Maryland Terrapins football coach D.J. Durkin was fired by the university Wednesday night after just being cleared to return to the team.
Maryland fires head coach DJ Durkin one day after university officials announced he’d be coming back, per @RickMaese pic.twitter.com/40rzxhzrxa
— Bleacher Report CFB (@BR_CFB) October 31, 2018
Maryland has fired football coach DJ Durkin, a school spokeswoman confirmed. Durkin just told the team, according to a source. https://t.co/Sxa3hW3NZ4
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) October 31, 2018
Here’s the sequence of events that led to Maryland firing DJ Durkin. pic.twitter.com/EfY6TRMiv3
— ESPN CollegeFootball (@ESPNCFB) November 1, 2018
Maryland officials thought they had a choice. They didn’t. The public was going to decide if DJ Durkin could come back. And the answer was a resounding no. That’s the times we live in. https://t.co/KGZAhZlN5Q
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 31, 2018
Well, is anybody really surprised here? It felt a bit jarring when Durkin was initially kept after an investigation into the death of Jordan McNair and allegations of abuse within the football program. An initial probe cleared Durkin and the program of the abuse accusations, which was a bit surprising in my eyes.
I thought Durkin was going to be fired long ago. The massive pushback from some players on his own roster had to play a part in the decision to cut him loose. Plus, what parent is going to want to send their kid to a team that had an athlete die from heat stroke? It’s just not going to happen. (RELATED: Investigation Into Maryland’s Football Program Following Player’s Death Yields Unexpected Results)
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As for Durkin’s future, his buyout is more than $5 million at this point of his contract. That’s a lot of money to get paid after being shown the door, but that’s how the sport works.
D.J. Durkin’s buyout is 65% of the remaining base+supplemental pay.
By year:
2018: $2,500,000 (approx. $583,333 left — 1/6 of base + $500K supplemental due Dec. 1)
2019: $2,550,000
2020: $2,600,000
2021: $2,650,000Total: approx. $8,383,333
65% = approx. $5,449,166
— Patrick Stevens (@D1scourse) October 31, 2018
If he wants to keep coaching, the NFL might be his main option right now. I just don’t see another college team touching him with all the negative PR surrounding him at the moment. The NFL cares a lot less about things of that nature.
What an absolute disaster of a situation all the way around and for everybody involved.