information to make this decision in assessing the status and direction of the football program."

Make no mistake, Illinois' firing of Beckman is a move that comes better late than never. If the school felt so strongly that it opted to remove its head coach just seven days out from the start of the season, that's a pretty clear indication of the severity of the findings of its investigation.

The Fighting Illini have essentially sacrificed their 2015 season in favor of dealing with the mess that accompanies a head coach's firing on such short notice. But it's a mess that should have been avoided altogether.

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Because while Illinois can now claim just cause in firing Beckman—the school says he won't receive the final $3.1 million remaining on the final two years of his contract—the reality is that his dismissal should have come much sooner.

While the details of the findings of the investigation still remain unclear—and unfinished—perhaps the most damning piece of evidence against Beckman's ability as a college football coach came at the end of the school's statement announcing his firing, when it listed the results of each of his three seasons in Champaign.

Over the course of his time in charge of the Illini, Beckman compiled a 12-25 record, including a disastrous 4-20 mark in Big Ten play. One could have argued he should've been fired after Illinois' 4-8 season in 2013, where the Illini lost seven of their final eight games, their lone win in that stretch being a 20-16 victory over lowly Purdue.

It may have even made sense to let him go after his debut season in 2012, a 2-10 campaign that offered plenty of signs of the rocky nature that would be omnipresent throughout his Illinois tenure.

After a third consecutive losing season in 2014, however, there seemed to be no reasons left for the Illini to enter Year 4 of the Beckman era, his lone saving grace being an appearance in the Heart of Dallas Bowl against Louisiana Tech, which Illinois would lose, 35-18.

But despite the dwindling attendance at Memorial Stadium and a recruiting resume that offered no better than a No. 47 nationally ranked class in four cycles, Illinois opted to stick with Beckman, seemingly based on a backdoor Big Ten finish that allowed it to meet he minimum total of wins for a bowl appearance.

That kept the Illini standing on the sideline for the hirings of hot head coaching candidates like Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi and Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman, who wound up as the head coaches at Pitt and Houston, respectively.

Andrew Nelles/Associated Press

Instead of hiring such replacements, Illinois spent the offseason with a head coach on the hot seat and will enter the 2015 campaign under the direction of interim coach Bill Cubit, who went 51-47 as the head coach of Western Michigan from 2005 to 2012 before joining Beckman's staff as the offensive coordinator in 2013.

That's not to say Illinois won't wind up with a suitable long-term successor, as Western Michigan's P.J. Fleck and Ohio State defensive coordinator Chris Ash are already names that come to mind as potential replacements. The Fighting Illini likely would have been looking for a new head coach next offseason anyway, considering Beckman's lack of an extension this offseason, and can now spend 2015 getting a head start on their search.

That head start, however, will come at least eight months too late.

On the one hand, Illinois should be commended for being willing to take this disaster head on, knowing the ripple effect that making this move at this time will create.

On the other hand, it's a disaster that should have never come to fruition in the first place.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.