[NCAAF] 2018 College Football Season
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Meanwhile, the Pac-12 has a serious - and I mean SERIOUS - problem. The president of the conference had to come out and clarify that the conference's general counsel wasn't the one making calls in the replay center for things like targeting reviews. Now they have to prove that's true. The call that brought all of this up was the refusal to call what was obviously, blatantly targeting by a WSU player on USC's QB. Honestly, the NCAA needs to launch a swift and very thorough investigation into these allegations, and any games that could be found to have been influenced need to have their results vacated - because having an attorney decide penalties is beyond fucked up.
Oh yeah, Lance occasionally pops up on my Twitter timeline. Former classmate and all that.
B
BErt
University of Maryland - What the absolute fuck are you doing?!
So, for those who may have forgotten - it's been a busy few months, after all - the UMD football team had a player die after suffering exertional heatstroke and being improperly treated by the training staff. Jordan McNair suffered heatstroke at practice in May, and died 15 days later. The initial investigation found that athletic training staff had failed to call paramedics, failed to take any measures to reduce McNair's body temperature (they had actually instructed two of his teammates to drag him around the field to "walk off" his high temperature), and that these failures were consistent with a program out of control and with a dangerous culture of disregard for player safety.
All of this remained quiet - relatively unknown, in fact, to anyone but the team and McNair's family. It took until September, when ESPN broke the story, for this news to really get out. Since that time, the Head Coach, DJ Durkin, and Athletic Director Damon Evans have been on paid administrative leave while an independent review could be conducted at the behest of the Board of Regents. It is important to note that the UMD Board of Regents, unlike those in other states (Michigan, specifically), are appointed by the Governor of the state. The independent review has been completed, and - though the review found ample evidence to support a toxic culture*, lack of concern for player safety**, and direct culpability of individual actors*** - the board of regents, on Monday, recommended the reinstatement of Head Coach, DJ Durkin. University President, Wallace D. Loh, is on the record as having recommended the firings of Durkin, Evans, and the athletic training staff responsible. He was threatened with being fired if he carried through on those actions, so instead he reinstated Durkin.
The following day, the UMD student body president announced that there would be a campus-wide walkout to protest the reinstatement of Durkin, and that he was introducing legislation requiring Durkin's immediate removal. Yesterday, under immense pressure from the student body, the football team, the Governor, the athletic conference, the NCAA, and pretty much everybody with a brain, Durkin was fired. Today, the Washington Post (the local paper for UMD... ouch!) reports that the BoR also recommended that the athletic trainers directly responsible for McNair's death be reinstated immediately. The university corroborates this report, but would like to remind everyone that they have not acted on this recommendation.
* Reports, corroborated by both reviews, indicate the following, regarding the UMD Football Team Culture:
*** Reports from players at practice that day, and by Durkin himself, corroborated by both investigations, indicate that when Jordan McNair first showed signs of heatstroke, head trainer Court called him fat and told two of his teammates to "drag his lazy ass through the rest of those sprints." After assistant training staff requested that an ambulance be called for McNair, Court nixed the call. Court then lied to the university and to McNair's parents about the events leading up to his death. Further reports, corroborated during the toxic culture investigation, show that Court routinely "tortured" players.
So, there we have it. A complete and utter lack of institutional control if ever there was one. Also, a complete disregard for human life, human dignity, and basic human decency. I posit to you, dear reader, that if ever a program deserved the NCAA Death Penalty, it's this one. And there's no allowing them to weasel out because "their local economy couldn't handle the loss of revenue." Maryland famously isn't a football school.
So, for those who may have forgotten - it's been a busy few months, after all - the UMD football team had a player die after suffering exertional heatstroke and being improperly treated by the training staff. Jordan McNair suffered heatstroke at practice in May, and died 15 days later. The initial investigation found that athletic training staff had failed to call paramedics, failed to take any measures to reduce McNair's body temperature (they had actually instructed two of his teammates to drag him around the field to "walk off" his high temperature), and that these failures were consistent with a program out of control and with a dangerous culture of disregard for player safety.
All of this remained quiet - relatively unknown, in fact, to anyone but the team and McNair's family. It took until September, when ESPN broke the story, for this news to really get out. Since that time, the Head Coach, DJ Durkin, and Athletic Director Damon Evans have been on paid administrative leave while an independent review could be conducted at the behest of the Board of Regents. It is important to note that the UMD Board of Regents, unlike those in other states (Michigan, specifically), are appointed by the Governor of the state. The independent review has been completed, and - though the review found ample evidence to support a toxic culture*, lack of concern for player safety**, and direct culpability of individual actors*** - the board of regents, on Monday, recommended the reinstatement of Head Coach, DJ Durkin. University President, Wallace D. Loh, is on the record as having recommended the firings of Durkin, Evans, and the athletic training staff responsible. He was threatened with being fired if he carried through on those actions, so instead he reinstated Durkin.
The following day, the UMD student body president announced that there would be a campus-wide walkout to protest the reinstatement of Durkin, and that he was introducing legislation requiring Durkin's immediate removal. Yesterday, under immense pressure from the student body, the football team, the Governor, the athletic conference, the NCAA, and pretty much everybody with a brain, Durkin was fired. Today, the Washington Post (the local paper for UMD... ouch!) reports that the BoR also recommended that the athletic trainers directly responsible for McNair's death be reinstated immediately. The university corroborates this report, but would like to remind everyone that they have not acted on this recommendation.
* Reports, corroborated by both reviews, indicate the following, regarding the UMD Football Team Culture:
- A player, who was being disciplined for failing to make his weight loss goal, was forced to sit on the sidelines while the coaches threw candy bars at him and he was forced to gorge himself on those candy bars while the coaches called him fat.
- DJ Durkin routinely put down players that he felt weren't working hard enough, threatened to revoke their scholarships, and accused them of stealing from taxpayers.
- Players who were obviously injured were forced to continue with workouts, even to the point of being carried by their teammates.
*** Reports from players at practice that day, and by Durkin himself, corroborated by both investigations, indicate that when Jordan McNair first showed signs of heatstroke, head trainer Court called him fat and told two of his teammates to "drag his lazy ass through the rest of those sprints." After assistant training staff requested that an ambulance be called for McNair, Court nixed the call. Court then lied to the university and to McNair's parents about the events leading up to his death. Further reports, corroborated during the toxic culture investigation, show that Court routinely "tortured" players.
So, there we have it. A complete and utter lack of institutional control if ever there was one. Also, a complete disregard for human life, human dignity, and basic human decency. I posit to you, dear reader, that if ever a program deserved the NCAA Death Penalty, it's this one. And there's no allowing them to weasel out because "their local economy couldn't handle the loss of revenue." Maryland famously isn't a football school.
It's hard to even know where to begin to start fixing the multitude of issues that seem to follow college sports everywhere - but I'd still miss marching band, all of the opportunities that a healthy, well run athletic department provides to students in and out of its direct purview (like all of those sports medicine students who have access to real injuries to study, since some injuries are unavoidable), and traditions like that Children's Hospital Wave that Iowa has going on at its stadium.
I know, it's why I can no longer actually support my family rivalry between the Cyclones and the Hawkeyes. I can respect the players on the field and love the university off the field too much to keep up the "hatred" for the other team, no matter how good natured it was.
I'm pretty sure Durkin has been fired. He was only reinstated because the Board of Regents doesn't have the authority to fire him. President Loh isn't exactly the champion of the people either, his decisions led to the death of the player. Durkin and his assistant went to Loh a few months before the season began and asked for the training staff to be replaced by an independent group of trainers from UM Baltimore but were turned down because Loh didn't want to spend the money. In my opinion they need to clean house completely. Someone died playing a game and everyone that should have been responsible failed. The student body has been protesting against Durkin AND Loh since Friday and is probably the only reason Loh actually fired Durkin. Loh won't face any repercussions either because he is retiring in a few months and they're just going to let him ride it out. They should fire him and take away his golden parachute.
The Chair of the Maryland Board of Regents has since resigned.
Following Tuesday's Practice, UMD Backup Punter Beaten by Teammates. Backup punter Matt Barber says he was held back by multiple teammates while the starting punter, Wade Lees, assaulted him by hitting him repeatedly because he spoke out against Durkin during the investigation. Lees and several other players admit to holding him down and beating the shit out of him, but say it was because he'd been picking on younger teammates and the score needed to be settled. Barber is now suing the university.
Not sure how The Baltimore Sun scores on reliability, bias, and sensationalism, but it sounds like UMD may be facing an even more serious penalty than the NCAA Death Penalty for their football team. The BoR's actions in arguing for the reinstatement of all of these actors may cost them... the university's accreditation.
Dave
Staff member
Holy shit that's fucking monumentally huge for a university. For those of you not in the know, losing accreditation means that the college can not get federal funding of any kind. That means that student that go there would NOT BE ABLE TO GET FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS! Losing accreditation would almost certainly be a death knell for the university.
Again, holy fucking shit that's nuclear.
Again, holy fucking shit that's nuclear.
We can certainly hope. Does the university need to be cleaned up? Absolutely. Do we need to punish all of the students who attend the entire university? Really, should any of the students be getting punished? No. Absolutely not.
Dave
Staff member
I can see them pulling a Penn State and doing a cleaning of the whole football staff. But it really goes deeper than that. The Board of Regents overrode the decision of the school's President to keep the coaching staff on the payroll. THAT'S why the accreditation is in danger of being pulled - not because of the kid's death (although they are citing a portion of the bylaws about student safety) but because of the interference of the Board in a position that is supposed to be autonomous.
The Board told the President that the coach and AD would stay, so the President said, "Fuck you. I'm retiring." The next day he fired the coach. The day after that the Deans and Provost sent out a letter PUBLICLY that talked about how the actions of the Board endangered the accreditation. Keep in mind the people overseeing the accreditation has been investigating the school since AUGUST.
It's also interesting to note that the body in charge of investigating the "toxic atmosphere" at Maryland was...the Board of Regents. Of course, they found nothing wrong.
I know that this would hurt a lot of people if it happens, but colleges have to really toe the line to keep accreditation and it sounds like they might need to be slapped for a year.
The Board told the President that the coach and AD would stay, so the President said, "Fuck you. I'm retiring." The next day he fired the coach. The day after that the Deans and Provost sent out a letter PUBLICLY that talked about how the actions of the Board endangered the accreditation. Keep in mind the people overseeing the accreditation has been investigating the school since AUGUST.
It's also interesting to note that the body in charge of investigating the "toxic atmosphere" at Maryland was...the Board of Regents. Of course, they found nothing wrong.
I know that this would hurt a lot of people if it happens, but colleges have to really toe the line to keep accreditation and it sounds like they might need to be slapped for a year.
If it's something that can be done for only a year - and then reinstated a year later, or following a comprehensive review and real progress toward safety consciousness and a new BoR, or whatever - then it doesn't sound as bad. I just remember entire small communities disappearing whenever a community college or JuCo would lose their accreditation, so to have a major institution lose theirs is a little daunting sounding. It's still terrible for students at the university for that year, but this has the potential to go far beyond football and into the realm of (official) political meddling in institutions of higher learning, since all UMD Board of Regents members must be appointed by the governor, but then serve lifelong appointments. There's also the matter of the $1.5B university-program wide fundraising effort that was just derailed, as one of the major donors backed out.
Dave
Staff member
Shit like this happens all the time. People in the system do shitty things and then leave (usually getting some sort of golden parachute) and THEN the university gets fucked by fines or whatever. It's ALWAYS the current administration and students that get screwed over while those who did the bad deeds are gone. But the alternative is to NOT fine or suspend, which means the institutions get away with this stuff scott free. Doing the fines or suspensions after the fact means the schools still have to vet employees and gives an incentive to keeping things the way they are supposed to be. And yes, taxpayers will probably get hit with this.
So if they let them off I'm against it. I don't know if losing accreditation is the answer, but it can be suspended for a year pending review.
So if they let them off I'm against it. I don't know if losing accreditation is the answer, but it can be suspended for a year pending review.
Dave
Staff member
More than likely it'll end up being like Penn State. Loss of athletic scholarships, no post-season possibilities, huge fines, etc.
But the Board interference is huge and they may well get slapped down. And FYI, accreditation is a continuous process that never stops. We get reviewed every couple of years. But there are a lot of issues if it gets suspended. You can read a lot about it here: https://www.collegesanddegrees.com/accreditation
B
BErt
@DarkAudit you still alive after that??
It's a work night, so all I saw was the score when my alarm went off, and highlights after.
B
BErt
How does Dana walk with those enormous balls
Fuckin' Army cadets, injurin' Airforce's mascot. Poor bird may have to be euthanized due to a broken wing she suffered when she was being stolen from the home of the officer caring for her before the game. The cadets have already been arrested.
Also, I can't speak for most of the game, but the MVP of the last two minutes of the Purdue game should definitely be the ref that called that Defensive Holding call in the end zone.
Also, I can't speak for most of the game, but the MVP of the last two minutes of the Purdue game should definitely be the ref that called that Defensive Holding call in the end zone.
