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re: Did DJ Durkin Kill a Kid at Maryland?
Posted on 11/2/25 at 6:50 pm to Nasty_Canasta
Posted on 11/2/25 at 6:50 pm to Nasty_Canasta
That’s bull****. Here is what happened directly from the university’s investigative report:
Maryland’s May 29 workout, after which McNair was hospitalized, was the team’s first of the summer, and the 10 110-yard sprints were the first conditioning drill after a standard warm-up.
The medical staff did not take McNair’s temperature or check his vital signs. His reported body temperature upon checking into the hospital was 106 degrees.
911 was called at 5:57 p.m., over an hour after the sprints. An ambulance arrived with first responders at 6:02, paramedics arrived at 6:08 and McNair arrived at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park at 6:36. McNair was airlifted to R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore later that night.
Head coach DJ Durkin was at the workout.
McNair experienced muscle cramps during the sprints. This is an atypical symptom of heatstroke, (Dr. Rod) Walters (in charge of the probe) said.
It took 34 minutes after McNair started showing symptoms for the medical staff to remove him from the field, 67 minutes to call 911 and 99 minutes before he left in an ambulance.
Trainers did not use cold water immersion because they were afraid of McNair would drown in the tub “due to the concern of size of the student-athlete (325 pounds) and the smaller stature of the athletic trainers providing care.” The staff treated him with cold towels instead.
Durkin was on the field for the workout but not involved in the medical treatment of McNair.
Surveillance footage of the workout was used for timeline purposes, but Walters said he couldn’t make out anything regarding McNair’s physical condition on the tapes.
Walters interviewed just six student-athletes during his investigation. He also interviewed all assistant football coaches.
Multiple players told Walters’ team that one Maryland athletic trainer yelled some variation of “DRAG HIS arse ACROSS THE FIELD” while McNair was struggling.
Durkin was fired because he was the captain of the ship and because he didn’t exercise proper supervision over their strength coach who was one of those psychotic lunatics that people generally want for their strength coaches but got a little too psychotic and crazed, although for the last 7 years he’s been the strength coach for a high school team in Michigan, one would hope he’s settled down.
I’m a Bama fan and couldn’t give six s**ts about Auburn but I hate to see inaccuracy.
Maryland’s May 29 workout, after which McNair was hospitalized, was the team’s first of the summer, and the 10 110-yard sprints were the first conditioning drill after a standard warm-up.
The medical staff did not take McNair’s temperature or check his vital signs. His reported body temperature upon checking into the hospital was 106 degrees.
911 was called at 5:57 p.m., over an hour after the sprints. An ambulance arrived with first responders at 6:02, paramedics arrived at 6:08 and McNair arrived at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park at 6:36. McNair was airlifted to R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore later that night.
Head coach DJ Durkin was at the workout.
McNair experienced muscle cramps during the sprints. This is an atypical symptom of heatstroke, (Dr. Rod) Walters (in charge of the probe) said.
It took 34 minutes after McNair started showing symptoms for the medical staff to remove him from the field, 67 minutes to call 911 and 99 minutes before he left in an ambulance.
Trainers did not use cold water immersion because they were afraid of McNair would drown in the tub “due to the concern of size of the student-athlete (325 pounds) and the smaller stature of the athletic trainers providing care.” The staff treated him with cold towels instead.
Durkin was on the field for the workout but not involved in the medical treatment of McNair.
Surveillance footage of the workout was used for timeline purposes, but Walters said he couldn’t make out anything regarding McNair’s physical condition on the tapes.
Walters interviewed just six student-athletes during his investigation. He also interviewed all assistant football coaches.
Multiple players told Walters’ team that one Maryland athletic trainer yelled some variation of “DRAG HIS arse ACROSS THE FIELD” while McNair was struggling.
Durkin was fired because he was the captain of the ship and because he didn’t exercise proper supervision over their strength coach who was one of those psychotic lunatics that people generally want for their strength coaches but got a little too psychotic and crazed, although for the last 7 years he’s been the strength coach for a high school team in Michigan, one would hope he’s settled down.
I’m a Bama fan and couldn’t give six s**ts about Auburn but I hate to see inaccuracy.
2
Posted on 11/2/25 at 6:51 pm to tide06
quote:
Then why was Durkin fired for it?
Because he was such s p.o.s. that his players finally quit on him and protested against his return.
Auburn seems intent in hiring reprehensible characters and then wonder why things didn’t work out.
Posted on 11/2/25 at 6:54 pm to InkStainedWretch
Have an upvote. Like I said, he was radioactive for years after the incident. Personally it makes no difference to me. He’s a solid positions or coordinator type. If he was head coach material, it would have happened a long time ago. And he would have been able to keep his nose clean. Michigan had him on their staff and he was known as a decent recruiter but a bit of a scumbag. Again, that’s not condemning in and of itself but he’s not a people person.
This post was edited on 11/2/25 at 6:55 pm
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:18 pm to Nasty_Canasta
I can’t see Auburn inviting the PR nightmare of hiring him plus he’s given zero indication he has any business as a collegiate head coach. Although Freeze was damaged goods when they hired him. Who knows what they will do?
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:19 pm to captdalton
And he’s not even the most repugnant person Auburn has hired to coach football.
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:21 pm to AUTubaHerd
quote:
It was an offseason practice run by the conditioning staff
Whose conditioning staff? Sounds like it was Durkin’s. I don’t think it happened at the YMCA or Planet Fitness.
The fact his players walked out on him and refused to play for him; forcing the school to fire him; is pretty damning.
Bear Bryant admitted the biggest regret of his career was what he did to his players at Junction, Texas in 1954.
quote:
On another occasion Bryant wrote a letter to a former player who had left this program at Junction. In the letter Bryant wrote, “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life with the young men that I have coached; but the greatest mistake I ever made was with you.”
It has been said that a mark of greatness is the ability to say you were wrong, I’m sorry. I was wrong, I apologize. I’d say that Coach Bryant taught his players a bit more than just how to play football.
When he died on January 26, 1983 the only piece of jewelry he was wearing and was buried with was a ring that had been given him on that day he met with the former team in 1979. A ring by the boys from that team, the Junction Boys.
Has Durkin ever said he is sorry for what happened? A google search of “Durkin apologizes for player’s death” just results in page after page of articles damning Durkin and his staff.
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:24 pm to captdalton
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:26 pm to captdalton
The crazy strength coach who was the real culprit at least said something in his resignation but couldn’t say the words “I’m sorry”:
“Jordan McNair’s life and death are what we must all remember to put first as we face the future: What did we learn? How will we improve? What can we do to pay tribute to Jordan’s life? The gravity of the situation has deeply impacted my perspective on ‘the why’ I am coaching.”
“Jordan McNair’s life and death are what we must all remember to put first as we face the future: What did we learn? How will we improve? What can we do to pay tribute to Jordan’s life? The gravity of the situation has deeply impacted my perspective on ‘the why’ I am coaching.”
This post was edited on 11/2/25 at 7:28 pm
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:35 pm to InkStainedWretch
quote:
Jordan McNair’s life and death are what we must all remember to put first as we face the future: What did we learn? How will we improve? What can we do to pay tribute to Jordan’s life? The gravity of the situation has deeply impacted my perspective on ‘the why’ I am coaching.”
Yeah that’s about as much of word salad as one could imagine. There’s real power in actual accountability these days, since there is an alarming lack of it expressed in coaching circles. Especially with people who make ungodly money coaching young athletes. Say you fricked up, you learned from and “player X” will never be forgotten and we are using this moment to make the game safer for all the athletes. But they hardly ever say that.
This post was edited on 11/2/25 at 7:37 pm
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:36 pm to captdalton
He and his S&C killed an offensive lineman, it’s how former gumps OC became the head coach for Maryland. Probably another HC job that joins the carousel this season
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:40 pm to InkStainedWretch
quote:
I can’t see Auburn inviting the PR nightmare of hiring him
I mean, they literally just fired a guy they hired despite knowing about his history of creeping on teenage girls, hiring hookers on his work phone, and sending harassing DMs to a sexual assault victim. I don't think Durkin's history is a barrier if Hugh's wasn't.
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:42 pm to Robot Santa
True but that silliness pales before a dead kid on your watch.
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:42 pm to TouchdownAlabama
Kind of surprised his family didn’t file suit on him. Seems like the standard these days to get a pound of flesh
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:43 pm to tide06
quote:
Then why was Durkin fired for it?
Because of a tear jerker expose by a bunch of ladies that dont know ball.
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:50 pm to FAT SEXY
A kid died at Florida under Spurrier during drills. Don’t remember Spurrier getting any blame.
Posted on 11/2/25 at 7:53 pm to captdalton
Was much less at fault than Brian kelly
Posted on 11/2/25 at 8:04 pm to Fleurs
quote:
Conference only lasted one week without a literal murderer in a head coach role, smh.
I
'dPosted on 11/2/25 at 8:07 pm to GeauxBurrow312
quote:
He and his S&C killed an offensive lineman, it’s how former gumps OC became the head coach for Maryland. Probably another HC job that joins the carousel this season
DJ Durkin should be on LSU’s radar. LSU has shown they have no qualms about hiring a head coach who killed a kid.
Posted on 11/2/25 at 8:11 pm to jangalang
quote:
Because of a tear jerker expose by a bunch of ladies that dont know ball.
They have a better record than Auburn and Hugh Freeze.
Posted on 11/2/25 at 8:13 pm to InkStainedWretch
I did a deep dive on this when people started campaigning for Durkin earlier this year. My intent, candidly, was to bolster my reasons for not wanting him.
Ultimately, as I recall -
- The larger scale investigation didn't find a toxic football culture, and Durkin was reinstated.
- There was backlash from faculty and staff and others, although when I dug into the Maryland boards/blogs/etc. from the time it sounded like he probably still had a considerable majority of the player support (but a couple of players did walk out of the meeting).
- Notably, a lot of the articles from ESPN and the related comments section had a racial element lurking IMO, comments about BLM, etc.
My conclusion was that it's fine for Durkin to have been fired. He didn't kill the kid, the trainer didn't either. Durkin didn't really have anything to do with the death in any sort of hands on fashion (or really in any cultural fashion), but buck stops with him. I believe the AD (or someone else in the AD) was implicated more so, and the report that found no toxic culture existed also cited a number of health/safety related requests from Durkin that had been denied/delayed.
In short, he would likely admit he could have done more/better, but nothing he did had any linear impact on this situation, most likely. I don't think he was wronged even though I think the outrage from some over his reinstatement was probably tinged with other things (anti-athletics bias, percolating racial drama in the country, etc.). I also don't think the history at Maryland is any real reason to avoid him getting a second HC chance, but I also wouldn't blame a school for wanting to swerve it.
Ultimately, as I recall -
- The larger scale investigation didn't find a toxic football culture, and Durkin was reinstated.
- There was backlash from faculty and staff and others, although when I dug into the Maryland boards/blogs/etc. from the time it sounded like he probably still had a considerable majority of the player support (but a couple of players did walk out of the meeting).
- Notably, a lot of the articles from ESPN and the related comments section had a racial element lurking IMO, comments about BLM, etc.
My conclusion was that it's fine for Durkin to have been fired. He didn't kill the kid, the trainer didn't either. Durkin didn't really have anything to do with the death in any sort of hands on fashion (or really in any cultural fashion), but buck stops with him. I believe the AD (or someone else in the AD) was implicated more so, and the report that found no toxic culture existed also cited a number of health/safety related requests from Durkin that had been denied/delayed.
In short, he would likely admit he could have done more/better, but nothing he did had any linear impact on this situation, most likely. I don't think he was wronged even though I think the outrage from some over his reinstatement was probably tinged with other things (anti-athletics bias, percolating racial drama in the country, etc.). I also don't think the history at Maryland is any real reason to avoid him getting a second HC chance, but I also wouldn't blame a school for wanting to swerve it.
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