The family of late Maryland football player Jordan McNair has hired a law firm to investigate their son’s death, and on Sunday the lead attorney from that firm came out and said Maryland should fire Terps head coach D.J. Durkin.
McNair collapsed after a team-supervised workout on May 29 and died on June 13. The 19-year-old passed away due to a heatstroke, according to the family. On Friday evening, an ESPN report stated McNair’s body temperature was 106 degrees during said heatstroke.
Since that report, Maryland has since suspended a number of key off-the-field personnel and placed Durkin on administrative leave, but Baltimore lawyer Billy Murphy believes Durkin must permanently be removed from his post.
“What I think ought to be done with this existing coach, he should be fired. He should be fired for what happened, his role in it, the culture he established,” Murphy told ESPN Sunday. “Putting aside the tragic nature of what happened to this family and what happened this young man, there is a football program that has to be absolutely straightened out before any reasonable parent would want to send their child (to Maryland).”
Murphy also said that the firm of Murphy, Falcon & Murphy is “leaning” toward filing a civil lawsuit in federal court, but will wait until the university wraps up its investigation before choosing a course of action.
“There are a variety of ways to cast a lawsuit,” Murphy said. “We’re going to go for the most effective way.”
Maryland’s investigation is expected to conclude by Sept. 15. The Terps open the 2018 season Sept. 1 against No. 21 Texas.