Maryland coach DJ Durkin has been placed on immediate administrative leave by the Terrapins following a detailed report alleging a harmful culture around the football program.
"At this time, the best decision for our football program is to place ... Durkin on leave so we can properly review the culture of the program. This is effective immediately," athletic director Damon Evans said in a statement.
Newly hired offfensive coordinator Matt Canada is serving as interim coach at this time.
Evans said he was extremely concerned by the allegations of "unacceptable behaviors" by members of the Maryland football in the ESPN report. He reiterated his support for the full investigation of the program.
"The safety and well-being of our student-athletes is our highest priority," Evans continued. "These alleged behaviors are not consistent with the values I expect all of our staff to adhere to and we must do better."
The allegations in the story include ones of verbal and mental abuse that have contributed to a "toxic" culture at Maryland, which has already been under self-appointed external investigation following the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair following a workout. McNair, 19, is said to have died of heatstroke after collapsing at a practice and receiving a kidney transplant while in the hospital.
The results of these probes will determine the future for Durkin and two staffers from the strength and conditioning program, who were previously placed on administrative leave.
Urban Meyer, Durkin's former boss at Florida and current Big Ten foe at Ohio State, is also presently on paid administrative leave as part of a university investigation into whether he knew about one of his assistants' past history of alleged domestic abuse.
Here’s the bare minimum where it concerns the University of Maryland and its runaway football program: Coach DJ Durkin needs to get out now, if not sooner, and he needs to take his Neanderthal strength coach with him. Three weeks from a season opener against Texas, that’s the least Maryland’s administration can do, even as every office with a hand in assessing the athletic department should feel the ground shift under it.
The simple fact is disturbing enough: A player died on Durkin’s watch. That’s tragic. Amazingly, though, if details in a blistering ESPN report Friday are to be believed — and they should be — it took that tragedy to expose how the coach and his staff ran their program.
That’s why Durkin and members of his staff must go. The specifics of who did what to whom are still to be made public, but Maryland officials know enough. This isn’t some murky NCAA violation or minor misstep. This is about basic human decency. Durkin oversaw the entirety of it, and Saturday evening he was placed on administrative leave by the school. Make that the first step.
We may never know whether the death of 19-year-old Jordan McNair could have been prevented. What we know now is that it took this tragedy to expose the culture Durkin created with the Terrapins, which the reporting by ESPN exposes as the worst version of college athletics.
Let’s sift through this mess, but keep that one salient point present as each aspect is picked apart: A kid died in this environment. McNair died of heatstroke. Durkin and Rick Court, his top lieutenant overseeing the physical conditioning of the Terrapins, were present.
[Maryland places athletic staffers on leave in wake of football player’s death]
There are troubling details at every turn here, and that includes, from ESPN’s reporting, the notion that McNair first suffered a seizure around 5 p.m., roughly 45 minutes into the May 29 workout — but a call to 911 wasn’t placed until 5:58 p.m., nearly an hour later. Maryland officials dispute this account, and a spokesman said Saturday that no coach or athletic trainer or player had reported a seizure near 5 p.m. Either way, McNair was eventually airlifted to a Baltimore hospital, where he died June 13.
The logistical specifics are therefore in dispute. But what’s agonizing regardless is this: Those specifics took place inside a Maryland program that dehumanized the players — the people — it professed to build up.
Football players are supposed to be tough, right? It’s a tough sport, and sometimes the tougher, better conditioned team wins, and any good program (to be clear, Maryland was not and is not a good program, but that’s beside the point) has to foster an environment in which hard work is valued. Pushing through adversity, be it physical or mental or a combination of the two, is an asset. The best coaches get their charges to understand how toughness can benefit them on the field and in life.
That’s not what happened at Maryland. By Durkin’s own description, he worked in concert with Court to instill the values he felt were important to building a winning program. Those values, though, weren’t to get the kids to stare at the challenges before them and overcome. They were to accept intimidation, to allow themselves to be berated and humiliated, and to shut up about it.
College coaches, Durkin included, frequently preach the idea that they are, first and foremost, teachers. Teachers about their sport, of course. But teachers about life, too. For some, it’s clear lip service. But some of them, somewhere, must mean it. It’s an altruistic notion, but it’s the best result of a truly messed-up system: A coach pushes an athlete to realize all he or she can be, and they forge a lifelong relationship built on mutual respect.
But in 2018, that relationship can’t involve the tactics Durkin and his staff reportedly deployed. You might not think that smacking a meal out of a kid’s hand in a fit of rage is particularly egregious. You might find a coaching staff that refers to players who struggle to finish workouts in misogynistic terms, challenging their “manhood,” to be de rigueur. You might think that moving an injured player’s locker into the showers as a way to show him up might be a clever teaching tactic.
And if you do, ask yourself this question: Would I want my child to be taught by people who not only created such an environment but deemed those means as best practices?
I would argue these tactics — just some of what has been reported about Durkin’s program — are cruel. There are two choices about Durkin and his staff: They either had remarkable antipathy about the players as people and saw them only as cogs in a machine, or they had an outright psychosis that prevented them from valuing the players as individual humans with struggles and challenges each his own. Either way, that’s a brutal worldview.
[Heatstroke caused death of Maryland offensive lineman Jordan McNair, his family announces]
It also leads directly to examination of the power dynamics that are inherent throughout college football programs at the highest level, even if Maryland under Durkin didn’t come close to producing football at the highest level. Durkin makes just shy of $2.5 million. Court makes $296,000. Neither McNair nor his teammates made a dime — and don’t give me that their scholarships make up for their lack of income.
The system in place creates overlords, and the worst among them exploit it. Durkin and Court had the power to treat their players however they saw fit. Had a player not died, there’s no reason to believe they would have changed anything about their behavior. Even with McNair’s death, there are questions about whether anything changed for the Terrapins once training camp began. And even as they struggled with the loss of their teammate, the players clearly felt they had no recourse, zero leverage. What kind of learning environment is that?
More than 30 years have passed since the Maryland athletic department was vaporized by the events surrounding the death of Len Bias, an academic-and-athletic scandal that led to the resignation of both athletic director Dick Dull and basketball coach Lefty Driesell. The events surrounding McNair’s death have that much weight, and more.
Maryland has to know that. Damon Evans, appointed as the permanent athletic director only this summer, sent a message Saturday morning to staff and boosters in the wake of ESPN’s report.
“I have been clear in the values that should define everything we do, and these reports are not reflective of the culture we seek to build here,” Evans wrote. “I am committed to swiftly examining and addressing any reports brought to our attention.”
The questions are simple: Coach Durkin, did the events take place as described here? If so, clean out your desk immediately. You are not welcome on our campus. The action must be swift.
For more by Barry Svrluga, visit washingtonpost.com/svrluga.
Maryland Athletic Director Damon Evans addressed concerns with the football program in a letter Saturday. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)
Just three weeks before its season opener, the University of Maryland placed its football coach, DJ Durkin, on administrative leave Saturday in the wake of news reports that Terps players faced abuse and disparagement from staff members in the school’s athletics department.
Athletic Director Damon Evans sent a letter to university staff, boosters and supporters Saturday saying he’s “concerned by the allegations of unacceptable behaviors by members of our football staff detailed in recent media reports.”
“At this time, the best decision for our football program is to place Maryland Head Football Coach DJ Durkin on leave so we can properly review the culture of the program,” Evans wrote.
DJ Durkin went 10-15 over his first two seasons at Maryland. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Evans said the move was effective immediately, and he appointed offensive coordinator Matt Canada to serve as interim head coach. The decision followed 24 hours of deliberation from school administrators and athletic department officials, who were rocked by news reports Friday evening that painted the picture of a program besieged with rampant bullying and verbal abuse, a toxic culture that may have contributed to the death of football player Jordan McNair in June.
“The safety and well-being of our student-athletes is our highest priority,” Evans said in his letter on Saturday. “These alleged behaviors are not consistent with the values I expect all of our staff to adhere to and we must do better.”
School administrators had been reluctant to speak publicly or take any action, pending an external review of McNair’s death, which isn’t expected to conclude before Sept. 15. The 19-year old died June 13 after suffering heatstroke at a team workout May 29. An attorney for the family has said that a lawsuit is likely.
But the school was facing mounting pressure Saturday to act quickly in the wake of news reports that laid bare the unhealthy football culture in College Park. “There was just constant degrading of players,” one former player told The Post on Friday evening, “and that was the culture they brought to the program, and they thought it would toughen us up.”
ESPN published a lengthy report on Friday evening, citing current and former players and staff members who described an “environment based on fear and humiliation.” Evans, who took over the athletics department’s top post on a permanent basis in June, sent an initial letter to Maryland supporters Saturday morning, saying the allegations “are not reflective of the culture we seek to build here” and he was committed to “swiftly examining and addressing any reports brought to our attention.”
Athletic department officials had previously announced that multiple members of the athletics staff had been placed on administrative leave but declined to identify the employees. Multiple people familiar with the situation confirmed that Rick Court, the team’s strength and conditioning coach, and athletic trainer Wes Robinson had been placed on leave by the athletics department. ESPN reported Saturday a third employee, Steve Nordwall, an assistant athletic director for training, had also been placed on leave.
[Svrluga: Maryland football Coach DJ Durkin needs to go]
It wasn’t clear what Durkin’s immediate future might hold. He’s in the third year of a five-year, $12.5 million contract, and athletic department officials declined to discuss terms of his leave. Part of the duties outlined in Durkin’s contract include “keeping positive and constructive in tone any public comments about University policies or actions taken by University administrators and conducting himself professionally and ethically, with integrity and sportsmanship, at all times, and avoiding inappropriately profane, discourteous or insulting behavior toward student-athletes, other teams and coaches, spectators and members of the media.”
He’ll be replaced for the indefinite future by Canada, who was hired by Durkin in January to serve as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Canada spent 2017 as the offensive coordinator at LSU, where he reportedly reached a $1.7 million settlement to sever ties with the school after being forced out by Tigers Head Coach Ed Orgeron. Canada has never served as a head coach at the college level and has served as an assistant at five schools in the past seven years.
Even as Durkin, 40, led the Terps through a final practice Saturday morning, administrators and fans alike were busy debating his status. One high-level booster close to the athletic department, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Saturday that “a lot of donors are of the opinion that Durkin must go” and that there was mounting pressure on Evans to fire Durkin. Other alumni felt that the independent investigation into McNair’s death must also thoroughly examine the program’s broader culture.
“Whenever you have a player die, you really have to get to the bottom of it,” said Tom McMillen, the former Terps basketball star who served three terms in Congress. “Hopefully it was an anomaly and the whole story is a conjecture. But you have to take a hard look at it. That’s the world we live in.”
As the news reports began to spread Friday night, reaction was swift and loud from the sports world to academic and political circles. Ben Jealous, the Democratic candidate for Maryland governor, called for the school to immediately suspend both Evans and Durkin, pending the results of the external investigation.
“The athletic director and the head coach are ultimately responsible for ensuring the safety of our student athletes,” he said in a statement Saturday afternoon. “For there to be reports of purposefully unsafe conditioning practices built on the foundation of verbal abuse, fear, and humiliation — even after the death of a teenager in their care — is the definition of inexcusable.”
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s office also issued a statement Saturday, calling the revelations about the football program “very disturbing reports.” Hogan said that he supported the university’s decision and he expects “that the investigation into the program will be wide-ranging and thorough.”
“We must have complete confidence that our student athletes are treated with dignity and respect and that they are supervised and coached responsibly,” he said. “If the investigation confirms these reports, then strong and permanent corrective actions should be taken immediately.”
The allegations of an abusive culture drew mixed reactions from across the tightknit football world. South Carolina Coach Will Muschamp, who coached alongside Durkin at the University of Florida, defended the Maryland coach earlier Saturday and questioned the anonymous sources cited in news reports, calling them “gutless.”
“I know DJ Durkin,” he told reporters. “He worked for me for four years at the University of Florida. He is an outstanding football coach. He’s also an outstanding husband and father. He treats people with respect. … I know DJ Durkin personally. I know what kind of man he is. I know what kind of person he is. I don’t think it’s right.”
[Maryland places athletic staffers on leave in wake of football player’s death]
Before Evans put his coach on administrative leave, some high-profile members of the sprawling Terps community defended the program and urged caution in jumping to conclusions. McMillan said he’s hopeful the behaviors and actions linked to Durkin’s program and staff are not “pervasive.”
“But football is a tough game,” he said. “As a former athlete, we all had tough coaches. But I think we need to look at what the facts are here.”
Barry Gossett, the prominent booster whose name appears on the team’s football facility, is close to the program and said he’s hopeful fans and alumni don’t jump to conclusions, adding, “That’s not the DJ that I know that does things like that.”
“From a donor standpoint, I kind of stand behind DJ and his program and what he has been doing,” Gossett said in an interview before the university placed the coach on leave. “I’m sure there have been instances where the kids have benefited from his tutelage, as well as the other coaches. On the other hand, there’s probably a couple that are disenchanted with any kind of rules and regulations where they have to do something that doesn’t fit their modus operandi, so to speak, as individual players.”
Unlike most football programs in the country, Maryland has not opened any of its practices to reporters this month. It has largely shielded players and coaches from publicly discussing the events surrounding McNair’s death or the state of the embattled football program.
“Every guy is at a different stage of a grieving process, and we are as a team,” Durkin told the Big Ten Network Friday, his lone interview since the start of practices. “So the one thing we’ve done here through camp, and we said this and we’ve done it, we’re going to talk about it. It’s okay to talk about it. We’re not going to just ignore it and pretend we’re going to move on. We’re going to talk about it.
Durkin, who has a record of 10-15 in his first two seasons leading the program, made no reference to specific staff members, but reports in ESPN and The Washington Post highlighted the behaviors and actions of Court, the strength and conditioning coach who was brought aboard by Durkin in 2015. Court heads the staff that supervised the workout that led to McNair’s hospitalization. Durkin was also at the workout. According to the university, McNair had trouble recovering from a conditioning test. The player’s family later revealed he suffered from heatstroke.
Court did not respond to a request for comment, and no one answered the door at his Prince George’s County home Saturday. He was Durkin’s first hire at Maryland, and they first coached together on Urban Meyer’s staff at Bowling Green in the early 2000s. He later served on Meyer’s staff at Ohio State before a stint as strength coach at Mississippi State, which he left in 2015 to reunite with Durkin in College Park.
Robinson has served as Maryland’s head football trainer since 2006 and was one of the few holdovers to join Durkin’s staff after Randy Edsall was fired as head coach in October 2015. Nordwall arrived at Maryland in 2014 as the school’s director of athletic training and oversees health-care services for more than 500 athletes in 20 sports at the school, according to his bio on the athletic department’s website.
Durkin was brought to College Park in December 2015 to revive a struggling program. It was his first head coaching job, and the former Jim Harbaugh assistant touted his blue-collar work ethic.
“We will be aggressive in everything we do,” Durkin said at the time. “That’s what I know. That’s where I’m from, from the ground up, my hometown of Youngstown, Ohio. I learned those values a long time ago.”
Jesse Dougherty contributed to this report.
Photo: Leon Halip (Getty)
The University of Maryland has added head coach D.J. Durkin to the list of coaches and trainers on administrative leave, in the wake of reports that the football program was “toxic” in ways that may have contributed to the death of sophomore Jordan McNair this summer.
“I am extremely concerned by the allegations of unacceptable behaviors by members of our football staff detailed in recent media reports,” [Maryland Athletic director Damon] Evans wrote in a letter sent to university students, staff and alumni. “We are committed to fully investigating the program. At this time, the best decision for our football program is to place Maryland head football coach DJ Durkin on leave so we can properly review the culture of the program. This is effective immediately. Matt Canada will serve as interim head coach.”
Durkin joins strength and conditioning coach Rick Court, head athletic trainer Wes Robinson, and director of athletic training Steve Nordwall on administrative leave. All of Durkin, Court, and Robinson are named in an alarming ESPN report into the abusive, intimidation-based football culture at Maryland.
