The University of Illinois has reached a settlement with former coach Tim Beckman and will pay him $250,000, according to a tweet from Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman.
#Illinois has reached a settlement with former head coach Tim Beckman. He will receive a payment of $250,000.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) April 12, 2016
Beckman was fired last August, just a week before the start of the 2016 season, after results of an internal investigation uncovered serious mistreatment of players on his part. Said mistreatment included forcing players to play through serious injuries and pressuring medical staff into clearing injured players too soon. In three years with the Illini, Beckman was 12-25 (4-20 Big Ten), though Illinois’ win total increased each season.
As a result of Beckman’s firing, offensive coordinator Bill Cubitt took over for 2015 and led Illinois to a 5-7 (2-6 Big Ten) record. He has since been replaced with former Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Lovie Smith.
Thus, though Beckman said after his firing that he would “vigorously” defend his reputation, this situation has blown over fairly quickly, not even lasting a year. The settlement is modest, but at least Illinois doesn’t have to worry about it anymore.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
