DJ Durkin’s return as Maryland’s football coach lasted one day after he was fired on Wednesday night, just over 24 hours after being reinstated following an investigation into a college player’s death.

There was national outrage over the decision to allow Durkin to return to the role given that he was in charge when Jordan McNair died tragically five months ago due to heatstroke.

A medical report in the death found several issues with the treatment of McNair, including failure to assess his vital signs, not having proper cooling devices and failure to quickly recognise he was suffering heat illness.

Shockingly, it took an hour for a University of Maryland football trainer to call emergency services after the offensive lineman first showed symptoms of heatstroke.

Instead of resolving the issues facing the flawed programme, the decision by the University System of Maryland board of regents on Tuesday was to retain Durkin and athletic director Damon Evans.

Several state officials called for Durkin to be fired and one called the decision to retain him an “embarrassment.”

Maryland president Wallace Loh fired Durkin after conferring with the leadership of the Student Government Association, the Senate Executive Committee, deans, department chairs and campus leadership.

McNair’s father Jordan McNair praised Wednesday’s decision, saying: ”This is happening so fast, I just feel a level of gratitude that Dr Loh took it upon himself to do the right thing in the face of what he was dealing with, the pressure he was dealing with.” 

“It’s a step in the right direction to try to put some closure to this. I know we still have a long way to go, but at least knowing that, I’m confident and comfortable with Dr Loh making the decision, and he stands behind his decision.”

On the call to reverse Durkin’s reinstatement, Loh wrote in a statement on Wednesday night: “The overwhelming majority of stakeholders expressed serious concerns about coach DJ Durkin returning to the campus.

“The chair of the Board of Regents has publicly acknowledged that I had previously raised serious concerns about coach Durkin’s return. This is not at all a reflection of my opinion of coach Durkin as a person. However, a departure is in the best interest of the university and this afternoon coach Durkin was informed that the university will part ways,” Loh wrote.

“This is a difficult decision, but it is the right one for our entire university.”

Loh’s action was immediately met with approval by Maryland Congressman Anthony G Brown.

“Dr Loh’s firing of coach Durkin is the right decision and the decision that had to be made if the UMD community was going to ever move forward,” Brown said.

Durkin was placed on administrative leave on August 11 while the board of regents waited for the results of an investigation on the culture of the programme.

After receiving that report, the board decided to bring him back, saying he had been “unfairly blamed for the dysfunction in the athletic department.”

Prior to the news of Durkin’s dismissal, Governor Larry Hogan demanded the board and Loh participate in a public meeting to explain how they arrived at the conclusion to retain the coach.

“The university system of Maryland has let down the University of Maryland community and the citizens of Maryland,’ Hogan said in statement, “and now is the time to fix it.”

Hogan wasn’t the only politician looking for answers.

Delegate Maggie McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat who chairs the House appropriations committee, planned a hearing on November 15 in Annapolis to “shine more light” on the decision-making process that led to the retirement of Loh — who announced his decision to step down in June 2019 on Tuesday — while the coach and other athletic staff remained.

“Obviously, the regents had their press conference and it actually has raised a lot more questions and is getting quite a strong reaction from policy makers, legislators and, frankly, even the public,” she said.

“I’ve heard words like ‘perplexing,’ ‘shocking’.”

Hogan’s opponent in this month’s election, Democrat Ben Jealous, wrote in a statement: “The University of Maryland has become a national embarrassment for putting the agenda of a few wealthy football boosters ahead of the health and safety of its student athletes.”

The decision to reinstate Durkin did not sit well with students either.

Yesterday, the executive board of the Maryland Student Government Association planned an on-campus rally after saying it was “outraged with the decisions made by the board of regents.”

That protest probably won’t be necessary any more.

Durkin and Evans were on the job when McNair collapsed on the practice field on May 29 and died of heatstroke on June 13. After McNair’s death, the board of regents called for an independent investigation of the circumstance that led to the death and an external review of the football programme.

Several media outlets reported that at least three players walked out of a team meeting with Durkin on Tuesday and offensive lineman Ellis McKennie blasted the board of regents’ decision on Twitter.

Loh’s leadership was addressed in both investigations and he did not emerge completely unscathed. He did personally apologise to McNair’s parents in August, saying Maryland would take “legal and moral responsibility” for the circumstances leading to their son’s death.