When Urban Meyer left Bowling Green to coach at Utah in 2003, Tim Beckman was given the opportunity to make the move, unaware of the career path his boss was going to experience.

But even the knowledge that he might one day win a national championship probably wouldn't have been enough to get the Beckman family out of Ohio at the time. His father-in-law had died and with both sides of the family rooted in the state, career had to take a back seat.

"We had a tough family decision to go to Utah with Urban or stay,'' he said. "So, we decided that football is important but not as important as family."

Beckman did a lot of talking about family when he was introduced as the new coach at Illinois last week. It's a picture coaches like to paint of their programs, an image that a recruit's parents can embrace when they send their child away from home.

But Beckman seems to have a lot of ammunition, right down to a team mother, when it comes to backing his family-value claims.

His wife, Kim, cooks a lasagna dinner every Thursday for a small group of players, provides each team member with a cake on his birthday and makes goody bags to take on road trips.

His father, Dave, likes to hang around practices and offer critiques after a career spent as an assistant coach at Iowa and with Cleveland and San Diego in the NFL. His daughter, Lindsay, was a recruiting aide last season at Toledo.

And youngest son Alex often entertains potential players at the Beckman home during recruiting visits by engaging them in football video games.

"He challenges each and every one and would beat every one of them until I told him to please let some of those guys win,'' Tim Beckman said. "It's easier to recruit when you let them win."

That approach worked well at Toledo of the Mid-American Conference. This week he's on the road recruiting for the Illini and will get some idea how that sales pitch translates to the next level.

Toledo had the top recruiting classes in the MAC in 2009 and '10, and according to rankings at Scout.com, the Rockets are only nine spots behind Illinois for 2011. Illinois athletics director Mike Thomas was impressed by how quickly Beckman dug Toledo out of a bad spot, including a point-shaving scandal.

"You have to realize what he inherited three years ago,'' Thomas said. "They were coming off of a scandal. They had some legal issues, NCAA issues and he only had 72 scholarships. They had academic issues. So he's really cleaned it up."

One of Beckman's favorite lines is to say that he has been around coaching "every waking minute" of his life. Despite working with Meyer, Jim Tressel and Mike Gundy, he said his father had the greatest influence.

Coaching football became a childhood dream. Coaching in the Big Ten makes it that much better.

"I will always cherish the Big Ten,'' he said. "I'll never forget standing in Nile Kinnick Stadium (at Iowa) and throwing Lifesavers at Woody Hayes as he came running out with Cornelius Greene and that big 'fro. It was a dream. Now I have the opportunity to live that dream."

Beckman was born in Berea, Ohio, raised in Akron — although the family moved for a time to Texas — and met Kim at the University of Findlay in Ohio.

Ultimately, the decision to stay a bit longer at Bowling Green didn't necessarily slow Beckman's ascent. He went on to work two years coaching defensive backs at Ohio State, where he faced Meyer for the 2006 national title, and two seasons as defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State.

But he returned to his comfort zone in 2009, recruiting hard in Ohio and leading Toledo back to a spot near the top of the MAC standings. He didn't pursue the Illinois job but was contacted by Thomas a week before being hired.

"I'm a very loyal person and sometimes that's hard in this profession,'' Beckman said. "But that's the way I was raised. It was tough. The hardest thing was telling 105 players I wouldn't be there with them."

Now he must get familiar, and quickly, with new points of emphasis in Chicago and St. Louis. Thomas seemed convinced that Beckman can get players regardless of the area.

"Talking to Jim Tressel," Thomas said, "the first thing he said is, 'You won't find a college coach in America with more energy or a higher motor than Tim Beckman.' "

The work is just starting, for Beckman and his family.