Former Illinois player files suit against school, coaches
Former Illinois offensive lineman Anthony Durkin has filed suit against the university, former athletic director, former head coach and former tight ends coach Friday alleging mistreatment following an injury, which resulted in the loss of his scholarship and physical and mental anguish.
The suit is seeking damages in excess of $250,000 as well as past and future wages and medical expenses.
According to the suit, Durkin said he started having shoulder pain in 2013, which prompted doctors to discuss options, which included surgery. But as the next steps were debated, Durkin said he head coach Tim Beckman and tight ends coach Alex Golesh ordered him to keep playing, which made the injury worse.
In Sept. 2013, Durkin underwent a Bankart repair, which is a surgery for habitual shoulder dislocation. He was told by doctors to rehab through the spring of 2014, however, the suit states Beckman and Golesh forced team doctors to clear Durkin for the start of spring practices.
Durkin practiced through the spring of 2014 and suffered another dislocation in August 2014. In Dec. 2014, team doctors determined the injury was so severe that Durkin could no longer play for the Illini. On Dec. 7, 2014, Golesh told him he “needed to sign a release from his scholarship or risk other repercussions,” according to the suit.
Durkin signed the release and the school was cleared from paying for Durkin’s scholarship, his second surgery, which he had in Nov. 2015, or any of the medical costs that resulted from the injury. Following the second surgery, doctors told Durkin he could expect to have issues with the shoulder for the rest of his life.
The suit asserts three team doctors, Beckman, Golesh and the former athletic director were negligent in not ensuring Durkin’s safety, and that the university breached its contract by terminating Durkin’s scholarship “for an improper purpose.” The suit also holds Beckman and Golesh negligent in forcing Durkin to return early from the injury and “sign a release of his scholarship against school policy.”
Beckman is not currently working in college football, but Golesh is the tight ends coach at Iowa State. Iowa State coach Matt Campbell defended Golesh saying that he knew about the matter before he hired him in late 2015.
“Any of that information is not new information to my knowledge,” Campbell said. “All I mean by that is when we hired coach Golesh, all of those situations had been vetted the University of Illinois — the entire staff, all the team doctors, everybody had been vetted in a thorough investigation.
“We had detailed everything before we hired coach Golesh to make sure we were doing the right thing there. Our information back from the University of Illinois is they never would’ve kept him on staff and he would not have been retain had he been involved with any investigation or any issues there.”
Golesh coached with Campbell at Toledo from 2009-11 before leaving for Illinois in 2012.
Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs at University of Illinois Robin Kaler told the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday that it was looking into the complaint.
“We learned of the complaint [Friday] evening,” Kaler said Friday night. “It appears to involve circumstances that allegedly happened about two years ago. We will review the complaint thoroughly, but I want to make clear that the health and well-being of our student-athletes is our first and foremost priority.”
More college football from Yahoo Sports:
– – – – – – –
Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
