Maryland kicks off their season on Saturday against Texas and they will do so without head coach DJ Durkin, who remains on administrative leave amid several investigations into his program. While he remains in an uphill battle to keep his job going forward, the coach did receive a big vote of confidence from a few folks who matter quite a bit to every university: the people who write big checks.
As detailed by the Baltimore Sun, it seems several “high-level” donors to the school have sent a letter to the board of regents and several other key administrators expressing their support for Durkin. At least one
“We take great issue with the Maryland football program under Coach Durkin being labeled as any type of ‘toxic environment’,” the letter read in part. “Many of us have had the opportunity to regularly attend numerous football practices, team workouts, team dinners and team events, to travel with the team for away football games and be on the sideline for home football games.
“Others have sponsored and interacted repeatedly with football players that greatly respect DJ Durkin. We have all been witnesses to the exact opposite of a toxic environment. What we have witnessed is the exact opposite of any toxic environment. What we have witnessed is a coach and coaching staff deeply committed to obtaining excellence from every player on the field, in the classroom and in life.”
At least one person from the group that sent the letter, Rick Jaklitsch, expressed similar sentiments in an interview with the Sun and even called Durkin a “gem” that would never create such an environment that was described in several reports from earlier this month.
There’s no timetable set for the investigation being conducted into what has been happening at Maryland but it goes without saying that this is the strongest statement yet in favor of keeping Durkin around College Park. While this is just a letter from several involved boosters, it stands in stark contrast from the comments coming from the parents of the player at the center of the story in Jordan McNair, whose father recently went on TV to call for the head coach’s firing as a result of McNair’s death.
It remains to be seen as to how long it will be until there’s an answer on Durkin’s future at Maryland but something says this isn’t the last of statements for and against the embattled head coach.