He would push players to play while injured.

Inside Higher Ed reports.

Allegations of Athletic Abuse Vindicated

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Friday abruptly fired its head football coach, Tim Beckman, after an external review into the coach’s behavior revealed that he put his players at risk by deterring them from reporting injuries and pressuring them to continue playing when hurt.

The preliminary findings of the ongoing investigation — which included a review of 200,000 pages of documents, interviews with 90 people and a “large volume” of practice and game video — were presented to Mike Thomas, the university’s athletic director, earlier this week.

“It showed me enough evidence that Tim Beckman needed to be dismissed as the University of Illinois head football coach,” Thomas said during a press conference Friday, adding that the findings left him “shocked and angry.”

The full investigation, which is being handled by an external law firm, will continue throughout the season. Beckman will not receive the remaining $3.1 million he is owed on his five year contract or the $743,000 he was meant to receive if his contract was bought out. He served as head football coach at Illinois for three years.