According the a report from the Indianapolis Star, Indiana will announce the dismissal of football head coach Kevin Wilson at a 6:00 p.m. press conference this evening. Both the Star and ESPN have reported that Wilson’s forthcoming termination is the result of off-the-field issues. Shortly after the news broke, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach reported Wilson’s termination is likely connected to a school investigation that found Wilson was rushing injured players back on the field.
A former Hoosiers player told ESPN on Thursday that he and at least five current IU players were interviewed about Wilson’s treatment of players in meetings with athletics department officials and university lawyers during the past two weeks
Usually, Indiana firing its football coach would be shuffled away under the “who gives a fuck” category, but Wilson, unlike his predecessors, seemed to actually be improving the black hole of a program. After starting his tenure with a 1-11 season in 2011, Wilson’s Hoosier teams steadily improved. Last season, the Hoosiers lost to Duke in the Pinstripe Bowl, marking their first bowl appearance since 2007. Indiana repeated its .500 regular season performance this season and is once again bowl-bound, securing the program’s first back-to-back 6-win seasons since 1994.
Wilson scored a six-year contract extension in January, worth $2.55 million per year. The contract included a fairly tame buyout clause that will cost the Hoosiers just $540,000 per year in base salary for every year Wilson is let go prior to 2022; if Wilson lands a job that pays more than the $540,000 mark, the Hoosiers will be off the hook entirely.