Amid allegations of athlete mistreatment on several of its teams, the University of Illinois fired its head football coach on Friday, acknowledging that he had inappropriately encouraged injured players to continue to compete.
Athletic Director Mike Thomas announced the dismissal of the coach, Tim Beckman, after reviewing the preliminary results of an external investigation that the university said had reviewed 200,000 documents and included interviews of nearly 100 sources.
That inquiry, according to a statement, found that Illinois football players were encouraged to “avoid or postpone medical treatment and continue playing despite injuries,” and also that some second-semester seniors “were treated inappropriately” with regard to staying on scholarship.