The Maryland Board of Directors recommends that DJ Durkin remain as head coach

The Maryland Board of Directors Tuesday advised DJ Durkin to remain head coach after his administrative leave since August 11.

The council also recommended that Damon Evans, director of sports, retain his position.

University president Wallace D. Loh announced that he was retiring in June after the end of the 2018-2019 school year.

The Maryland Board of Regents reportedly recommended the reinstatement of Durkin and the retention of Evans. The decision finally belonged to Loh, but The Washington Post reports that Loh was "urged" to follow the recommendation and that one source stated that he had been clearly informed that the latter had no other choice. he wanted to avoid being fired immediately.

On Friday, the Regents had face-to-face discussions with Durkin, Evans and Loh at a meeting in Baltimore, but were unable to reach a consensus at that time. Several board members were "impressed" by Durkin at the meeting and "many were convinced that he deserved to stay at his post". Loh tried to explain at the meeting why he thought the school "should go from Durkin", reports the To post.

"It was made clear that if he wanted to stay in his job, he had no choice," a source told the newspaper. To post. "He finally felt that the dismissal would be just disruptive for the entire campus because it would not put the coach back on the field."

The news comes after the board of the system debated the employment status of Durkin, Evans and Loh internally for a week and a half. The university first put Durkin on leave on August 11 after ESPN released a detailed and explosive report detailing a "poisonous" culture within the Terrapins football program.

On September 21, an independent investigation revealed that Maryland was guilty of the death of 19-year-old offensive line player Jordan McNair, who died of heat stroke in June after collapsing at the time of his death. A training session in the low season. He had difficulty standing and breathing during the sprint race during a training session in May. McNair died two weeks later, on June 13th.

On August 14, Maryland President Wallace Loh and Sporting Director Damon Evans announced that they had apologized to McNair's parents and that "the university accepts legal responsibility and moral mistakes made by our training staff during this fateful training day of May 29 ". Loh stated that the training staff had "misdiagnosed" McNair's situation, and Evans revealed that McNair's temperature had not been taken and that he had not been immersed in cold water to lower his body temperature.

Loh added that he was establishing an independent four-person investigation into the allegations, which the Maryland board of directors finally took control of. The Washington Post got a copy of the external report, which would have revealed several failures in the football program but which allowed to establish that it was not a "poisonous culture".

Over the past two seasons in Maryland, Durkin scored 11-15, reaching the Quick Lane Bowl in 2016. Prior to filling that position in Maryland, Durkin, 40, was the defensive coordinator from Michigan.