Former Illinois coach Tim Beckman will join the North Carolina football staff as a volunteer assistant, as confirmed by a UNC football official on Wednesday.
Beckman and UNC coach Larry Fedora worked together at Oklahoma State in 2007 as defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively.
Beckman was fired from Illinois in August, 2015, when he was accused of pressuring players to play while injured or postpone treatment, then-Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas said in a statement. Thomas also said Beckman behaved inappropriately in regard to whether student-athletes could remain on scholarship while football was not in season.
Beckman denied any implications of wrongdoing in a statement of his own.
A North Carolina football official said that Beckman will help with the Tar Heels' defense, but it is still unclear how much Beckman will interact with UNC's players and what other roles he will have with the team.
