U Of I Fires Tim Beckman

Evan F. Moore | As of Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Former University of Illinois football coach, Tim Beckman, has been under fire for allegedly making his players play through injuries.
Former University of Illinois football coach, Tim Beckman, has been under fire for allegedly making his players play through injuries. Associated Press

The University of Illinois fired head football coach Tim Beckman last week once it learned the details of an external review that showed that Beckman had forced some of his players to play through injuries.

The timing of the firing seemed awkward due to the fact that the Fighting Illini plays their first game of the season this Friday vs. Kent State.

Beckman, along with Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas, have been under fire since former Illini football player Simon Cvijanovic took to Twitter to detail allegations of physical and mental abuse by the coaching staff along with the team’s head trainer, Toby Harkins, who allegedly, had gone months without being licensed by the state.

Thomas released a statement explaining the decsion to relieve Beckman of his duties:

"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 chosen to act accordingly," Thomas said. "During the review, we have asked people not to rush to judgment, but I now have enough information to make this decision in assessing the status and direction of the football program."

Thomas went on to say:

"Both of those findings are unsettling violations of University policy and practice and do not reflect the culture that we wish to create in athletic programs for our young people. I expect my coaches to protect players and foster their success on and off the field."

Since Beckman was fired with cause, he will not be paid any of the $3.1 million left on his contract. In his three seasons at Illinois, Beckman's record was 12-25. That includes the four Big Ten Conference games he won.

The National College Players Association (NCPA), group that advocates for the rights of student-athletes, had long called for the dismissal of Beckman and members of the school’s athletic department after a chain of incidents detailing mental, physical and racial abuse:

“After an explosive CNN investigation into allegations of athlete mistreatment and abuse across three sports at the University of Illinois, the NCPA is calling on the university to fire football coaches Tim Beckman and Bill Cubit, women’s basketball coach Matt Bollant, women’s soccer coach Janet Rayfield, women’s basketball trainer Sam Laingen, and women’s soccer trainer Brittany Scott. "

Eight former women’s basketball players asserted and backed various accusations that their coaches treated black players worse than white players, segregated practices and room assignments based on race, made derogatory comments about black players such as calling them “Westside ghetto”, regularly bullied many players on the team, and frequently threatened to terminate athletic scholarships against university policy.”

Anthony Brown. a Financial Advisor with AXA, graduated from the University of Illinois in 2002. He says that he backs his alma mater’s decision to let Beckman go.

“The investigation had to proceed far enough to come to this point. And based on the findings he needed to go immediately,” the Auburn-Gresham resident says. “I'm not surprised that he couldn't recruit better talent or get more out of the talent he had with those tactics.”

Offensive line coach Bill Cubit was named interim head coach for the upcoming 2015 season.

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