Coaching Carousel | Cincinnati Bearcats Co-Defensive Coordinator Tim Banks Linked With Illinois

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Tim Banks is a hot name for the open Defensive Coordinator position at Illinois under new Head Coach Tim Beckman. As of this moment there is nothing official on the matter. Just a steadily increasing stream of rumors innuendo and message board chatter pointing to Banks. To put it simply, there is a whole lot of smoke around this particular idea.

Banks followed Butch Jones over from Central Michigan where he served as the defensive coordinator for Jones since the 2007 season at Central Michigan. Banks has been Co-Defensive Coordinator for the last two years with the Bearcats with John Jancek. Jancek and Banks collaborated on the defensive game plan, but Banks called the plays. That has been the arrangement for the past two seasons. The results? Not so good in year one, better in year two.

*Pass efficiency defense gives a much better indication of quality of play for a secondary compared with passing yards.

All in all a pretty good turnaround between year 1 and year 2 for Banks at the helm in Clifton.

If Banks is indeed headed to Champaign I wouldn't expect the Bearcats to go for an outside hire. More likely that John Jancek would take over full control of the defense in 2012. Check back with Down The Drive as this story continues to develop.