{"id":4455,"date":"2015-11-09T20:54:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T20:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2015\/11\/09\/university-of-illinois-fires-its-athletic-director\/"},"modified":"2015-11-09T20:54:00","modified_gmt":"2015-11-09T20:54:00","slug":"university-of-illinois-fires-its-athletic-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/university-of-illinois-fires-its-athletic-director\/","title":{"rendered":"University Of Illinois Fires Its Athletic Director"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laura Wagner<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

The University of Illinois has fired its athletic director, Mike Thomas, following months of criticism about different athletic programs at the school.<\/p>\n

“Mike Thomas has done a good job of leading through recent challenges,” Interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson said in a statement, according to the Chicago Tribune<\/a>. “Decisions such as these are always difficult, but we have to focus on the best interests of our student-athletes. I believe this decision allows everyone to move forward.”<\/p>\n

Thomas’ firing follows the high-profile firing of football coach Tim Beckman in August, a week before the start of the season. As we reported at the time<\/a>, a review found that Beckman had made “efforts to deter injury reporting and influence medical decisions that pressured players to avoid or postpone medical treatment and continue playing despite injuries.”<\/p>\n

The school released a final report on the university’s football program, which did not single out Thomas for any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

In a statement Monday, Thomas said that he understood the university’s need for a clean slate.<\/p>\n

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“I understand the administration’s decision to turn the page and turn the focus of this organization back on the success and welfare of our student-athletes. The reports indicate that I acted appropriately and immediately whenever I learned of any issues related to the safety and well-being of our students. However, I understand the chancellor’s viewpoint that my continued presence may create an ongoing distraction for our students, coaches and staff, and I accept the situation.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Tribune<\/em> adds that the university’s athletic department has weathered a number of scandals this year:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

“The athletic department has faced scandal and criticism since the spring. Seven former women’s basketball players filed a $10 million racial discrimination lawsuit, several football players alleged player mistreatment by coach Tim Beckman<\/a>, who was subsequently fired, and a women’s soccer player also sued the school for medical mistreatment of concussions.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org\/content-only\/faq.php#publishers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source:: http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2015\/11\/09\/455346444\/university-of-illinois-fires-its-athletic-director?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=sports<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Illinois has fired its athletic director, Mike Thomas, following months of criticism about different athletic programs at the school.<\/p>\n

“Mike Thomas has done a good job of leading through recent challenges,” Interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson said in a statement, according to the Chicago Tribune<\/a>. “Decisions such as these are always difficult, but we have to focus on the best interests of our student-athletes. I believe this decision allows everyone to move forward.”<\/p>\n

Thomas’ firing follows the high-profile firing of football coach Tim Beckman in August, a week before the start of the season. As we reported at the time<\/a>, a review found that Beckman had made “efforts to deter injury reporting and influence medical decisions that pressured players to avoid or postpone medical treatment and continue playing despite injuries.”<\/p>\n

The school released a final report on the university’s football program, which did not single out Thomas for any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

In a statement Monday, Thomas said that he understood the university’s need for a clean slate.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

“I understand the administration’s decision to turn the page and turn the focus of this organization back on the success and welfare of our student-athletes. The reports indicate that I acted appropriately and immediately whenever I learned of any issues related to the safety and well-being of our students. However, I understand the chancellor’s viewpoint that my continued presence may create an ongoing distraction for our students, coaches and staff, and I accept the situation.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Tribune<\/em> adds that the university’s athletic department has weathered a number of scandals this year:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

“The athletic department has faced scandal and criticism since the spring. Seven former women’s basketball players filed a $10 million racial discrimination lawsuit, several football players alleged player mistreatment by coach Tim Beckman<\/a>, who was subsequently fired, and a women’s soccer player also sued the school for medical mistreatment of concussions.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org\/content-only\/faq.php#publishers.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4455\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}