Maryland Football: Head strength coach Rick Court out
DJ Durkin is still the head coach for Maryland football, for now, but Rick Court has resigned from his position as the head strength and conditioning coach.
When the news broke Tuesday morning that Maryland would hold a press conference led by Athletic Director Damon Evans the fate of Maryland football coach DJ Durkin seemed all-but sealed.
The university put out a press release and announced they were placing Durkin on administrative leave as a result of the investigations surrounding the death of one of his players. Rather than issue another written update, the televised press conference was scheduled.
The result was an announcement that the school had “parted ways” with head strength and conditioning coach Rick Court. Durkin remains on leave pending the conclusion of these investigations.
From an optics standpoint, Maryland handled this as “by the book” as they could. Placing Durkin on leave, launching a full investigation and acting as transparently as they did will put the university in as good as a position as possible considering the situation they now find themselves in.
On the football front, the situation remains murky. Evans did not set a specific timeline for the resolution of the independent investigation but did say it could run into the middle of September. If that is the case the Terps could find themselves in a difficult place as they enter their conference games later this year. That concern is secondary to doing the right thing, both morally and legally, but it will keep the focus on the Maryland football program for several weeks to come.
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The team will have to regroup quickly to be ready for their 2018 opener, only weeks away. Maryland kicks off the season at Fed Ex Field against Texas on Sep. 1. The Terps upset the Longhorns in Austin last season. Matt Canada is the interim head coach.