BALTIMORE, Maryland Saturday, November 3, 2018 - On the coastal plain here in Maryland, the autumn weather has again flipped to a bracing cold. Those preoccupied with subtle accuracies would say it is seasonably cool; i.e., pretty much what you would expect it to be at this time of year. I'm no longer young and I remember early Novembers when the ground was already covered with glistening snow. Anybody whose been around the block as many times as me will quickly recite the fact that a World Series game was snowed out in 1979. But I can also recall warm weather in early November; and I am not talking about 'warm for November,' I am talking about warm for any time of the year. In '79, once the Series ended, Baltimore went through a patch of so-called Indian Summer when the mercury soared into the eighties. Really, it did.
For those with the good sense to take in this time of year - even to enjoy it - it is a wonderful time. It is my favorite time. The leaves here turn late and many are in their glory now while others are just finishing. The fall weather, sadly, does not linger long. But while with us, it invigorates, braces, even rejuvenates.
Around here this year, however, there are two storylines that almost demand our attention no matter the glory of the Lord's day. Locally, the grand university of the State of Maryland has stepped in it once again. Just when anybody who has even a passing interest in the sport of football ought to be in the stands or in front of a TV watching as the brown leather ball is thrown or kicked back and forth, the lads at Maryland have managed to direct public attention to corporate board rooms and State Houses, where people charged with making unnecessarily complicated decisions have managed to really create a stinking mess.
I do not have the stomach to restate the whole lurid plot that has led to this point. But, briefly, there was a tragedy last May in which a young athlete lost his promising life. He was attempting to run wind sprints during a spring football practice when he was overcome by heat. He collapsed and several days later, he died. Since the moment the athlete passed, the fingers of blame have been pathetically flying all about. It is an awful and embarrassing sight. The University of Maryland and eleven other publicly run colleges and universities are administered by a 'Board of Regents," all of whom are appointed by Maryland's Governor. Some of those on the Board were appointed by former Governor Martin O'Malley and the rest were appointed by current Governor Lawrence Hogan. After months of "deliberations," this Board of Regents reached a preliminary decision to terminate the Maryland Football Coach, D.J. Durkin, the Athletic Director, Damon Evans, and University President Wallace Loh.
But before actually doing the deed, the Regents decided to come together and allow each of the three men a chance to address the Board en masse. At this meeting, Durkin's address was so enthralling that the Regents changed their minds, or, at least some of them did, and instead of what they originally had been inclined to do - fire all three men - the Regents announced that they would keep Durkin and Evans while informing Loh that he could stay on until this coming June provided he did nothing to stand in Durkin or Evans ways. Loh told the Board he would agree to this.
When this decision was communicated, the you-know-what hit the fan and a mob scene ensued. Durkin tried to address the football team but a bunch of his players walked out. A player said to be a "whistle-blower" was attacked by other players and injured. At least this is what has been reported. By the following day, Loh fired Durkin. Evans remains, it has been reported. But really, who knows? In fact, who knows who is in charge. It has been reported that a point of contention and blame is the fact that on the day the athlete, Jordan McNair, 19, succumbed, he was not placed in a so-called submersion tub, filled with cold water. The tub was not available because, we are told, the site of the practice was changed at the last minute and the training staff said it did not have enough time to get the tub to the field.
Apparently there are factions on the team and apparently these factions have more or less "led" the team in Durkin's absence.
One does not need to be a genius to understand that the University's athletic program, especially its football program, is in trouble for the near future.
Many are aware that in the wake of McNair's death, the far-left folk at ESPN did an "expose" which pointed to a "toxic" environment within the Maryland Football program. According to the far-left Baltimore Sun, athletes on the team were reluctant to air concerns for fear that the coaches would hold it against them.
Let it be pointed out that Durkin has only been at Maryland since December, 2015. The program he took over was on a downbound train. Yet in the few short months that Durkin was in charge his detractors say he created a "toxic culture." The toxic culture that those insightful folk at ESPN spoke of in their report - the one they put on TV not long after McNair's passing (and never let it be said that ESPN let a catastrophe like McNair's death go by without piling on) - did not bother to compare the way that Durkin ran Maryland's football program with the way other similar programs around the nation are administered.
How about that? The whole thing stunk so much it was truly pathetic. Durkin coached two years - two seasons - after taking over a sinking ship. I don't know a lot about his background, except for the fact that he came from Jim Harbaugh's program at Michigan.
I'm not defending Durkin's coaching. The idea that on a hot day the football program ran wind sprints without an essential medical tool at their beck and ready, is indefensible. The medical tool - the immersion tub that can immerse a heat stroke victim in cold water immediately after he is stricken - was not at the field where McNair was stricken because the location of the practice was said to have changed at the last.
What any of that had to do with a toxic culture is unclear. There was, however, clear indication that factions had formed on the team, and these factions had developed strong opinions about the cause of McNair's death.
It is clear that the coaching staff did not recognize the seriousness of McNair's condition. The coaches thought McNair was dogging it on the day he went down. No one moved quickly to get him help. By the time he did get the kind of medical intervention that is available in Maryland - although a small state, Maryland is home to the near-legendary "Shock Trauma" center at the University of Maryland, not to mention Johns Hopkins Medical School and Johns Hopkins Hospital. McNair was taken to Shock Trauma, but despite heroic efforts by attending doctors, his organs began to fail and within days the young athlete lost his battle to survive.
When a booster who wanted or expected royal treatment - a seat on the team jet to an away football game this fall - was found to have been the same person who made a terrible remark about McNair's supposed culpability in his own death, players insisted he not ride on the jet with the players. He did not.
I have no problem with that. Why was he on the bloody jet to begin with? But it was players who essentially told him to bug off, not the coaches or administration.
When Durkin was returned to his position by the Board of Regents - a move signed off on by Wallace Loh, the same man who fired Durkin one day later, right before he quit himself - the players again intervened. Or some of the players, at least. One player who didn't agree was beat up by teammates. The rest of the team and others not charged with making the decision about Durkin, all screamed blue murder. The Governor of Maryland, the sometimes weak-spined Lawrence Hogan, was all fired up. Perhaps Hogan should've paid some attention to the Maryland Troops summonsed to the Southern Border by the President of These United States. The troops went, as directed. Then, with virtually no explanation, Hogan called them home. In case you've missed the news, the Southern Border of this country is actually under siege by tens of thousands of 'migrants.' National Guard troops from all over are responding, as are tens of thousands of regular military troops. But Hogan brings Maryland's defenders home.
With everybody screaming, Loh called Durkin. One day before he told the Board of Regents he backed their decision to keep Durkin. One day later, he changed his mind and fired Durkin. Evans is still employed.
There are huge problems at Maryland.
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