Heartbreak News Now, The Maryland Terrapins Football head coach and two players have announced their departure to the team.
Breaking News Right Now, Two players and the head coach of the Maryland Terrapins football team have both announced their departure from the team.
DJ Durkin, the head coach at the University of Maryland, was sacked one day after declaring he would stay on.
According to a university spokeswoman, Durkin was fired by the university on Wednesday.
After a five-month controversy surrounding UMD football player Jordan McNair’s collapse from heat stroke and death, as well as claims of a “toxic” football culture at Maryland, Durkin will depart the university without coaching a single game in the 2018 season.
After succumbing to heatstroke on May 29 while participating in a team practice, McNair, a sophomore, passed away on June 13.
Jordan’s father was on the UMD campus on Wednesday night, and he expressed his relief after first claiming that the Board’s decision to keep him on felt like a kick in the stomach.
“Relief—a gratifying sense of relief for not only my family but Jordan’s teammates as well,” Marty McNair added.
“Chairman Brady of the Board of Regents has to be removed immediately for making such a dimwitted and boneheaded decision that did not reflect the true values of this university,” stated Billy Murphy, the McNair’s attorney.
Wallace Loh, the president of the University of Maryland, informed the campus community of Durkin’s resignation in a message on Wednesday night.
Following Tuesday’s news conference, Loh said he had returned to campus and met with the Student Government Association leadership, who spoke on behalf of many student organizations, the Senate Executive Committee, department chairs, and campus leadership.
“Advancing the needed reforms in our Athletic Department that prioritize the safety and well-being of our student-athletes,” he continued, is what he will be focusing on during the remaining months of his presidency.
Although it’s uncertain, athletic director Damon Evans’s situation appears to be unaltered. Evans is not mentioned in Loh’s statement from Wednesday.
This is in response to the Board’s first recommendation on Tuesday that Durkin continue with the UMD football program.
Board Suggests Head Football Coach at UMD and AD Should Retain Positions
Initially, the Board of Regents suggested Durkin and Damon Evans, the school’s athletic director, remain in their positions.
Despite their shortcomings, the 17-member group determined that the men did not deserve to be fired in the wake of the death of football player Jordan McNair.
The decision was met with strong opposition from student organizations at UMD. Thursday night was set aside for a rally advocating for Durkin’s dismissal.
Students at the University of Maryland are staging a protest to call for “justice for Jordan McNair.”
President Jonathan Allen of the UMD Student Government Association now expresses much of the same feelings as the McNair family, saying that part of the attention can now be directed toward reconstruction.
“This is still a fractured campus, but today was something I haven’t seen in my three plus years, and today we were united,” Allen stated.
The university was chastised by lawmakers for its lack of transparency, including the Maryland House of Delegates and Governor Hogan. House Appropriations Chair Maggie McIntosh stated that the Board’s decision and release conveyed the incorrect impression of its objectives.
“Today, our constituents are saying that athletics should take precedence over academics. The Appropriations Committee believes that we must use our oversight because of this, according to McIntosh.
Maryland House of Delegates Wants to Know Why Loh Is Leaving and Durkin and Evans Are Staying
On November 15, the committee was scheduled to hold a hearing. Whether the hearing will happen is still up in the air.
Other legislators also endorsed the move. Rep. Elijah Cummings tweeted, “The UMD Board finally made the right decision to part with Coach Durkin.”
They now need to put pressure on President Loh to revoke his resignation and keep up his strong leadership in order to establish the right procedures and guarantee that a disaster such to Jordan McNair’s death never occurs again.
He continued by stating, “They must now urge President Loh to rescind his resignation and continue his strong leadership to put the proper protocols in place and ensure another tragedy like the death of Jordan McNair never happens again,” stating, “The health and safety of our students must always be our number one priority.”
Later on Wednesday night, former chairman of the Board of Regents James L. Shea and chancellor of the University of Maryland System William B. Kirwan spoke in favor of President Loh, arguing that his choice will be more significant for the university for deeper, more basic reasons.
“Dr. Loh has acted in this manner in spite of what appears to be an order from the Board of Regents for him to keep Coach Durkin on staff or face immediate removal from office as president. Kirwan and Shea stated that the Board of Regents was essentially making a historic decision over the university’s football coach.
They continued by saying that hiring and firing faculty members and football coaches should not be the responsibility of the Board of Regents. They demanded a public declaration of support for the principle from the Board of Regents Chairman Jim Brady and the Board itself.
They urged Dr. Loh to rethink his intention to retire in June as they concluded their speech.
“We believe Dr. Loh’s leadership is critical for the university at this challenging time, and we call upon the Board of Regents to publicly affirm its support for Dr. Loh’s continuing leadership of the state’s flagship university,” they stated.
