Yahoo Sports Maryland board of regents likely to decide D.J. Durkin's fate at special meeting Tuesday
The University of Maryland system board of regents is set to make a decision on the fate of Terrapins football head coach D.J. Durkin and many others after reviewing the findings of a multi-month investigation into the program and the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair.
The regents are scheduled to hold a special meeting behind closed doors at 9 a.m. Tuesday. There, they will discuss the results of the investigation and “begin the process of making any decisions necessary to safeguard the well-being of student-athletes,” according to a release from the school.
One of the decisions figures to be the fate of Durkin, the coach who oversaw a program that reportedly mishandled McNair’s heat stroke on May 29 so drastically that the sophomore died 15 days later on June 13. Durkin has been on paid administrative leave since Aug. 11, just days after an explosive ESPN report detailed a “toxic” culture at Maryland.
Per Maryland’s release, the school plans to share the results of the board’s investigation and announce any initial decisions within a week of the Tuesday meeting.
How D.J. Durkin and Maryland got here
It has been a lengthy and painful road for Maryland since McNair’s death this summer. There wasn’t much mention of consequences for the Maryland coaching and training staff immediately after McNair’s death, but that soon changed once ESPN published its report.
Stories from that report detailed rampant verbal abuse and humiliation from the Maryland staff, particularly from strength coach Rick Court, who resigned soon after the report was published. Maryland soon launched an external investigation, which produced preliminary results that were bleak enough to prompt University of Maryland-College Park president Wallace Loh to accept legal and moral responsibility for McNair’s death on the school’s behalf.
Subsequent investigations have revealed the circumstances immediately leading up to McNair’s death. McNair reportedly collapsed after a series of intense wind sprints. Contrary to recommended practice, Maryland trainers did not take McNair’s temperature or apply cold-water immersion treatment. It reportedly took more than 90 minutes after McNair’s collapse to get him into an ambulance en route to a hospital.
The negligence surrounding McNair was severe enough that McNair’s parents have called for Durkin to be fired.
Maryland president also under fire?
The Washington Post reported Monday that the board of regents refused to provide Loh with a copy of the investigation’s report, a curious development given that Loh and his staff are usually in charge of personnel decisions at the school.
The Post reports that Loh’s leadership at College Park could be one of the items discussed by the board of regents, as well the status of athletic director Damon Evans.
Loh was actually the one who initiated the investigation into Durkin’s program, but the board of regents soon voted to take control of the commission running the investigation. Among the criticisms of Loh is his rejection of a change to the school’s athletic medical care model that might have helped prepare McNair’s death.
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