The untouchability of DJ Durkin: the shame of Maryland and college football

DJ Durkin is back. The Maryland football coach, who has the best scenariowas so incapable of overseeing a program that he was able to turn into a program so toxic and physically so dangerous to the players that he killed one, but who was so proficient at instilling a culture of "fear" that players and their subordinates were too scared to voice their concerns, was reinstated Tuesday, along with all others responsible for Jordan McNair's death. Durkin has met his team for the first time since his departure (paid, of course) in August, but some of his players have no interest in hearing what he has to say.

This is how the match was reported by Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic:

Durkin was smiling, said a relative of a Maryland player who described the meeting. A player asked Durkin a rhetorical question: what was the main value of the program? The player answered himself, telling his head coach that the correct answer was "honesty". Then this player and two others left the meeting, according to the parent.[.]

ESPN reports that "several players, including starters" have left the meeting.

Subsequently, a handful of players tweeted their obvious dissatisfaction with the program and the decision to retain Durkin, sports director Damon Evans and university president Wallace Loh.

I can not begin to imagine what McNair's father felt when he heard the news that no one is going to suffer the consequences of having facilitated the death of his son. The reasons are painfully familiar: the old cowardice and the great business of university football.

Yesterday, it was reported that Loh, the university president, wanted to fire Durkin, but believed that if he did, the board of directors of Maryland's university system would return him. This sounds true, knowing all we know about the whims and loyalties of regents and boosters in any major program (as well as programs thought they are heavy weather). But the alleged justification of Loh – which it would be extremely disturbing for the entire campus to find a new university president – leaked by announcing that he would step down next June. Loh could have done what was required, dismiss Durkin and accept the internal consequences. He does not have it.

As for why the Council of Regents seems so attached to Durkin, well, look no further than his contract. The coach is in the third year of a six-year contract that brings in about $ 2.5 million a year. If it was to be purchased, it would cost $ 5 million to the school. If he had to be fired without just cause, it would cost 65% of his remaining salary, or about $ 5 million. If he had to be fired, there would probably be a long and expensive legal battle. Not surprisingly, in almost every program, a football coach enjoys greater job security than the president of a university: he earns more.

Maryland football does not make a profit. For years she had run into a multi-million dollar deficit, but was convinced that going to the Big Ten would make it the silver print machine that he always thought he could be. But so far, according to all reports, it barely reaches the breakeven point and has committed to incurring considerable expenditure for years to pay for its new football facilities. The Council of Regents seems to believe that the program can not afford to pay Durkin back and therefore expect the loss of donations from crazy people, in addition to the inevitable pursuit of the McNair family. The regents announced yesterday, with so many words, that doing what was right would be too expensive.

Who is responsible here? Not Durkin, apparently, otherwise he would have been responsible for his inability to control his sociopathic strength coach. Not AD Evans, or he would have been held responsible for the Durkin program. Not the president of the university, Loh, who thought he could not act without risking the anger of his superiors, the council of regents. Not the advice, apparently, because they are under the influence of Durkin. And where is the NCAA in all of this? This diffusion of responsibility is not a coincidence that it is not almost universal in the power structures of university sport. The tendency to "put in committee" a scandal is not fatal. The bureaucracy exists so that no one should ever be held responsible for anything. Maryland may have struggled with other minor issues such as keeping its athletes alive, but it's under control. And in doing so, it may be proven that it is an ambitious program after all.