University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh and athletic director Damon Evans met with the parents of Jordan McNair on Tuesday morning in Baltimore to apologize and take "legal and moral responsibility" for the circumstances leading to the football player's death in June, Loh said at a news conference Tuesday.
Loh said he told McNair's parents, "You entrusted Jordan to our care and he is never coming home again."
McNair needed help to finish a conditioning test that consisted of 10 110-yard sprints during a preseason practice May 29 and fell ill.
He died of heatstroke at R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center 15 days later. He was 19.
Medical experts say McNair's health might have hinged on Maryland's adherence to medical guidelines for treating heatstroke, including cold-water immersion _ a protocol that doctors say likely saved former Towson football player Gavin Class' life after he was stricken during a practice in 2013.
Evans said Tuesday that McNair's treatment did not include cold-water immersion and that the "care we provided was not consistent with best practices."
Loh said the training staff "basically misdiagnosed the situation." He said the university takes "legal and moral responsibility for mistakes the training staff made" on the day McNair died.
McNair's parents have hired prominent Baltimore attorney Billy Murphy and are considering filing a lawsuit. Murphy could not immediately be reached for comment.
Loh and Evans also announced the formation of a national commission looking into the Terps football team's culture.
The university placed Coach DJ Durkin and three other staff members on administrative leave last week pending that review.
Those moves followed two explosive articles posted by ESPN on Friday that detailed McNair's struggles during the conditioning test and an allegedly "toxic" football culture at Maryland.
The national commission is the second external review the university has launched to examine McNair's death.
