University of Maryland Football allegations

[budwom]

Coach is toast, they just have to go through the motions of "investigating." Zero chance he survives, his past quotes about how ultra tight he is/was with the strength/conditioning lunatic will seal his fate.
They're both lunatics.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Coach is toast, they just have to go through the motions of "investigating." Zero chance he survives, his past quotes about how ultra tight he is/was with the strength/conditioning lunatic will seal his fate.
They're both lunatics.

...ditto the AD also...and probably the Pres....

[BigWayne]

The first report of the investigation into McNair's death has been released.

This link is from the Baltimore Sun and is fairly detailed regarding the cooling methods and steps used. ESPN report glossed over a lot of these details.
If you just go by what was reported earlier and what places like ESPN report, you would think they didn't do anything for an hour and a half.
What they did was obviously not effective, but it's not as cut and dried as some earlier reports would lead you to believe.

[MChambers]

The UMd Board of Regents has decided to retain Durkin, the head coach, and Evans, the athletic director. I can only assume they didn’t think they had cause to terminate Durkin’s contract and couldn’t afford to pay him and another head coach. Barry Svrugla of the Post really tears into them: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...=.623db0d422ea

Have to say that I’m now officially glad UMd is in the Big Ten and not the ACC.

[hallcity]

Coach is toast, they just have to go through the motions of "investigating." Zero chance he survives, his past quotes about how ultra tight he is/was with the strength/conditioning lunatic will seal his fate.
They're both lunatics.

You should have been right but it's impossible to overestimate the sleaziness of Maryland athletics. Thank you, B1G for taking them out of the ACC.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

You should have been right but it's impossible to overestimate the sleaziness of Maryland athletics. Thank you, B1G for taking them out of the ACC.

...and not only the sleaziness....but the tone deafness as well. How could grown ups possibly have thought this would be acceptable? Often time academic elites are totally divorced from the world at large....this is just one more example of that.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

...and not only the sleaziness...but the tone deafness as well. How could grown ups possibly have thought this would be acceptable? Often time academic elites are totally divorced from the world at large...this is just one more example of that.

I would normally follow up by saying I can't see how any parent would send their child to play football at Maryland, but we see similar things happen all the time. It looks like the University's president is the only one who acted somewhat responsibly here.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

It looks like the University's president is the only one who acted somewhat responsibly here.

What specifically did he do that was responsible? The visit to the McNair family? He wiped that out with this decision.

[chris13]

Coach is toast, they just have to go through the motions of "investigating." Zero chance he survives, his past quotes about how ultra tight he is/was with the strength/conditioning lunatic will seal his fate.
They're both lunatics.

This whole decision to retain Durkin is unbelievable to me. First off, somehow all the other Power 5 conferences have coaching and training staffs that manage not to force a player into heat stroke, and then fail to treat him with best practices when he does get heat stroke. Second, it's not like Durkin has some Nick Saban like record. He's 15-18 as a college head coach, and that includes the 5-3 Maryland record this year. I'm pretty sure Maryland could find a coach that could go .500 and not kill a player during the practice.

Just when I think college athletics can't get any more morally bankrupt, it does. What a sorry day for the University of Maryland.

I hope the McNair family settlement bankrupts the Maryland athletic department.

[hallcity]

I'm trying to remember. Was Bill Dooley fired at UNC after Bill Arnold died of a heat stroke in 1971? Did Dooley just leave on his own in a year or two? My recollection is that what happened in Arnold's case, while tragic, wasn't nearly as indefensible as what happened at Maryland and that there weren't any of the other terrible non-heat stroke related things revealed about the football program. Maryland just looks horrible. An embarrassment to college sports.

[ehdg]

I'm sorry but I find it totally amazing that Maryland decided to keep Durkin after what happened. Yes years ago when Len Bias over dosed the school fired Lefty and he had absolutely nothing to do with Len's death. If this was officiating of a game it sounds like a make call to me by Maryland in keeping Durkin. He should have been fired post haste where as Lefty should have been retained and not made the scapegoat.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

What specifically did he do that was responsible? The visit to the McNair family? He wiped that out with this decision.

Slow down - I don't think you have read any articles about this. This decision was made by the Board of Regents, not the President. Simultaneous with this announcement that the coach and AD are staying, the president announced he is retiring at the end of the school year. So he basically fell on the sword even though from what I understand, the coach and AD are a lot more culpable than he is. Immediately after the incident he said he took some responsibility for what happened, which no one else did. From my brief review of articles about this, people are very upset that he is taking the blame.

[OldPhiKap]

It i$ difficult to under$tand how this deci$ion wa$ reached by the Regent$. It make$ no $en$e what$oever.

[chris13]

I'm trying to remember. Was Bill Dooley fired at UNC after Bill Arnold died of a heat stroke in 1971? Did Dooley just leave on his own in a year or two? My recollection is that what happened in Arnold's case, while tragic, wasn't nearly as indefensible as what happened at Maryland and that there weren't any of the other terrible non-heat stroke related things revealed about the football program. Maryland just looks horrible. An embarrassment to college sports.

Bill Dooley stayed until 1977 when he left to be coach and AD at Virginia Tech. I'm not defending the Billy Arnold thing, but I think sports medicine has evolved a great deal since 1971, the days when players were told to tough it out and not drink water during practice.

Having said that, a group of former UNC players questioned Dooley's methods, based on this 1971 NY Times article.

https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/17/a...criticism.html

[budwom]

This whole decision to retain Durkin is unbelievable to me. First off, somehow all the other Power 5 conferences have coaching and training staffs that manage not to force a player into heat stroke, and then fail to treat him with best practices when he does get heat stroke. Second, it's not like Durkin has some Nick Saban like record. He's 15-18 as a college head coach, and that includes the 5-3 Maryland record this year. I'm pretty sure Maryland could find a coach that could go .500 and not kill a player during the practice.

Just when I think college athletics can't get any more morally bankrupt, it does. What a sorry day for the University of Maryland.

I hope the McNair family settlement bankrupts the Maryland athletic department.

by definition I have to agree...just amazing...I think the bottom line is Merlin athletics don't have a pot to wee in, they just can't afford a change...ironically they left the ACC for more money, but I think right now they are junior members who get a tiny slice of the annual pie. good riddance. As Wilbon and Kornheiser have said, a rare case where the fans didn't want to join the new conference, and the people in the new conference don't want them. Nice match.

[BigWayne]

This is far from over at UMD. Students will be protesting and keeping this in the news cycle. Players are walking out of team meetings. There will most certainly be a lawsuit coming from the McNair family. How that board could think they could do this and have the problem just go away is beyond comprehension.

[MChambers]

This is far from over at UMD. Students will be protesting and keeping this in the news cycle. Players are walking out of team meetings. There will most certainly be a lawsuit coming from the McNair family. How that board could think they could do this and have the problem just go away is beyond comprehension.

My guess is that they are hoping Durkin will leave at the end of the year and they won't have to pay him.

[superdave]

This is far from over at UMD. Students will be protesting and keeping this in the news cycle. Players are walking out of team meetings. There will most certainly be a lawsuit coming from the McNair family. How that board could think they could do this and have the problem just go away is beyond comprehension.

I knew someone on the coaching staff and they all ran for the hills after spending a year or two here.

Wish they could speak up, but I guess that might be considered biting the hand that feeds you?

[MChambers]

Story gets even weirder: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...=.3697dcf9d189

[TruBlu]

ESPN is reporting that Durkin has been fired. The Board has had a chance of heart.

*Can’t get the linky thing to work