Illinois Football Coach Hires Two Former Assistants

New Illinois football coach Tim Beckman has hired two members of his staff at Toledo to join him in Champaign.

The school said Tuesday that Beckman has hired assistant Rockets head coach Mike Ward and running backs coach and recruiting coordinator Alex Golesh. They are Beckman's first two hires at Illinois. Their positions on the Illinois staff will be announced later.

Ward served as a co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Toledo. He has coached there since 2009 after coaching at Bowling Green from 1992 through 2008.

Golesh has been at Toledo since 2009. He previously coached as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State and Northern Illinois.

Beckman was hired earlier this month to replace Ron Zook, who was fired after a 6-6 season.