The University of Maryland said Tuesday that it had fired the strength and conditioning coach for its football team and apologized to the family of a player who died after a workout in May, as it investigates the practices and culture of a program current and former players say was rife with intimidation and harassment.
The university’s president, Wallace D. Loh, already had suspended the Terrapins’ football coach, D.J. Durkin, and the strength coach, Rick Court, but he said news reports about the program’s pattern of humiliating players who fell short in practices had prompted him to appoint a four-person commission to investigate the program.
“In this case, we learned about the allegations from the media,’’ Loh said at a news conference. “Regardless of the source, it’s important we address it.”
Durkin was placed on paid administrative leave over the weekend after ESPN published a report on the mistreatment of players, including an offensive lineman, Jordan McNair, who collapsed at a practice in May and died two weeks later.
McNair had showed signs of extreme exhaustion and heatstroke at a practice on the day he died, according to ESPN. According to its report and others by various news organizations, coaches and trainers created a culture of fear and intimidation at Maryland in which they embarrassed and humiliated players and questioned their masculinity when they failed to complete exercises.
“The university accepts legal and moral responsibility for the mistakes our training staff made,” Loh said. “They basically misdiagnosed the situation. No vital signs were taken. Other safeguarding actions were not taken. For me, that’s enough for me to say I need to come to personally apologize.”
Loh said he told McNair’s family: “We owe you an apology. You entrusted Jordan to our care, and he is never returning home again.”