WASHINGTON — As its self-imposed deadline arrived Tuesday to take action related to University of Maryland’s football program, the University System of Maryland Board of Regents has not announced a consensus on how to move forward in the wake of the June death of 19-year-old player Jordan McNair.
The board met privately, by conference call on Monday, in its fifth meeting in 11 days, related to the professional futures of football coach DJ Durkin, Athletic Director Damon Evans, and University President Wallace Loh.
After the meeting, The Washington Post reported no personnel announcements were forthcoming, and a timetable for resolving the situation remained unclear.
Last Friday, the board had face-to-face meetings with Loh, Durkin and Evans and gave itself a Tuesday deadline “to announce any initial decisions and/or recommendations from the board.”
However, after Monday’s meeting, unidentified sources told the Post there was no consensus on a plan to move forward.
A former chair of the board told the Post the panel may have overstepped its bounds by meeting with Durkin and Evans.
James Shea, who served two terms as a regent and was the board’s chair until 2016, said he’d never heard of the board hiring or firing campus employees below the rank of president.
Last week, an almost-200 page report commissioned by the university determined several aspects of the football program’s culture were dysfunctional and troubled, but concluded the atmosphere under Durkin was not “toxic.”
