CHAMPAIGN — It's all up to Tim Beckman now.

The energetic new Illini coach faces Herculean recruiting problems in the next month, with 2012 signings beginning Feb. 1.

It begins with his assembling a staff, Seattle line coach Luke Butkus — star center on the 10-2 Illini in 2001 — among at least four aides expected to be announced this week.

At the top of Beckman's agenda is a need to re-recruit the members of Ron Zook's varsity squad, most importantly junior stars Whitney Mercilus, Michael Buchanan and Terry Hawthorne, and freshman running back Donovonn Young.

Positional depth is a major concern, and there are no apparent replacements close in ability to these four players.

Furthermore, the coach must decide how best to use Jay Prosch in his spread attack, and whether the 250-pound fullback would be more valuable as a middle linebacker.

And with four weeks to go, Beckman must add to the current 15-man list of high school seniors which, at this point, is only marginally better than the commitments he had at Toledo. Illinois is short handed at running back and defensive tackle.

If Mercilus leaves and nothing is done to bolster the defensive line, Illinois could find itself with a disadvantage in the trenches for Big Ten games.

Replacement part?

The loss of Vic Koenning is met with ongoing regret throughout Illini Nation. Over the decades, he is the most obvious game-changer among Illini assistant coaches, and will be the most difficult to replace.

This season he took a marginal unit that lost premier juniors Corey Liuget and Martez Wilson to the 2011 NFL draft and restructured it around two standout subs from the previous year, Mercilus and Jonathan Brown. No one could have expected this team to perform so efficiently ... to rank among the nation's top 10 in several categories..

As it developed, this was the best UI defense in the 15 years since Simeon Rice and Kevin Hardy completed their eligibility. Even with 13 games, the 205 first downs allowed were the lowest by an Illini team since 1995, and the 1,610 rushing yards permitted were the second fewest since 1995. Pass defense held opponents to 162 yards per game, lowest since John Holecek and Dana Howard were part of the operation in 1993.

Before Koenning arrived, the UI's aerial defense was awful. The 3-9 team in 2009 permitted 1,077 more yards than in the first 12 games this season.

Now, Koenning is on his way to North Carolina, and we are reminded that head coaches, particularly those with defensive backgrounds, almost never retain their coordinators. Someone mentioned that Mike Ditka was obligated to keep Buddy Ryan with the Bears. There aren't many cases like that.

So, as this breakup is concluded, it won't go unnoticed that Koenning and his key aides accomplished something in their specialty that UI fans would like to see continued. Saturday was another example. The UI defense held UCLA to 18 net yards rushing and turned the game with Hawthorne's interception return. UCLA had but seven points until the final 30 seconds of a 20-14 result.

It is regrettable that, after repeated attempts to upgrade the defense, the Illini finally located that special individual, and then could not find a way to retain him. It falls into a familiar category of Illinois serving as a stepping stone for anyone who distinguishes himself on these premises. Somebody elsewhere is always willing to pay more.

Tate's tidbits

— Koenning's reworking of the special teams appeared to help as the Illini did reasonably well in the kicking game (OK, Derek Dimke missed a field goal, and the fake kick boomeranged). Most importantly, the punting excelled and they permitted no long returns on punts and kickoffs by UCLA.

— It should be noted that the six-team Leaders Division will probably be weaker in 2012 that at any time in the future. Ohio State is ineligible for the Big Ten playoff, Penn State is still looking for a coach, and Illinois, Indiana and Purdue are not deemed strong threats. That leaves it up to Wisconsin, which will be favored to win it again. And Illinois, admittedly inconsistent, played the Badgers off their feet for a half Nov. 19 ... but only for a half.

— One of the complaints by five UI assistant coaches who, by mutual error, lost the rollover paragraph in their contracts, is that if they accept coaching jobs for less money elsewhere, they expected to receive the difference in 2012 from Illinois. The UI administration is intent on sticking to the non-rollover contractual terms as signed by them.

— ESPN.com's Gene Wojciechowski reports that Ron Guenther, now a consultant with the Big Ten, helped to frame the concept of the conference's arrangement to ultimately play 12 nonconference football games with the Pac-12. This further solidifies the strong relationship between the Rose Bowl partners.

— Former Illini assistant Mike Locksley will be back recruiting his favorite Washington, D.C., area for Maryland, but he arrives just as head coach Randy Edsall is receiving strong criticism for a disappointing first season. The Terps lost their last eight games and are in deep trouble financially, possibly cutting eight varsity sports.

Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at ltate@news-gazette.com.