CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A week before the start of the football season, a difficult summer for the University of Illinois became chaotic as coach Tim Beckman was fired after an investigation found he tried to influence medical decisions and pressure players to play with injuries.

Beckman’s firing follows the unexpected resignations this month of the top two officials on campus, revelations that they’d used private emails accounts to avoid public scrutiny of school business, and a pair of lawsuits in which former women’s basketball and women’s soccer players claim they were mistreated by coaches.

And the rocky times may not be over: The investigation that led athletic director Mike Thomas — a defendant named in those lawsuits — to fire Beckman continues.

Thomas said Friday that he received some preliminary results of the investigation earlier this week, and despite timing he called “unfortunate,” saw enough to fire Beckman just before his fourth season started.

“I was shocked and angry when I became aware of the preliminary firings,” Thomas said. “Certainly that’s what led to me making this decision swiftly, before the final report became due.”

In a statement Friday evening, Beckman denied any wrongdoing and hinted that he might take legal action.