Kevin Wilson resigned Thursday amid allegations that he mistreated players at practice, putting their health in danger in the process.
Former Hoosier cornerback Laray Smith, who played at IU from 2013 until 2015, went public saying Wilson would force players to play through injuries.
"Once you were hurt, he didn't care about you," Smith told the Indiana Daily Student.
IU Athletic Director Fred Glass and others denied Smith's claims.
"I understand there's been a lot of back-and-forth about former players and those sorts of things," he said. "I'll just tell you we have no outstanding claims of medical cases."
Glass instead said Wilson's departure was due to "philosophical differences" between he and Wilson. IU Athletics hired the Taft Stettinius & Hollister law firm out of Indianapolis to conduct a thorough review of the football program but found nothing Glass deemed worth noting publicly.
"I'm not going to comment on any of the conclusions or recommendations," he said.
True to his word, Glass kept details about the investigation to a minimum. He said it was internal and conducted with current players and staff.
There was no medical drama to be found, Glass said, but the conflict in philosophies between he and Wilson was too much for Wilson to stay at IU through its upcoming bowl game despite signing an extension through 2021 in January.
"What might be okay at other places, what might be okay in an industry, isn't necessarily okay here," Glass said. "That doesn't make me right or wrong, but I can tell you that I came at this earnestly and with the best interests of Indiana University at heart. I'll tell you that I'm proud to be part of an institution that puts doing what it thinks is the right thing ahead of competitive success."
TheHoosier.com spoke with a pair of former staff members who wished to remain anonymous on the matter, and both offered conflicting opinion in regards to injury.
One said Wilson was too pushy at times and would disagree with the medical staff. The other said Wilson was almost too cautious, showing just how radical the spectrum of opinion is on a matter that few know the concrete details of.
Former IU receiver Dominique Booth, who had his career cut short by an injury decision he deemed "controversial," Tweeted that his situation didn't impact Wilson's resignation.
Likewise, IU junior quarterback Zander Diamont released a public statement saying there was no relationship between his comments about concussions following a decision to retire from football a year early and Wilson's resignation. Diamont suffered concussions in high school and in both the 2014 and 2015 IU seasons.
"Coach Wilson and IU football followed concussion protocol to the letter," Diamont said. "Coach Wilson was completely supportive during my recovery and didn't want me on the field until I was cleared, and beyond that, felt that I was 150 percent. So this is all just as much of a surprise to me."
If anyone knows how Wilson treated injuries, it's former Hoosier Ralston Evans. And Evans had no complaints.
The Indianapolis native suffered a massive knee injury while in the weight room his freshman year, 2011, that Wilson later described as his lower leg moving on top of his upper leg. The injury lingered, and eventually, Wilson and Evans together came to the conclusion before his final year of eligibility that he should give up playing to become a player coach for the 2015 season.
"He did it all the right way," Evans said. "He did everything in his power to get me back. He made me take my time. He made me wait. There was even times when he held me back in practice. There's no way (he mishandled injuries)."
Evans said there were never any cases of Wilson being too pushy with players who were injured while he was in Bloomington. He questioned the motives of those who said otherwise.
"Some of the players coming out talking about mistreatment were knuckleheads off the field, doing stuff they shouldn't have been, or guys that weren't going to play anyway," he said. "So I'm not buying this, 'Coach Wilson is mistreating his guys,' stuff."
Former IU kicker Mitch Ewald wasn't buying it either.
"Go ask Adrian Peterson if he's thankful for the way Kevin Wilson coached. Sam Bradford," Ewald said, referencing Wilson's time as Oklahoma's offensive coordinator. "He knew how to read his players. He was a mastermind at figuring out what kind of coach he needed to be to specific players and becoming that coach to get the very best out of them with the player not even knowing that it was happening. He was a great man, a family man. He never once had bad intentions with his team."
