LINCOLN — Realizing Tim Beck was about to go from Kansas assistant to Nebraska assistant, people immediately started asking questions about what looked to be a lateral coaching move within the Big 12.
At Nebraska, running backs coach Tim Beck's most immediate impact could come with recruiting Texas. "All Big 12 schools kind of venture in there," Beck said. "I really think it's something he (Bo Pelini) targeted going in there."
Beck was ready with two reasons:
No. 1: The opportunity to work with Husker head coach Bo Pelini.
"Knowing him and growing up with him, it's something I'm excited about," Beck said. "We've talked about it ever since he was at Nebraska the first time."
No. 2: The chance to be at Nebraska.
"The tradition and the excellence . . . how do you not go?" Beck said. "How do you not go and experience the Mecca?"
NU announced Beck as its running backs coach Monday to officially complete Pelini's first staff. Beck had accepted the position last month but wanted it quiet until Kansas played in the Orange Bowl last Thursday.
The Jayhawks completed a 12-1 season by beating Virginia Tech 24-21 — and now will be looking for a new receivers coach and passing game coordinator.
"I must have got 30 or 40 e-mails from Nebraska fans during the speculation and rumors," Beck said. "Most just said they hope I take the job. Then I had some KU people saying don't leave. It was funny, because I just couldn't say anything to anybody."
Beck leaves a Kansas program that reached as high as No. 2 in one of its best seasons ever. Included in that run was a 76-39 rout of Nebraska, which finished just 5-7 and couldn't make one of the 32 bowl games.
"It's never easy to leave kids, to leave anybody, and the season we had was a special one," Beck said. "But it was just time. When you get these opportunities and these doors open, you don't ask questions and you just go through them."
As with Pelini, Beck is a native of Youngstown, Ohio. He also graduated from Cardinal Mooney High the same year as Carl Pelini, Bo's older brother and the Huskers' new defensive coordinator.
At NU, his most immediate impact could come with recruiting Texas, something he discussed with Pelini from the start.
"All Big 12 schools kind of venture in there," Beck said. "I really think it's something he targeted going in there."
Beck recruited the Dallas and Austin areas for Kansas. Before going to KU, he was head coach at Summit High in Mansfield for three years and at Turner High in Carrollton for three.
Sandwiched between jobs at Missouri State (1996 to 1998) and as a graduate assistant at Kansas State (1991 and 1992), Beck also was head coach at Saguaro High in Scottsdale, Ariz. With future Husker safety Mike Brown in 1995, the school won the Arizona Class 4-A state championship.
"Mike texted me when he found out I was going (to NU) and was all excited," Beck said.
Both his head and heart told him to make the permanent jump from high school to college football when Mark Mangino lured him to KU in 2005.
"To be honest with you, and I really don't like talking about myself, but I felt like if I was able to accomplish at the collegiate level what I did at the high school level, I would be well off," Beck said. "It was just getting my foot in the door and getting that opportunity."
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