University of Illinois fires its head football coach after report finds he pressured athletes to play through injuries

Former University of Illinois football coach Tim Beckman
(Image credit: Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

Just one week before its season begins, the University of Illinois has fired head football coach Tim Beckman. ESPN's Adam Rittenberg reports Beckman's dismissal comes after an external review into the Illini football program found evidence of "efforts to deter injury reporting and influence medical decisions that pressured players" to avoid treatment and play through injuries.

"The preliminary information external reviewers shared with me does not reflect our values or our commitment to the welfare of our student-athletes, and I've chose to act accordingly," University of Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas said in a statement Friday announcing the firing. Thomas added that in addition to the medical concerns, Beckman treated some student-athletes "inappropriately with respect to whether they could remain on scholarship during the spring semester of their senior year," when their time as active members of the team was over.

It seems like the news may have come as a shock to Beckman, given that he had tweeted his excitement about upcoming opening day just an hour earlier:

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
See more

Beckman coached the Illini for three seasons and amassed a 12-25 record. Offensive coordinator Bill Cubit will be the interim head coach for the coming season.

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Kimberly Alters

Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.