DJ Durkin and Damon Evans will retain jobs at Maryland, source says

Donate To GopherHole

Maryland just pulled off the worst possible course of action. If they were going to go the PR route and cave to the twitter mob (as everyone expected including me) they should have pulled the plug months ago. Now they will owe Durkin his salary (notably NOT fired for cause), they will still face a lawsuit from the family, and they enabled the tweet mob even further. Not to mention there is enormous political turmoil inside and outside the school. Interesting power move by a governor up for re-election. Once public opinion has run so far amok the situation becomes untenable and they had to pull the plug.

The tweet mob has their scapegoat. Probably the best thing to come out of this will be a wake up call to training staffs around the country - better procedures, better preparation for when things go south. It’s likely that kid had some physiologic quirks that contributed to his death on a pretty moderate day (ADHD med, dehydration, high body fat) but the fault (per investigation findings) lies 100% on a poor response by the medical staff on hand.
 
Last edited:

hungan1 said:
DJ Durkin is a cancer. It is right for Maryland to fire him. He bears full responsibility for the type of environment he created. The death of McNair happened under his watch. Good for Prez Wayne Loh to do the right thing.
Click to expand...

I wonder if the McNair death had not happened, would Durkin have eventually been fired for the weird sh*t he and his staff implemented. Would it have caught up with them eventually?
 

Might it be possible that Kevin Plank stepped in realizing he needed to protect his investment in MD athletics and covered the school's buyout of Durkin's contract? There was no way he could see all the money he poured into the department pay out a return as long as Durkin remained coach.
 

[QUOTEDJ Durkin is a cancer. It is right for Maryland to fire him. He bears full responsibility for the type of environment he created. The death of McNair happened under his watch. Good for Prez Wayne Loh to do the right thing.][/QUOTE]

Loh and the AD are the actual captains of the athletic department ship. DJ runs the football team.

Plank was apparently a Durkin supporter. But, when irrationality takes over it becomes a business decision to move on from the lightning rod, thus the buyout.
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
Me too society? A kid lost his life. That has nothing to do with #metoo
Click to expand...

Correct and it took the Governor stepping in to make the correct call here. Loh, the players and families finally got what they were looking for. Canada seems like he might be a good coach for them going forward.
Sounds like the students and faculty were justifiably very pissed off. That decision and press conference made the University look really bad.
 

Many were more concerned about the bad PR (justifiably) than whether the death was DJ’s fault. The investigation already cleared DJ and they are not firing him for cause. He did not kill a kid...but keep saying it.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Probably the best thing to come out of this will be a wake up call to training staffs around the country - better procedures, better preparation for when things go south.
Click to expand...

See, here's something that we can all agree on. Let's go with that, and move on from this godawful mess!
 




Pompous Elitist said:
[QUOTEDJ Durkin is a cancer. It is right for Maryland to fire him. He bears full responsibility for the type of environment he created. The death of McNair happened under his watch. Good for Prez Wayne Loh to do the right thing.]
Click to expand...

Loh and the AD are the actual captains of the athletic department ship. DJ runs the football team.

Plank was apparently a Durkin supporter. But, when irrationality takes over it becomes a business decision to move on from the lightning rod, thus the buyout.[/QUOTE]

Everyone has some interesting, and strong, opinions on this. But let's not pretend you're some objective arbiter who has reviewed this case without bias. To you:

Public opinion becomes "twitter mob"
An overwhelming flood of opinion pieces becomes "knee jerk media"
Reporting on the story becomes "sensationalism"
Public outcry becomes "irrationality"
Newspaper columns become "stirring the pot"

I appreciate your well-written, considered posts. But you appear to have very little trust or respect in any form of media, which I think is sad.
 

I am asking a real question here. There were two investigations, I assume they were in depth and thorough. This is what he Regents said they based their recommendations upon. So almost everyone on here(minus Pompous) seems to say "Fire Durkin, he is the worst."

So my questions.
-Have most of you seen or read the investigative reports? I'll admit I have not.
-Is the anger with the Regents that they ignored the findings of the report and recommended to keep him?
-If they did base the non-firing of Durkin on the investigation findings, is their some question as to the validity or process of the findings?
-Those of who are saying the Regents based their recommendations on choosing football over justice or academia, I guess why Durkin? I could see that argument if this was Urban Meyer or Nick Saban, but Durkin is a career 16-18 coach. Why would they choose a mediocre coach over the truth or justice?

I honestly just want to know if there is something I am missing here or don't know about.
 

- I haven't read the whole thing no, but I've read the media reports that highlight some of the awful things found by the investigation. The toxic, brutal, disgusting culture that Durkin implemented.
- My anger with the Regents is they think they're above the will of their student body, the general public, and most importantly their campus President (system president?). Their attitude, to me, was "shut up! What we want is what matters! We will do as we please! Everyone else go pound sand!"
- They valued the money of the contract, and they valued the opinions of big donors who (for some reason) backed Durkin, over everyone and everything else. Including and especially, the safety and well being of their student-athletes. That's firable, in my opinion. Hope they do step down or are fired.
 

Awesome, got another one!

CfOpOLm.png


Hopefully they clean house on everyone who wanted to keep him around.
 



Maryland board recommended keeping trainers who failed Jordan McNair - WAPost

The University System of Maryland Board of Regents recommended this week that the College Park campus retain the athletic trainers who have drawn the bulk of the blame for failing to properly treat Jordan McNair during a May workout, according to two people familiar with the situation.

McNair suffered from exertional heatstroke during team sprints and died 15 days later. An independent report into the circumstances surrounding his death outlined numerous missteps that were made by the school’s athletic trainers along the way, and the university has accepted responsibility for mistakes made by the school employees.

Despite this, the regents encouraged the school to reinstate Steve Nordwall, assistant athletic director of athletic training, and Wes Robinson, the head trainer for the football program. Nordwall and Robinson have been on paid administrative leave since Aug. 10.

One person familiar with the situation stressed that the university has not acted on the regents’ recommendation. A university spokeswoman declined to comment on the regents’ actions, and a spokesman for the university system did not immediately respond to a request to comment Thursday.

Asked about the status of the trainers during a news conference Tuesday in Baltimore, school President Wallace D. Loh said: "The athletic director is responsible for all of the staff, coaches and other staff, in the athletic department. He will make that decision.”..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...-mcnair/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.90e88019a76a

 

^And there you have it from Urbandale and 4life. You really can’t make it up.
 


Iceland12 said:
The University System of Maryland Board of Regents recommended this week that the College Park campus retain the athletic trainers who have drawn the bulk of the blame for failing to properly treat Jordan McNair during a May workout, according to two people familiar with the situation.

McNair suffered from exertional heatstroke during team sprints and died 15 days later. An independent report into the circumstances surrounding his death outlined numerous missteps that were made by the school’s athletic trainers along the way, and the university has accepted responsibility for mistakes made by the school employees.

Despite this, the regents encouraged the school to reinstate Steve Nordwall, assistant athletic director of athletic training, and Wes Robinson, the head trainer for the football program. Nordwall and Robinson have been on paid administrative leave since Aug. 10.

One person familiar with the situation stressed that the university has not acted on the regents’ recommendation. A university spokeswoman declined to comment on the regents’ actions, and a spokesman for the university system did not immediately respond to a request to comment Thursday.

Asked about the status of the trainers during a news conference Tuesday in Baltimore, school President Wallace D. Loh said: "The athletic director is responsible for all of the staff, coaches and other staff, in the athletic department. He will make that decision.”..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...-mcnair/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.90e88019a76a
Click to expand...

Wow, regents TRYING to get fired. Sheesh.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Maryland just pulled off the worst possible course of action. If they were going to go the PR route and cave to the twitter mob (as everyone expected including me) they should have pulled the plug months ago. Now they will owe Durkin his salary (notably NOT fired for cause), they will still face a lawsuit from the family, and they enabled the tweet mob even further. Not to mention there is enormous political turmoil inside and outside the school. Interesting power move by a governor up for re-election. Once public opinion has run so far amok the situation becomes untenable and they had to pull the plug.

The tweet mob has their scapegoat. Probably the best thing to come out of this will be a wake up call to training staffs around the country - better procedures, better preparation for when things go south. It’s likely that kid had some physiologic quirks that contributed to his death on a pretty moderate day (ADHD med, dehydration, high body fat) but the fault (per investigation findings) lies 100% on a poor response by the medical staff on hand.
Click to expand...

You're making an assumption. Isn't that the same thing you claim other people in this thread are doing that get you all in a lather?
 

I don't really understand being upset with firing him. It's a terrible decision to keep him from an optics standpoint, and it would have hurt the program in the long term if they kept him. Negative recruiting would have been so easy, plus some players/student body would have raised hell.

He has a contract and it appears they will honor that contract by paying him his $5M+ buyout. He's relatively young. Can get a job making good money as a coordinator at a SEC school that doesn't care about his past. Will have a chance to be a HC again in a few years if he does well. I'm sure Muschamp would hire him if he has a spot open up. Durkin will be fine. This was the right call and I'm surprised it took so long and that the BOR was so short-sighted.
 

Fair or not, I think the vast majority of people take the viewpoint that the head coach of a college FB program is responsible for everything that goes on in the program.

In this case, the negligence (assuming there was negligence) was on the training staff. So the question becomes - who falls on their sword? the coach may not be directly supervising the training staff, but the head coach is presumed to be setting the tone (or, dare I say it, culture) for the entire program. Joe Paterno did not molest any boys. Tracy Claeys did not take part in a sex party. but they each paid the price for those events, because it happened under their watch as the head coach of a program.

DJ Durkin was the head coach of a college FB program. A player on the team died. Right or wrong, fair or not, it falls back on the head coach and/or the AD.

I suppose you could make a case that Durkin does not deserve to be fired - for the reason that he did not have direct operational control over the training staff - but keeping him just looks bad, and feels bad. And in today's climate, that matters, whether you like it or not.
 

I was stunned to hear they reinstated him, even more stunned that they then fired him.

I'm really on the fence with this one. A group of people who didn't report to DJ misdiagnosed a player and he died. Not DJ's fault. But the question of culture is legitimate - did the toxic culture (if it was) permeate from Durkin to the trainers?

PE - the one thing I'll agree with you is that just because the public think someone's guilty doesn't make it so. But, it is also a public university. Informed or not, it is subject to the will of the people (directly or indirectly). If the people think he should be fired, at some point, it has to end up happening, right or wrong.

Since they are honoring the contract, I won't shed a tear for him even if nothing was his fault and it wasn't toxic. That's the breaks of being a HC. You know that when you sign up for the job. You don't want to be fired for something you can't control (train), don't be a HC. I'm sure he'll emotionally be traumatized counting his millions of dollars he's getting for not coaching... :)

The university could have came out of this looking really good by saying something like the whole awkward "culture" speech Coyle gave and saying they were terminating him without cause regardless of the recommendation right away. Would have made them look proactive, ensuring the safety of the kids, blah blah blah. Now they look like morons. I actually would have had more respect if they would have stuck to their guns and not fired him after reinstating. At least then they could make a point that they were upholding the findings of the investigation. Now it's "well, we don't think he was guilty but we fired him to shut everyone up".
 

FredCoxRocks said:
You're making an assumption. Isn't that the same thing you claim other people in this thread are doing that get you all in a lather?
Click to expand...

If you're realizing this only now, you haven't been paying attention.
 

Fight breaks out among Maryland football players at practice in wake of Durkin drama

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports...land-football-altercation-20181101-story.html


Barber, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., said word had gotten around on the team that he is a “whistle-blower” who talked to investigators about problems on the team. When Durkin returned to practice Tuesday to watch the team practice, his supporters on the team felt emboldened and began taunting Barber, he said. Some mocked and insulted him, while others threw footballs at him, Barber said.

Toward the end of the practice, another player attacked Barber, attempting to punch him in the face, Barber said. While the two teammates were fighting, others tried to intervene and grabbed Barber’s arms behind his back, he said. That allowed the other player to punch Barber repeatedly in the face, leaving him with a black eye, needing multiple stitches on his forehead and a dislocated shoulder, Barber said.
Click to expand...
 

Holy crap...

Barber, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., said word had gotten around on the team that he is a “whistle-blower” who talked to investigators about problems on the team. When Durkin returned to practice Tuesday to watch the team practice, his supporters on the team felt emboldened and began taunting Barber, he said. Some mocked and insulted him, while others threw footballs at him, Barber said.

Toward the end of the practice, another player attacked Barber, attempting to punch him in the face, Barber said. While the two teammates were fighting, others tried to intervene and grabbed Barber’s arms behind his back, he said. That allowed the other player to punch Barber repeatedly in the face, leaving him with a black eye, needing multiple stitches on his forehead and a dislocated shoulder, Barber said.

“My jersey was bloody,” Barber says. “I had blood all over my hands.”



I think we're starting to see what the DJ Durkin culture is all about. Good riddance.
 


FredCoxRocks said:
You're making an assumption. Isn't that the same thing you claim other people in this thread are doing that get you all in a lather?
Click to expand...

He takes a medication known to increase core body temp, they found the gallon of water he was directed to drink unopened in his locker, and he was over 300 pounds. Not really assumptions but contributing factors.

Then again, I read the report. You should try that before making strong statements.
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
I was stunned to hear they reinstated him, even more stunned that they then fired him.

I'm really on the fence with this one. A group of people who didn't report to DJ misdiagnosed a player and he died. Not DJ's fault. But the question of culture is legitimate - did the toxic culture (if it was) permeate from Durkin to the trainers?

PE - the one thing I'll agree with you is that just because the public think someone's guilty doesn't make it so. But, it is also a public university. Informed or not, it is subject to the will of the people (directly or indirectly). If the people think he should be fired, at some point, it has to end up happening, right or wrong.

Since they are honoring the contract, I won't shed a tear for him even if nothing was his fault and it wasn't toxic. That's the breaks of being a HC. You know that when you sign up for the job. You don't want to be fired for something you can't control (train), don't be a HC. I'm sure he'll emotionally be traumatized counting his millions of dollars he's getting for not coaching... :)

The university could have came out of this looking really good by saying something like the whole awkward "culture" speech Coyle gave and saying they were terminating him without cause regardless of the recommendation right away. Would have made them look proactive, ensuring the safety of the kids, blah blah blah. Now they look like morons. I actually would have had more respect if they would have stuck to their guns and not fired him after reinstating. At least then they could make a point that they were upholding the findings of the investigation. Now it's "well, we don't think he was guilty but we fired him to shut everyone up".
Click to expand...

Agree with all of this. My issue is people willfully ignoring the findings of the investigations and literally making things up. I have no issue with him being fired for PR reasons and the school acknowledges he did nothing rising to a “for cause” dismissal.
 

Sparlimb said:
Holy crap...

Barber, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., said word had gotten around on the team that he is a “whistle-blower” who talked to investigators about problems on the team. When Durkin returned to practice Tuesday to watch the team practice, his supporters on the team felt emboldened and began taunting Barber, he said. Some mocked and insulted him, while others threw footballs at him, Barber said.

Toward the end of the practice, another player attacked Barber, attempting to punch him in the face, Barber said. While the two teammates were fighting, others tried to intervene and grabbed Barber’s arms behind his back, he said. That allowed the other player to punch Barber repeatedly in the face, leaving him with a black eye, needing multiple stitches on his forehead and a dislocated shoulder, Barber said.

“My jersey was bloody,” Barber says. “I had blood all over my hands.”



I think we're starting to see what the DJ Durkin culture is all about. Good riddance.
Click to expand...


I thought the players were against him, per ESPN.

In any event, those players should be dismissed from the program and likely face charges. **** show from top to bottom. Loh needs to be fired, and the AD. Clean house at this point.
 

Sparlimb said:
Holy crap...

Barber, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., said word had gotten around on the team that he is a “whistle-blower” who talked to investigators about problems on the team. When Durkin returned to practice Tuesday to watch the team practice, his supporters on the team felt emboldened and began taunting Barber, he said. Some mocked and insulted him, while others threw footballs at him, Barber said.

Toward the end of the practice, another player attacked Barber, attempting to punch him in the face, Barber said. While the two teammates were fighting, others tried to intervene and grabbed Barber’s arms behind his back, he said. That allowed the other player to punch Barber repeatedly in the face, leaving him with a black eye, needing multiple stitches on his forehead and a dislocated shoulder, Barber said.

“My jersey was bloody,” Barber says. “I had blood all over my hands.”



I think we're starting to see what the DJ Durkin culture is all about. Good riddance.
Click to expand...

What is crazy is it sounds like there were two incidents during the same practice with Durkin there ... did the coach's see / or just let it go?
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom