Report: Ex-Illinois coach Tim Beckman deterred injury reporting, influenced medical decisions
More than two months after Illinois fired head coach Tim Beckman, the university released the full report that led to Beckman’s dismissal.
When the university decided to move on from Beckman on Aug. 28, then-athletic director Mike Thomas (who was fired Monday with the release of the report) said the preliminary results from the report showed “efforts to deter injury reporting and influence medical decisions” and inappropriate treatment of players with regard to scholarships.
The report, which was completed “through more than 100 interviews and review of more than 200,000 documents,” found that Beckman “employed a wide array of motivational tactics directed primarily at players and athletic trainers that violated” sports medicine “standards and protocol.”
“Although Coach Beckman made efforts to care for players’ health and attend to difficulties created by significant injuries (e.g., visiting players in the hospital after surgery), when not certain of the extent of players’ injuries, he pushed players and athletic trainers beyond reasonable limits in systematic fashion, without customizing such motivational tactics to each player’s specific circumstances,” the report said.
Beckman was found to have “repeatedly communicated with players in ways, both explicit and implicit, that had the effect of deterring them from sharing information with sports medicine staff about injuries” and “engaged in a pattern of criticizing and demeaning players for seeking evaluation by an athletic trainer during practice, promoting the idea of playing through injuries, belittling injuries, and encouraging players to minimize their injuries.”
Specific examples included Beckman routinely using vulgarities toward injured players in practice, calling a player with a suspected concussion (who went on to miss the rest of the season) “scared,” yelling at a player to return to a practice drill when trainers “thought the player could have dislocated his hip,” and “habitually” telling players that he does not “believe in hamstring injuries.”
When interviewed for the investigation, some players said they “questioned whether they were doing the right thing” by reporting injuries.
In one team meeting before Spring Break 2014, the report says Beckman told the team, “I don’t care if you’re hurt, everyone is practicing when we get back. No one cares if you’re hurt. I don’t care. Your family may care. Northwestern doesn’t care.”
On top of that, the investigation concluded that Beckman “exerted too much influence on athletic trainers.”
Beckman was previously alleged to have engaged in “physical abuse of players,” but the investigation found that there were two “troublesome” incidents. The first involved Beckman throwing a player’s helmet to the ground, which was “addressed properly” by Thomas.
The other incident involved Beckman grabbing a player from behind and bringing it to the ground. The investigation concluded Beckman’s conduct was “justified and not a problem” because there was “a potential fight between two players that Coach Beckman was attempting to break up.”
The report also concluded that Beckman “caused four players to be pressured to relinquish their scholarships at the end of the fall 2014 semester against those players’ express wishes” in order to make room for new players. It also found that Beckman had a habit of “threatening players with potential loss of their scholarships to attempt to motivate them.”
Beckman was found to have threatened to remove players from scholarship for “performance-related deficiencies as a means of motivating them,” but he never followed through with the threat.
Beckman arrived at Illinois after being hired away from Toledo after the 2011 season. In three seasons with the Illini, Beckman had a 12-25 record.
For more Illinois news, visit OrangeandBlueNews.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
