{"id":201133,"date":"2018-11-01T12:29:49","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T16:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=201133"},"modified":"2023-07-11T12:32:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T16:32:26","slug":"op-ed-coachs-firing-wont-solve-college-footballs-deepest-problems-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2018\/11\/op-ed-coachs-firing-wont-solve-college-footballs-deepest-problems-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-ed: Coach\u2019s Firing Won\u2019t Solve College Football\u2019s Deepest Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: Joseph Cooper, Neag School assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, writes this piece originally published for<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0The Conversation<\/a>. Read the\u00a0original article<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Maryland college football coach DJ Durkin was ultimately fired after the death of a player during practice \u2013 and findings that his players were bullied and abused by coaches and staff over the course his three-year tenure. However, his\u00a011th hour ouster<\/a>\u00a0on Oct. 31 is evidence of how much the culture of college football still needs to change.<\/p>\n

This culture encourages players to ignore signs of physical or mental exhaustion and is present across the college football landscape, not just at Maryland.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph
Joseph Cooper, assistant professor of sport management, writes this original commentary for\u00a0The Conversation<\/em>. (Photo Credit: Sean Flynn\/UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Durkin may be gone, but only because the public \u2013\u00a0including current players, students and alumni at the University of Maryland \u2013\u00a0wanted him gone. It wasn\u2019t because the people in charge of Maryland\u2019s university system suddenly realized how wrong it was for Durkin to run a program in which\u00a0complaining of pain was seen as unmanly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The board of regents at the University System of Maryland actually wanted to\u00a0keep<\/a>\u00a0Durkin. The board even\u00a0reportedly pressured<\/a>\u00a0University of Maryland President Wallace Loh to keep Durkin or risk losing his own job.<\/p>\n

Loh initially responded by announcing his own resignation. But after hearing the public outcry after the board moved to reinstate Durkin \u2013 Loh fired Durkin instead.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Loh noted how \u201cthe overwhelming majority of stakeholders expressed serious concerns about Coach DJ Durkin returning to the campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a difficult decision, but it is the right one for our entire University,\u201d Loh stated. He also vowed to devote the remaining months of his presidency to \u201cadvancing the needed reforms in our Athletic Department that prioritize the safety and well-being of our student-athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

A student-led protest was reportedly being planned before the firing took place.<\/p>\n

In our view as\u00a0researchers<\/a>\u00a0who focus on the\u00a0intersection of race and college sports<\/a>, none of these events will rid big-time college sports of its deepest problems. Those problems include the placing of winning games and generating revenue ahead of the best interests of the student-athletes.<\/p>\n

In recent years, legal activists like former athletes Ed O\u2019Bannon, Cain Colter and\u00a0Martin Jenkins<\/a>\u00a0have sought to change this state of affairs.<\/p>\n

Trends underscore how black males are primarily valued at these institutions as athletic gladiators, but not as students deserving of quality educational opportunities and support for their overall well-being.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Risking their lives<\/strong>
\nIt would be naive not to view big-time college sports through the lens of race. A recent report that shows black males make up only 2.4 percent of the general student body at Power 5 Bowl Championship Series schools, but 55 percent and 56 percent, respectively, of football and men\u2019s basketball teams.<\/p>\n

Further, black male college athletes graduate at the lowest rates among all college athletes and in the NCAA and Division I Power 5 member institutions, which\u00a0generate<\/a>\u00a0billions of dollars<\/a>\u00a0primarily off the broadcasting and sponsorship rights for football and men\u2019s basketball.<\/p>\n

These trends underscore how black males are primarily valued at these institutions as athletic gladiators, but not as students deserving of quality educational opportunities and support for their\u00a0overall well-being<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Failed to render medical aid
\n<\/strong>Had Durkin been allowed to continue to coach despite the toxic culture uncovered at Maryland following the May 2018 death of 19-year-old offensive lineman Jordan McNair, many would have considered it a gross\u00a0miscarriage of justice<\/a>.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

McNair died of heatstroke during practice earlier this year. A cold-water immersion would have\u00a0likely saved his life<\/a>\u00a0but team staff and coaches\u00a0failed<\/a>\u00a0to promptly seek medical assistance.<\/p>\n

While player deaths during practice may be rare, indifference toward black athletes, especially their\u00a0physical<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0mental health<\/a>, is widespread in college sports.<\/p>\n

The prevalence of college athletes\u2019 unmet mental and physical health needs is\u00a0well-documented<\/a>. The NCAA\u2019s Sport Science Institute, through its own research, has acknowledged that college athletes\u2019\u00a0health issues<\/a>\u00a0remain a major problem.<\/p>\n

Disparities in discipline?
\n<\/strong>Yet, as the story of Durkin demonstrates, both the NCAA \u2013 and the University of Maryland as one of its member institutions \u2013 have failed to create and enforce policies that hold coaches responsible for creating conditions that are injurious to college athletes\u2019 overall well-being.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The system seems more bent on policing and punishing black student-athletes than it does on holding accountable those who are responsible for their care.<\/p>\n

For instance, several players on the University of North Carolina football team were\u00a0suspended for four games<\/a>\u00a0for selling their team-issued shoes in violation of NCAA rules. Another black player, a University of Central Florida kicker, was ruled ineligible after receiving money through a YouTube channel he created.<\/p>\n

These student-athletes who engaged in victimless acts and tried to make a few dollars in a system that makes billions of dollars from their labor are made to sit out games or get kicked off the team entirely. Yet, as demonstrated by the initial decision to keep Durkin, neglecting the health needs of a player in medical distress is excusable.<\/p>\n

Balancing academics and sports
\n<\/strong>Being a college athlete is inherently tough work. One of us is conducting research into black Division I football and men\u2019s basketball players. Thus far, the research shows 64 percent of respondents find it difficult or very difficult to balance their student and athlete identities while they\u2019re in season, compared to only 34 percent when out of season.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

These numbers illustrate the imbalance in what college athletes are expected to do versus how much time they have for school. If it\u2019s already difficult for players to manage the demands of college and the obligations to their team, how much more difficult was it for Maryland football players, who faced a\u00a0football culture<\/a>\u00a0that normalized physical and mental abuse under Durkin. It was noted in a report that before McNair passed away, one of the staff\u00a0called him a vulgar name<\/a>\u00a0for a female private part.<\/p>\n

College football players are\u00a0not allowed to form a union<\/a>. In our view, this curtails their ability to seek recourse if their rights are being violated.<\/p>\n

Before Durkin was fired,\u00a0blame<\/a>\u00a0initially fell on strength and conditioning coach Rick Court, who resigned after McNair\u2019s death. Court was, in some ways, cast as a bad apple and the tragedy allowed to be seen as an isolated case of inattentiveness to one player\u2019s medical needs by a few replaceable athletic staff.<\/p>\n

The wrong kind of firing
\n<\/strong>It\u2019s important to note that in being \u201cfired,\u201d Durkin is still reportedly being bought out for the remainder of his five-year contract, valued at more than $5 million.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

If the University of Maryland had taken\u00a0the more difficult route<\/a>\u00a0of firing Durkin for just cause and taking away his payout, that would have sent a powerful message that players\u2019 lives matter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

This piece originally published for<\/em>\u00a0The Conversation<\/a>. Read the\u00a0original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maryland college football coach DJ Durkin was ultimately fired after the death of a player during practice \u2013 and findings that his players were bullied and abused by coaches and staff over the course his three-year tenure. However, his 11th hour ouster on Oct. 31 is evidence of how much the culture of college football still needs to change. This culture encourages players to ignore signs of physical or mental exhaustion and is present across the college football landscape, not just at Maryland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2427,1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2455],"class_list":["post-201133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educational-leadership","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 00:58:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201136,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201133\/revisions\/201136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201133"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=201133"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=201133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}