diff --git a/project/Release.scala b/project/Release.scala
index 582221b92..599424a83 100644
--- a/project/Release.scala
+++ b/project/Release.scala
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ object Release {
   }
 
 
-  val coursierVersionPattern = s"(?m)^${Pattern.quote("def coursierVersion = \"")}[^${'"'}]*${Pattern.quote("\"")}$$".r
+  val coursierVersionPattern = s"(?m)^${Pattern.quote("def coursierVersion0 = \"")}[^${'"'}]*${Pattern.quote("\"")}$$".r
 
   val updatePluginsSbt = ReleaseStep { state =>
 
@@ -204,13 +204,9 @@ object Release {
     }
 
     val baseDir = Project.extract(state).get(baseDirectory.in(ThisBuild))
-    val pluginsSbtFile = baseDir / "project" / "plugins.sbt"
-    val projectPluginsSbtFile = baseDir / "project" / "project" / "plugins.sbt"
     val projectProjectPluginsSbtFile = baseDir / "project" / "project" / "project" / "plugins.sbt"
 
     val files = Seq(
-      pluginsSbtFile,
-      projectPluginsSbtFile,
       projectProjectPluginsSbtFile
     )
 
@@ -223,7 +219,7 @@ object Release {
         case _ => sys.error(s"Found too many matches in $f")
       }
 
-      val newContent = coursierVersionPattern.replaceAllIn(content, "def coursierVersion = \"" + releaseVer + "\"")
+      val newContent = coursierVersionPattern.replaceAllIn(content, "def coursierVersion0 = \"" + releaseVer + "\"")
       Files.write(f.toPath, newContent.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8))
       vcs.add(f.getAbsolutePath).!!(state.log)
     }
diff --git a/project/plugins.sbt b/project/plugins.sbt
index 8090f5fa0..647ce6b66 100644
--- a/project/plugins.sbt
+++ b/project/plugins.sbt
@@ -20,9 +20,6 @@ libs ++= Seq(
   "com.github.alexarchambault" %% "argonaut-shapeless_6.2" % "1.2.0-M5"
 )
 
-// important: this line is matched / substituted during releases (via sbt-release)
-def coursierVersion = "1.0.0-RC12"
-
 // required for just released things
 resolvers += Resolver.sonatypeRepo("releases")
 
diff --git a/project/project/plugins.sbt b/project/project/plugins.sbt
index 0f850ed59..b35516897 100644
--- a/project/project/plugins.sbt
+++ b/project/project/plugins.sbt
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
-addSbtPlugin("io.get-coursier" % "sbt-coursier" % coursierVersion)
+addSbtCoursier
 addSbtPlugin("com.timushev.sbt" % "sbt-updates" % "0.3.0")
 
-// important: this line is matched / substituted during releases (via sbt-release)
-def coursierVersion = "1.0.0-RC12"
-
 // required for just released things
 resolvers += Resolver.sonatypeRepo("releases")
diff --git a/project/project/project/plugins.sbt b/project/project/project/plugins.sbt
index c7de6c969..b236eef23 100644
--- a/project/project/project/plugins.sbt
+++ b/project/project/project/plugins.sbt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-addSbtPlugin("io.get-coursier" % "sbt-coursier" % coursierVersion)
+addSbtPlugin("io.get-coursier" % "sbt-coursier" % coursierVersion0)
 
 // important: this line is matched / substituted during releases (via sbt-release)
-def coursierVersion = "1.0.0-RC12"
+def coursierVersion0 = "1.0.0-RC12"
 
 // required for just released things
 resolvers += Resolver.sonatypeRepo("releases")