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Six years ago, the University of Maryland announced with great fanfare that it had embarked on one of the most powerful sports conferences in the country, an initiative with promises of wealth and prestige.
This week, the game broke out dramatically during three tumultuous days in which the president announced his retirement, the football coach was sacked and the chairman of the university board resigned.
The trigger was the death in June of a football player named Jordan McNair, a victim of heat stroke, after a heavy load session on a sweltering spring day.
The resulting controversy has become a power struggle fueled by enormous financial and political pressures. The death of a 19-year-old man and the question of who, at the University of Maryland, would be held responsible, were planned over all that.
In the end, the turbulence of the week highlighted the tension between those trying to protect a large-scale sports program and those who feared that the treatment of McNair's death would seriously undermine the sport. University image and fundraising campaign amounting to $ 1.5 billion aimed at raising the academic level of the school.
"We have politicians involved, upset students and the public wondering what's going on," said Mike Freiman, former president of the Terrapin Club, a sports donor organization.
University President Wallace D. Loh; the football coach, D.J. Durkin; and the politically linked chairman of the Board of Regents, James T. Brady. At the end of the week, MM. Durkin and Brady were away and Mr. Loh was about to retire at the end of the school year.
Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican seeking re-election in a blue state, also entered the fray. As public pressure increased, with university donors increasingly frustrated and his Democratic challenger denouncing his inaction, Governor Hogan expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the board handled the crisis. .
The trouble grew on Tuesday after the board announced, while Mr. Loh was visibly upset, that Mr. Durkin would remain in the school coach's place, despite an extremely critical report on the issue. of the culture of the football program.
Mr. Loh, who had pushed for the Big Ten, wanted to fire Mr. Durkin but was rejected by the council, headed by Mr. Brady.
However, the public fury that Mr. Durkin remains in office while Mr. Loh was leaving next year encouraged Mr. Loh to yield to the wishes of the Board and dismiss Mr. Durkin on Wednesday. Mr. Brady resigned the next day after losing the support of Governor Hogan, whose campaign he led in 2014.
This report of the last week of maneuvering is based on interviews with more than a dozen people close to the process, most of whom refused to be identified because they were not allowed to speak in public about private conversations. Loh and Durkin, through their representatives, declined to comment.
At the end of last week, the 17-member board met at the University System of Maryland's headquarters in Baltimore. He received Mr. Loh, Damon Evans, Director of Sports and Mr. Durkin, one after the other.
The meeting was aimed at resolving a crisis that had started with McNair's death and had snowballed after an ESPN meeting. An article in August described the program as a program in which staff members humiliated and intimidated players in a way that had lost popularity in major college football.
After this ESPN report, the university suspended two sports coaches and reached an agreement on the resignation of force coach Rick Court – described in the article as the leader of a "toxic culture".
The report also noted that some players had challenged Mr. Durkin's intense style and the fact that Mr. Court was one of his first hires.
The university's investigation into the football program was officially released this week. But the council had it in hand last week as he met with Mr. Loh, Mr. Durkin, and Mr. Evans.
The report partly blamed Mr. Durkin, but also his absolution, claiming that the new head coach – who had been hired after the 2015 season, when he was only 37 – was outclassed in his new job. He also said he had not received enough support from the sports department or university, given Maryland's high ambitions at its new conference.
Maryland had left the basketball-focused Atlantic Coast Conference, its longtime sports house, to head to Big Ten, which focuses on football, to generate additional revenues of several dozen millions of dollars.
"Mr. Durkin has been hired in extremely difficult circumstances to transform a struggling football program into a true Big Ten competitor, with less funding and support from supporters than other conference programs," says report.
After reading the report, the majority of council members advocated the end of Mr. Loh's term as chair. Mr. Loh was informed of the decision of the Board of Directors, who asked for his point of view.
When he spoke to the board last week, Mr. Loh warned that a brutal leadership change would destabilize the university. He also claimed that he could help implement the recommended changes in the report. Finally, he warned that the retention of Mr. Durkin would send the campus into turmoil.
Mr. Durkin spoke later, and according to several accounts was persuasive. He is a sidekick to two of the world's leading college football coaches, Urban Meyer of the State of Ohio and Jim Harbaugh of Michigan. After speaking to the council, he decided not to fire him.
On Monday, the board of directors decided that Mr. Durkin and Mr. Evans would stay. But the board does not have the power to hire or fire university staff other than the president. So, Mr. Loh, that the majority still wanted to end his duties, was to be the one who retain Mr. Durkin and Mr. Evans. Instead of being immediately fired, Mr. Loh was allowed to retire in June, at the end of the school year.
On Wednesday, his future seemed safe, Mr. Durkin had several meetings with campus department heads, deans, undergraduate government leaders and the faculty Senate executive committee. He supervised his first practice in almost three months, although a rumor was growing on campus during his stay and Mr. Loh's departure.
Statements by Deans and Distinguished Professors cautioned against what they considered to be inappropriate interference by the Board. The students organized a rally, while the political leaders and even the head of the university's foundation, an important fundraising body, spoke with disapproval.
When Governor Hogan – who appointed many regents and, if the elections are correct, stands for re-election and appointed others – joined the opposition to the retention of Mr. Durkin, the situation seemed untenable.
Mr. Hogan was not aware of the Regents' deliberations, according to a spokesperson. Benjamin Jealous, his Democratic opponent, had asked him to dismiss the members of the board of directors, although Mr. Hogan does not have the authority to do so directly.
But Mr. Loh had already planned his move. On the night of Halloween, he announced that he was defying the chart and dismiss Mr. Durkin.
"The President of the Board of Regents has publicly acknowledged that I had already expressed serious concerns about the return of coach Durkin," said Mr Loh, adding that "this departure is in the world". higher interest of the university. "
The politics of the moment – the anger of the campus, the national stigma, the disdain of donors – seemed to both constrain and justify Mr. Loh's decision.
In the end, Mr. Loh survived not only Mr. Durkin, but also Mr. Brady, who resigned Thursday night.
"I respect the many people – including elected leaders, members of the public, and board members – who disapproved of the recommendations that the majority of this council ultimately made," he said. .
The Maryland football team, led by interim head coach Matt Canada, will face home state Michigan on Saturday.
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