OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Head of Board of Regents resigned today.

[Bart]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

He was fired.

https://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...yland-reaction

[ctrabs74]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

I had heard it was the President of UMD who resigned after he fired Durkin on Wednesday. Between UMD and Rutgers, I can't help but wonder if the B1G made a big mistake in bringing those two programs into the league.

[Bart]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

I had heard it was the President of UMD who resigned after he fired Durkin on Wednesday. Between UMD and Rutgers, I can't help but wonder if the B1G made a big mistake in bringing those two programs into the league.

Some think Maryland will have the only Republican Governor in the Big 10 after the election.

[ShoNuff]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

I had heard it was the President of UMD who resigned after he fired Durkin on Wednesday. Between UMD and Rutgers, I can't help but wonder if the B1G made a big mistake in bringing those two programs into the league.

The President already stated he was retiring before the UMD Board of Regents made their decision. But after the President fired Durkin, today the Head of the Maryland Board of Regents stepped down:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/s...ts-resign.html

[jrshooter]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

Oh, the hits keep coming.

The backup punter (a Mechanicsburg High product) gets beaten up after practice by other players. Apparently, they thought he was a snitch.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/...FSjE-5rejUouOM

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

Jeez. Miss a lot when you go bowling.

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

I think that he deserved to be fired to be honest. I certainly don't know the entire story of what all went down at Maryland. But sounds like he was culpable to some degree. A player in your charge dying is pretty damn serious.

I was also just wondering about what the fall out was (if any) when NFL players J.V. Cain (Cardinals, 1979) and Korey Stringer (Vikings, 2001) died on NFL practice fields due to heat-related issues?

Certainly former IUP assistant Tom Rogish suffered the tragedy of losing a player when he was the head coach at Frostburg State---though it was not heat-related. I'm not sure what happened in that case.

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[EdinboroFB]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

I'm surprised this doesnt happen more often. With kids throwing up in conditioning workouts and coaches screaming at them to keep going before they are even done throwing up. Combine that with some heat and humidity. Run into the ground conditioning workouts.....in March....for what?...cuz its always been done.

[boatcapt]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

I think that he deserved to be fired to be honest. I certainly don't know the entire story of what all went down at Maryland. But sounds like he was culpable to some degree. A player in your charge dying is pretty damn serious.

I was also just wondering about what the fall out was (if any) when NFL players J.V. Cain (Cardinals, 1979) and Korey Stringer (Vikings, 2001) died on NFL practice fields due to heat-related issues?

Certainly former IUP assistant Tom Rogish suffered the tragedy of losing a player when he was the head coach at Frostburg State---though it was not heat-related. I'm not sure what happened in that case.

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I don't think he deserved to be fired but I understand why he was (He was the HC and everything about the program, good AND bad, falls on him). From what I've been able to glean, how Durkin ran his staff and how the Strength and Conditioning coach ran his S&C workouts was not unique or different that almost any school in a P5 conference. Doesn't make it right but it should be illustrative to those who say Durkin was negligent for "letting" this happen.

The difference between 4-7 and a conference championship at the D1 P5 level is measured by hundredths of seconds and 10ths of inches. As anyone who has participated in a competitive sport or even worked out seriously at the gym for an extended period of time, early gains/improvements are easy...minutes and pounds just seem to melt away. But comes a point were the gains become logarithmically harder and harder and harder...and more and more painful. And getting that last little 1% to move from 99% to 100% of a persons capability is monumentally difficult and incredibly painful and it is a VERY rare athlete that has the internal drive and desire to push him or herself to that point. THAT is were the S&C coach or a trainer (for gym rats) comes in. This is the person who pushes an athlete to get that last percent when EVERYTHING in the athletes body and mind is saying S T O P! And what the S&C coach/trainer has to do to overcome the player/athletes objection is often not pretty. But as I said the difference between a 4-7 record and a championship for a team or finishing on the podium or in 30th in a triathlon (for example) is measured by how many players the S&C coach can get to 100% or if the trainer/coach can get the triathlete from 99 to 100%.

I hope things change and the process for S&C workouts changes. THAT is where Maryland was negligent (but again, not fundamentally different than any other P5 team). This death could have been averted by proper medical monitoring and intervention.

But the way Maryland, as a school, handles the last 48 hours was almost comically bad. I give them proffs for the measured process they took in trying to understand how and more importantly why this happened and not just having an immediate knee jerk reaction. But having gone through that whole tortured process, finding that there was no toxic atmosphere, and that the coach bore no responsibility for what happened, they bowed to media fueled pressure less than 24 hours after reinstating him. Comical!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

I don't think he deserved to be fired but I understand why he was. From what I've been able to glean, how Durkin ran his staff and how the Strength and Conditioning coach ran his S&C workouts was not unique or different that almost any school in a P5 conference. Doesn't make it right but it should be illustrative to those who say Durkin was negligent for "letting" this happen.

The difference between 4-7 and a conference championship at the D1 P5 level is measured by hundredths of seconds and 10ths of inches. As anyone who has participated in a competitive sport or even worked out seriously at the gym for an extended period of time, early gains/improvements are easy...minutes and pounds just seem to melt away. But comes a point were the gains become logarithmically harder and harder and harder...and more and more painful. And getting that last little 1% to move from 99% to 100% of a persons capability is monumentally difficult and incredibly painful and it is a VERY rare athlete that has the internal drive and desire to push him or herself to that point. THAT is were the S&C coach or a trainer (for gym rats) comes in. This is the person who pushes an athlete to get that last percent when EVERYTHING in the athletes body and mind is saying S T O P! And what the S&C coach/trainer has to do to overcome the player/athletes objection is often not pretty. But as I said the difference between a 4-7 record and a championship for a team or finishing on the podium or in 30th in a triathlon (for example) is measured by how many players the S&C coach can get to 100% or if the trainer/coach can get the triathlete from 99 to 100%.

I hope things change and the process for S&C workouts changes. THAT is where Maryland was negligent (but again, not fundamentally different than any other P5 team). This death could have been averted by proper medical monitoring and intervention.

I'm not sure the players would have played for him (literally). Also, what parent would send their kid there under his watch? His fault or not, that stigma wasn't leaving.

[boatcapt]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

I'm not sure the players would have played for him (literally). Also, what parent would send their kid there under his watch? His fault or not, that stigma wasn't leaving.

If Durkin had stayed, as a program, they would have suffered for a number of years. But no more so than they will now. If you were a top tier or high caliber up and coming coordinator, would you be interested in stepping on the third rail that is now Maryland football? If you were a high caliber S&C coach, would you be dusting off your resume to send it to Maryland? I think the answer clearly is no and no. So what Maryland is going to get is a HC "retread" that has some sort of baggage (either of the W/L variety or of the "Pirate" variety (cough...Mike Leach), a second tier coordinator that is looking for a HC opportunity but is not among the "hot" candidates for the "good" vacancies, or an interim/bridge/caretaker coach that is most interested in one last bite at the D1 HC salary apple and absolutely NOT interested in rocking the boat (tone down the S&C program to avoid any player complaints...NO PROBLEM!!) before heading off into retirement. None of these are particularly good for Maryland football...but that is were we are at.

I understand (but don't agree) with why Durkin was fired but from an X&O standpoint, he had MD moving in the right direction (two top 25 recruiting classes in his two years). Probably would have been a few years before they had another top 25 class with Durkin but I think eventually, it would have happened. I think it will be MUCH longer now until Maryland again has a top 25 class.

I don't have a lot of contacts with or around the Maryland football program but the few I do have say that this is a team that is very divided. These divides have been patched over by their shared love for their fallen team mate which has let their natural talent come through on the field. But the last 48 hours have basically ripped the patch off these divisions and there is apparently a high degree of intrasquad fighting among the players who wanted Durkin fired and those that wanted him to stay. We'll see if emotion can bring them together or if they go 0'fer for the rest of the season, and beyond that, how many players transfer after the season. If I were a betting man, I'd put down a few $'s saying they lose out and more than a few on an over/under of 20 transfers.

[jrshooter]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

The word we're looking for here is "oppressive." And oppressive doesn't work on the long term.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

Campus police were called to practice last night to break up a fight. Story on ESPN.

[iupgroundhog]

Re: OT: MD puts Durkin back on sidelines

Since I haven't followed this closely can anyone tell me in a concise way why they are talking about Maryland losing its accreditation over this?