Illinois Football Must Investigate Head Coach Tim Beckman, Take Action

In the last few days, Illinois football has been at the forefront of the college football world, and not for good reasons. Former offensive lineman Simon Cvijanovic went on a Twitter rant for the ages blasting multiple people and entities, namely head coach Tim Beckman. The rant started the evening of May 10 and continued into the early hours of the morning on May 11. In various tweets, Cvijanovic mentioned that he was forced to play hurt, that Beckman was “dangling scholarships like a carrot” and that he wasn’t “the only horror story of abuse and misuse of power.” During the rant, Cvijanovic also tweeted that he had “plenty of current players texting [him] to keep going.”

I’m sure there will be plenty of investigation (if there isn’t, then I guess the negligence doesn’t stop with Beckman) and if it turns out Beckman has been doing any of this, he must be fired, no question. And he’s not the only one who should go. I would argue that the coordinators and medical staff should be put on thin ice as well. If Cvijanovic’s allegations are true, the coaches and medical staff are complicit by keeping quiet. There must be an internal investigation of Illinois’ football program, and action must be taken.

For the coach of any football program, the top priority should be the well-being of players. This cannot be stressed enough. Some coaches have been negligent and the players have had to pay the price. The most recent example that comes to mind is Michigan quarterback Shane Morris getting sent into a game when he had concussion-like symptoms. There was miscommunication between Brady Hoke and the medical staff, thus putting Morris’ health at risk. It doesn’t matter if it happens deliberately or by accident, that is not how football is supposed to work at any level. If you’re a coach of any football team, you make sure to protect your players.

According to Cvijanovic, this didn’t seem to be a high priority for Beckman. What athlete would want to play for a coach like that?
As of right now, Beckman still has a job, but I don’t like his chances going forward. The university and the athletic department need to investigate immediately, and clean house if necessary.

Brooks Hooley is a Junior Big Ten Football writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow Brooks on Twitter @brookshooley.