Feb. 06--Illinois football coach Tim Beckman followed up a rant about unfavorable media coverage by skipping out on a scheduled appearance on the "Kap Haugh" simulcast Thursday, and one of the program's co-hosts called Beckman's no-show "disappointing."
Beckman drew critcism on Wednesday when he chided reporters for not writing "positive stuff" about his program during the unveiling of Illinois' recruiting class on national signing day.
David Kaplan, who partners with Chicago Tribune columnist David Haugh, said that executive producer Mike Jacobsen confirmed with Beckman and Illinois' sports information department that the coach would go on the air live at 11 a.m. Thursday to talk about his comments and the Illini's recruits. "Kap Haugh" airs on Comcast SportsNet Chicago and wgnplus.com.
Jacobsen called a minute before 11 but there was no response from Beckman or Illinois officials, Kaplan said.
"He no-showed it," Kaplan said. "Mike called. Mike texted. They called us back after show ended and said Tim was in a meeting.
"Do I believe that? I will never call someone a liar, but I find it curious he makes statements yesterday that were not received well and now his first chance to come on and talk about his class and (his statements about media coverage) -- we were going to do both -- we wouldn't have had a problem if they said with everything going on we're canceling the interview, but for just nobody to call us until after the show ends?"
Illini sports information director Kent Brown said he had "no idea" what happened, Haugh reported via email.
Beckman showed off his 2015 talent haul on day a football coaches around the nation formally present the prized high school prospects who've committed to their programs, but Beckman also implied that reporters were scaring off recruits by harping on the Illini's struggles during his tenure.
"OK -- we're all in this state," Beckman said while addressing reporters Wednesday. "We all want to build the best football team that we can. We want to build champions and be a consistent champion. OK? So I'm going to put it on you. What are they reading?
"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," he said.
"I think as much positive stuff as we can continue to broadcast about this great institution and the athletic programs we have and how our athletic programs are moving forward in, really, every category of sports that we play, what we're doing academically. I think there's a lot of things you can talk about positively with this program.
"Everybody, let's build this thing into a championship. The more positive stuff you can talk about, the better off we all are."
Beckman's comments were met with a mix of criticism and support by journalists and social media users.
"I used to be a college basketball coach so I empathize with how hard his job is," said Kaplan, a former assistant coach at Northern Illinois. He added that he has given the coach air time on several occasions. "Beckman, (Illinois basketball coach John) Groce and the athletic director were all in our studio for an hour last summer. We display an illinois football helmet in our studio. I didn't go to Illinois nor did David. It was disappointing (when Beckman didn't show)."
But Kaplan said he would still welcome Beckman as a guest of the show as long as he doesn't expect a cheerleader. "We would have him back
on, I just hope he would follow through," he said. "But we'll ask him the good, the bad -- everything."
plthompson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @_phil_thompson
