ESPN article about Terps Football

**Ravenswintitle** · 08-11-2018, 10:10 AM

wow, had no idea. I heard about the McNair kid but didn't realize the details. Horrible, how did they let it get to this?

**SouthSide** · 08-11-2018, 10:26 AM

I wonder how the big time benefactors, like Bisciotti and Plank, are responding to this. Money talks. If people like them are truly outraged, then we will see some real changes.

**PeterB58** · 08-11-2018, 11:13 AM

The timing of placing the training staff on administrative leave due to the ESPN reports raises a couple of disturbing assumptions:

- The facts reported in the ESPN article are not true, and they (Athletic Dept.?, Administration? Both?) are panicking and bending to public pressure.

- Or the facts are true, and those finding were either not uncovered by their own investigation, or, more troubling, they were ignored.*

Either way, it is not a good look for Maryland.

*Yeah, I know the internal investigation is not complete. But with any investigation involving death or injury, if you come across evidence that demonstrates a risk to safety (such a poor training processes, or over aggressive coaching), you take immediate action before the final report.

**beavery** · 08-11-2018, 11:29 AM

The entire md. athletic dept is akin to the dysfunction we have seen in the Orioles front office. Questionable hires, poor marketing and a lack of a cohesive plan to rebuild the major revenues sports in a way that they will consistently compete against other top programs....You have Turgeon, good recruiter, nice guy, but not a great coach. He loses several players a year and now we find his program is involved in the NCAA investigation regarding recruits. Randy Edsall hire was perhaps the worst hire in the sordid history of MD. football. Friedgen brought some stability and respect to the program. Waiting in the wings was James Franklin to take over. Kevin Anderson who was inept on so many fronts hired Edsall and the program has spiraled downward ever since. Now we have Evans as the AD who had a large role in hiring Durkin. We turned down Matt Campbell....and now left with this.....

Its important to note that all of these guys came from programs and learned this type of alleged coaching style from others. Durkin comes from the urban Meyer coaching tree. Rick Court came from Mississippi State..etc. So all of this alleged abusive behavior happens at other schools, but it is criminal, if true, if it resulted in a very good kid's death.

**Rosdaman** · 08-11-2018, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by PeterB58

The timing of placing the training staff on administrative leave due to the ESPN reports raises a couple of disturbing assumptions:

- The facts reported in the ESPN article are not true, and they (Athletic Dept.?, Administration? Both?) are panicking and bending to public pressure.

- Or the facts are true, and those finding were either not uncovered by their own investigation, or, more troubling, they were ignored.*

Either way, it is not a good look for Maryland.

*Yeah, I know the internal investigation is not complete. But with any investigation involving death or injury, if you come across evidence that demonstrates a risk to safety (such a poor training processes, or over aggressive coaching), you take immediate action before the final report.

Ladies and gentleman, the posts in this thread are on-point and a testament to the intelligence and compassion of board members.

I suspect there was an internal cover-up of the events by football staffers and that those in a position of power to place staff on administrative leave found out about the hour long delay in the call to EMS, as well as the fact Jordan McNair did not actually complete the sprints, when given an advance copy of the ESPN article. It is sickening that Jordan seems to have died from heat stroke, which indicates criminal negligence by everyone in a position of authority who was present that afternoon. Thus, the cover-up. Note that strength coach Rick Court is being portrayed as a testostrone driven mad man in the recent news cycle. Compair and constrast to this article about him in the freaking Wash Post published a little over a year ago:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...f39d_story.htm

For those who don't have time to click and read the article, they might as well have named him Saint Rick. Here is an important line from the article:

“I think that’s probably the most important relationship. To me, if the head coach and the strength coach are not totally in line with one another, there’s something that’s going to miss,” Durkin said. “Me and Rick are in line. . . . He has a tremendous amount of energy, passion for what he does. He’s loyal and honest. That’s all you need right there.”

Campus admin gobble up this type of positive press. Well, the sh*t has hit the fan. I suspect, as I had posted earlier, it is going to reach the office of the president.

**wickedsolo** · 08-11-2018, 11:58 AM

Negligent homicide. That should be the charge for some of them.

Sue the shit out of the school.

Durkin and his staff should never coach again.

Clean house.

The one thing that I think could be a big factor here is the fact that Under Armor has invested a metric fuck ton of money into the athletic department - particularly the football team.

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**Dragon King Onaga** · 08-11-2018, 01:13 PM

Firstly, thoughts to the young man and his family. These are the sort of things that make life tough. This is why certain posters stress jumping on top of these issues early, rather than just excusing high-ranking athletic staff, because "It's the culture and it happens everywhere". Or, "The program makes the school money and he makes money too. Anybody would make that choice". That sort of desensitization is what eventually leads to tragedies such as this, down the line. This is even worse than some of the other things we've discussed, because there is even more direct responsibility involved here. Again, there's 'The choice you have the right to make and some will understand you making', but that doesn't mean it's the right choice and consequences come with those choices. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want to make the choice, deal with what comes with that choice. You want to choose money, deal with what comes with it. And when it catches fire, don't suddenly try to yank it out of your pocket.

**QuothDaRaven** · 08-11-2018, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by wickedsolo

Negligent homicide. That should be the charge for some of them.

Sue the shit out of the school.

Durkin and his staff should never coach again.

Clean house.

The one thing that I think could be a big factor here is the fact that Under Armor has invested a metric fuck ton of money into the athletic department - particularly the football team.

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Agreed 100%. Someone died here. Unreal.

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**GOTA** · 08-11-2018, 04:56 PM

It doesn’t happen everywhere. Not even close. Take a program like Boise State which has thrived for decades through superior coaching and smart recruiting. Nothing like this would ever happen there and they still win. No excuses.

**Rosdaman** · 08-11-2018, 05:48 PM

D. J. Durkin has been placed on leave, effective immediately:

https://twitter.com/umterps/status/1028395936328953863

**moose10101** · 08-11-2018, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by Rosdaman

D. J. Durkin has been placed on leave, effective immediately:

https://twitter.com/umterps/status/1028395936328953863

Evans should be there too, instead of announcing Durkin's status and expressing his "extreme concern". And they'd all better lawyer up.

**bst3975** · 08-11-2018, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by beavery

Friedgen brought some stability and respect to the program. Waiting in the wings was James Franklin to take over. Kevin Anderson who was inept on so many fronts hired Edsall and the program has spiraled downward ever since.

I'm not defending the school, it's athletic department, their hiring decisions (and of course not the terrible recent and likely preventable tragedy), but people need to remember the situation with Fridge. He was a good offensive mind, but results were fading recruiting was faltering. More importantly, he refused to retire as expected, which meant UM was forced either to pay a $1MM bonus to Franklin - which everyone knew they did not have - or he was free to go elsewhere. Fridge was not above trying to leverage his position to hold the Athletic Department hostage. The AD was weak, but he was in a terrible position on this one due to Debbie Yow's spending, the contract with Franklin, and Fridge being selfish.

Edsall was a bad hire and a bad contract, but that was a different issue, other than the timing of having to make a hire at a critical time for recruiting for the coming severely limited the AD's options.

Bottom line is Fridge crippled his alma mater.