U. of Illinois Football Coach Is Fired Over Allegations He Mistreated Players

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s head football coach has been fired after an investigation found he encouraged injured players to stay in the game. According to a statement issued by the university, external reviewers found Tim Beckman had made “efforts to deter injury reporting and influence medical decisions that pressured players to avoid or postpone medical treatment and continue playing despite 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 chosen to act accordingly,” said Mike Thomas, the athletic director, in the statement.

The investigation followed allegations from former players this year that Mr. Beckman had physically abused them. Mr. Beckman did not respond to requests for comment from The News-Gazette, a Champaign newspaper.

A 2013 Chronicle investigation found that more than half of athletic trainers reported feeling pressure from football coaches to return a player to action before he was medically ready. A survey of college athletes this year suggested they feel similar pressure.

Mr. Beckman’s firing comes amid a period of severe leadership upheaval at Illinois’s flagship university. This month the chancellor, Phyllis M. Wise, abruptly announced her resignation days before emails emerged showing that she and other officials had used personal accounts to communicate privately about university business, in apparent violation of state open-records law. The provost, Ilesanmi Adesida, announced this week he would also step down.

The Illinois football team’s first game is one week away. Less than an hour before Mr. Beckman’s firing was first reported, his Twitter account was still promoting the season opener: