Posted by: Chris Vannini on November 28, 2012

With rumors floating around Illinois and first-year coach Tim Beckman, athletic director Mike Thomas put them to rest.

While speaking to ESPN Radio in Champaign-Urbana, Thomas said Beckman would return for 2013.

"At the end of the day, Tim Beckman is going to be our football coach in the future," Thomas said. "He'll be our football coach next year. ... At the end of the day, what's important to me are the people that I work with and the fact that we have confidence in what we're doing and feel good about the future of not just our football program, but also the other 18 sports, the way we go about doing our business, and the kids we graduate from this university that are successful both on and off the field."

That doesn't mean Thomas is completely happy with how things have gone. The Illini went 2-10 in Beckman's first season, including an 0-8 record in the Big Ten. Thomas said he will sit down with Beckman to review the program, including the coaching staff, but that hasn't happened yet.

"Tim and I talk on a weekly basis, but as far as the assessment this year and the kind of things we need to do the move the program forward, (no)," Thomas said. "I think we do a lot of wonderful things with our football program in the classroom and in the community and we do things the right way, but at the end of the day, you've got to win football games. That's important.

"We've got to move the needle there, and we've got to figure out as we reflect with Tim and his coaches and his support staff, what do we need to do better, and what do we need to do as an administration to support to provide infrastructure and resources to make this program competitive in this conference on an annual basis?"

Thomas reflected on his time at Cincinnati, when Butch Jones was brought in to replace Chip Kelly. Jones went 4-8 in 2010, and fans were upset, but he won 10 games the next season and is a hot name on the rumor mill now.

Below is some of Beckman's postgame press conference from last weekend.

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Chris Vannini is the lead writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered Michigan State sports for The State News, The Oakland Press and MLive.com. He writes a weekly column for the Detroit Free Press on behalf of SB Nation. Vannini lives in Big Ten country, so his foot speed is far from SEC caliber, but his pulse on coaches is hard to match. Be sure to follow @CoachingBuzz on twitter and send your feedback to chris@coachingsearch.com