Former Illinois OL tears into coach Tim Beckman on Twitter

Former Illinois offensive lineman Simon Cvijanovic is not happy with the way his career with the football team ended.

Sunday, Cvijanovic, a senior in 2014, lit into Illinois coach Tim Beckman via his Twitter account. He missed the final four games of the season after he was hurt against Ohio State. Before the injury, he was the team’s starting left tackle.

In the series of tweets that started Sunday afternoon and continued into the evening, some of which are included below, he said he was “uninvited” from the team’s football banquet and that he was treated poorly after the injury. We’ve reached out to the school for comment.

I stopped playing football because of my physical health. I was asked to push myself past pain until I didn’t want to play anymore. #truth

— Simon Cvijanović (@IlliniSi) May 10, 2015

Toby Harkins worked for months as our head trainer and was not a licensed medical professional in the state of Illinois. He was fired.

— Simon Cvijanović (@IlliniSi) May 10, 2015

I met w @coachbeckman this Friday and was kicked out of his office cuz he couldn’t answer y I wasn’t invited to the senior banquet.

— Simon Cvijanović (@IlliniSi) May 10, 2015

He also claimed Beckman called him a quitter.

4 years starting, big ten media day rep, two time game MVP (Cinci’13/Minn’14), and “Simon’s a quitter”-@coachbeckman

— Simon Cvijanović (@IlliniSi) May 10, 2015

Why was I uninvited to the senior banquet after leaving the team? I was seeing their doctors.

— Simon Cvijanović (@IlliniSi) May 10, 2015

Why don’t my medical records match what happened in meetings with doctors?

— Simon Cvijanović (@IlliniSi) May 10, 2015

My knee had a tear in the meniscus. Takes 6 months to heel if repaired. Ask @drose Instead I was told it was no big deal. Back in two weeks

— Simon Cvijanović (@IlliniSi) May 10, 2015

He also used the rant as an opportunity to rail against the NCAA’s structure and advocated for a push for unionization.

You can check out his entire timeline here. He also said Beckman even advocated for a move to right tackle because of his injury and on Sunday evening said he “basically” knew Beckman was a liar.

I have plenty of currently players texting me to keep going so I’m not gonna stop.

— Simon Cvijanović (@IlliniSi) May 10, 2015

I didn’t go to Toledo because Beckman told me yoohoo chocolate drink, their sponsor at the time, has more protein than muscle milk.

— Simon Cvijanović (@IlliniSi) May 11, 2015