Maryland football coach DJ Durkin should be fired "immediately," an attorney representing the family of Maryland offensive lineman Jordan McNair said Sunday.
In an afternoon news conference at the Baltimore offices of Murphy, Falcon & Murphy, William H. "Billy" Murphy Jr. said Durkin, who was placed on administrative leave Saturday as the university investigates McNair's death and reports of a demeaning and degrading culture under the coach's watch, and his staff showed "complete indifference" in the May 31 offseason workout that left the former McDonogh star hospitalized.
McNair, 19, died over two weeks later. Murphy said the cause of death was heatstroke, citing two iterations of McNair's death certificate and his symptoms at the workout.
Murphy said Maryland's staff and athletic trainers "were not prepared for something that any coach in any strenuous activity, athletically, should be prepared for."
Murphy also said Durkin "fostered a horrible culture of physical and verbal abuse of the players," and said the success of the football program would not be viable so long as Durkin is associated with it.
Walters Inc., a sports medicine consulting firm led by former longtime athletic trainer Rod Walters, is investigating the protocols and procedures relating to McNair's death, and a report of its findings is expected to be completed by Sept. 15. Murphy said a civil lawsuit against the university is "absolutely probable," but that he likely would wait until after the results of the external investigation are disclosed.
