Today’s College Football Bad News !!!

Illinois Football
BobLee
August28/ 2015

It’s Friday so there must be ANOTHER Big Time College Football Bad News Story ….

This one from Univ Illinois…. firing HFC Tim Beckman over mistreatment of a player’s injury.  “This sort of crap” was commonplace “back in the day” pretty much across the board.

Talk to anyone who played “college ball” in the 60-70-80s.  Talk to any Carolina Junction Boy from 1967…..  for all manner of stories about:

“suck it up and play thru the pain….” …. “tape a salt pill on it and get back in there…”

The more a non-football world looks into the used-to-be private locker rooms, the more Uh Ohs we are going to hear about.   It ain’t purty in there.

But Fat Cats and board monkeys don’t care….. just gimme my BRAGGING RIGHTS.

###

 

Illinois fires head coach Tim Beckman a week before opener

Illinois has fired head football coach Tim Beckman, the school announced in a statement Friday.

“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,” Athletics Director Mike Thomas said. “During the review, we have asked people not to rush to

Tim Beckman

judgment, but I now have enough information to make this decision in assessing the status and direction of the football program.”

Beckman was the subject of an internal investigation that alleges he pressured former offensive lineman Simon Cvijanovic to play despite injuries and that Cvijanovic was misled about the extent of his injuries.

In addition to influencing medical decisions, Thomas discovered that Beckman threatened to withdraw scholarships from players during their senior year spring semester after they had finished the season.

Follow the road to the 2015 College Football Playoff at The Football Four, our home to rate and debate the nation’s best.

“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,” Thomas said. “I expect my coaches to protect players and foster their success on and off the field.”

Cvijanovic complained first on Twitter on May 9 and in numerous interviews that Beckman and his staff had tried to shame him into playing hurt misled him about medical procedures following a knee injury.

“All I can say right now is I think it’s a step in the right direction,” he told The Associated Press by phone after learning Beckman had been fired. “It seems like there’s more than just Beckman that needs to be held accountable.”

Offensive coordinator Bill Cubit will take over as the interim head coach for the season, which begins for the Illini in one week against Kent State.

Thomas indicated that the timing was unfortunate, but based on the preliminary results of the investigation, he felt it was in the best interest of the student-athletes to act now instead of when the full report is publicly released. That report will likely be released during the season.

More than 90 people have been interviewed and 200,000 documents have been reviewed by Franczek Radelet law firm, which is conducting the investigation. The firm also reviewed a large amount of practice and game video from Beckman’s tenure at Illinois.

Beckman will not receive the remaining $3.1 million from the last two years of his contract or the $743,000 called for if he had been bought out. He was 12-25 in three seasons and had one bowl appearance with the Illini.

 

###

0 0 votes
Article Rating
BobLee
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
6 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
6
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x