DJ Durkin to Bama

[1standten]

I can't tell you how much I appreciate that response. As I was typing I was hoping that I wasn't starting some sort of argument, but I sincerely wanted to know if I was missing something. It's nice to have conversations that don't devolve into name calling.

Seems the ball coach can't even follow his own gameplan. Carry on, coach.

 

[Middle-aged_Ball_Coach]

Seems the ball coach can't even follow his own gameplan. Carry on, coach.

Touche.

The difference though was that I respected what @wheat had to say, and I don't like causing strife. You, on the other hand, came across as a 20-something know-it-all who wants to fly the flag of online righteousness for all to see. I knew what to expect from your responses, and you proved me right. When you started off caustic, I assumed that you'd go full SJW, but it's okay: You are special ... just like everybody else.

 

[1standten]

Touche.

The difference though was that I respected what @wheat had to say, and I don't like causing strife. You, on the other hand, came across as a 20-something know-it-all who wants to fly the flag of online righteousness for all to see. I knew what to expect from your responses, and you proved me right. When you started off caustic, I assumed that you'd go full SJW, but it's okay: You are special ... just like everybody else.

Actually I'm a 51 year-old father of two who coached both of his kids through multple sports including football for many years and now have one of them almost done with college with the second starting next fall.
I've seen plenty of dude's with Durkin's style over the years and have coached both against it and along side of it on occasion. I have zero tolerance for it anymore.

 

[Huskerthom]

Touche.

The difference though was that I respected what @wheat had to say, and I don't like causing strife. You, on the other hand, came across as a 20-something know-it-all who wants to fly the flag of online righteousness for all to see. I knew what to expect from your responses, and you proved me right. When you started off caustic, I assumed that you'd go full SJW, but it's okay: You are special ... just like everybody else.

You know I usually respect your opinion. However, I think you are off on this one. The players were furious when the board voted to bring him back. They made it pretty clear that he was directly involved in the decision to make him keep going. I live in the area and it got so bad that the players were willing to not play another game if Durking were brought back. https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...ut-of-meeting-with-returning-coach-dj-durkin/
This is some of what went on.

"This included challenging a player's manhood and hurling homophobic slurs," the report read. "Additionally, Mr. Court would attempt to humiliate players in front of their teammates by throwing food, weights and, on one occasion, a trash can full of vomit, all behavior unacceptable by any reasonable standard. These actions failed the student-athletes he claimed to serve."

 

[Huskerthom]

Here's another one. https://deadspin.com/reports-circumstances-of-jordan-mcnairs-death-fit-into-1828275048

A second, more explosive ESPN report places Robinson’s “drag his ass” approach to player wellness in the context of a broader, “toxic” football culture of abuse, intimidation, and aggressive, targeted limit-testing by the team’s coaches, particularly head coach D.J. Durkin and strength and conditioning coach Rick Court. Current and former players and staff say Durkin and Court use punishing, exhausting workouts as a way of pushing unwanted players out of the program, and in some cases use bizarre, unhealthy, and humiliating tactics to control players:

“They were trying to make me gain weight really, really fast,” said [one] player, who left the program. “That involved me overeating a lot, sometimes eating until I threw up. They always had me come back for extra meals. Once, I was sitting down eating with a coach, and he basically made me sit there until I threw up. He said to eat until I threw up. I was doing what they asked me to do, trying to gain the weight, but at the time, I just couldn’t gain the weight, and I guess they weren’t understanding that.”

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I think most of us have no problem with someone who made a mistake getting a 2nd chance. However, when that mistake was gross negligence that cost someone their life in summer workouts, should that 2nd chance come before that player would have been taking his finals?

 

[bucktril]

With the machine that is Alabama, I am surprised that they would even feel the need to take such a chance on someone like Durkin given the media blowback they will likely receive.

 

[Huskerthom]

With the machine that is Alabama, I am surprised that they would even feel the need to take such a chance on someone like Durkin given the media blowback they will likely receive.

This+1000

 

[wheat]

I think there's two separate issues here. One is Durkin and what happened at Maryland. He should have been fired and it shouldn't have taken as long as it did. I'm not one to dismiss negligent abusive behavior. He is still culpable and there will be continued consequences for him for a very long time. If I am an administrator, it would be difficult for me to justify giving him the opportunity to run his own program unless there is compelling evidence that he has experienced profound change. That kind of change doesn't necessarily happen often, but I have seen people make some pretty dramatic turnarounds.

The other aspect is Saban offering Durkin a position. I'm still OK with him offering the second chance. As has been pointed out, he doesn't need Durkin and it would probably make his life easier if he didn't take him on. I don't think Durkin is going to make much of a difference on the field for Alabama. What, then, is the motive if not to help someone in need? I'd be pretty surprised if Saban didn't have clear guidelines and boundaries for Durkin with plenty of accountability. I think it's possible to be deeply offended by Durkin's actions at Maryland while not consigning him to the scrapheap of humanity. To be clear, that doesn't mean forgetting what he did, or taking that in to account for future opportunities. He may well have forfeited any opportunity to ever run his own program, and I would be OK with that.

The Durkin situation is much more serious, but has parallels to Liberty's hiring of Hugh Freeze. I wouldn't have hired Freeze as the head man. I could see hiring Freeze as an assistant or staffer but he's not far removed from some undesirable behaviors that would appear to be deeply rooted. It's going to be much harder for him to honestly work through those issues as the head coach, as it will be harder to maintain accountability and the opportunity to sweep issues under the rug are much greater than for a guy who is on staff with plenty of oversight. I tend to see Saban's hiring of Durkin as an attempt to provide that kind of accountability and boundaries. You can argue it won't work, and I might not have been willing to take that risk if I were in Saban's shoes, but I still find there to be an admirable quality in offering the second chance.

 

[Huskerthom]

I think there's two separate issues here. One is Durkin and what happened at Maryland. He should have been fired and it shouldn't have taken as long as it did. I'm not one to dismiss negligent abusive behavior. He is still culpable and there will be continued consequences for him for a very long time. If I am an administrator, it would be difficult for me to justify giving him the opportunity to run his own program unless there is compelling evidence that he has experienced profound change. That kind of change doesn't necessarily happen often, but I have seen people make some pretty dramatic turnarounds.

The other aspect is Saban offering Durkin a position. I'm still OK with him offering the second chance. As has been pointed out, he doesn't need Durkin and it would probably make his life easier if he didn't take him on. I don't think Durkin is going to make much of a difference on the field for Alabama. What, then, is the motive if not to help someone in need? I'd be pretty surprised if Saban didn't have clear guidelines and boundaries for Durkin with plenty of accountability. I think it's possible to be deeply offended by Durkin's actions at Maryland while not consigning him to the scrapheap of humanity. To be clear, that doesn't mean forgetting what he did, or taking that in to account for future opportunities. He may well have forfeited any opportunity to ever run his own program, and I would be OK with that.

The Durkin situation is much more serious, but has parallels to Liberty's hiring of Hugh Freeze. I wouldn't have hired Freeze as the head man. I could see hiring Freeze as an assistant or staffer but he's not far removed from some undesirable behaviors that would appear to be deeply rooted. It's going to be much harder for him to honestly work through those issues as the head coach, as it will be harder to maintain accountability and the opportunity to sweep issues under the rug are much greater than for a guy who is on staff with plenty of oversight. I tend to see Saban's hiring of Durkin as an attempt to provide that kind of accountability and boundaries. You can argue it won't work, and I might not have been willing to take that risk if I were in Saban's shoes, but I still find there to be an admirable quality in offering the second chance.

I think that the problem some of us are having is that he has not even had any time serving penance. Freeze had 2-3 years away from the sport and when allowed back in it is at a bottom rung school.

Durkin is going from head coach at a bottom feeder to (Although G5 bottom feeder) to an assistant at football royalty.

 

[joncarl]

I am glad I am not involved in this mess, I can see both sides which doesn't help. Honestly though, without knowing all the details, and without throwing knives at anyone, I think I would not have hired him. Saban doesn't care what anyone thinks of him so I am sure he is doing this for what he believes is the right reason, unfortunately Saban also thinks he is God and doesn't have to account to anyone for his decisions. This one is wrong at this time.

 

[Huskerthom]

I am glad I am not involved in this mess, I can see both sides which doesn't help. Honestly though, without knowing all the details, and without throwing knives at anyone, I think I would not have hired him. Saban doesn't care what anyone thinks of him so I am sure he is doing this for what he believes is the right reason, unfortunately Saban also thinks he is God and doesn't have to account to anyone for his decisions. This one is wrong at this time.

Last sentence is exactly what I was saying.

 

[Middle-aged_Ball_Coach]

I think there's two separate issues here. One is Durkin and what happened at Maryland. He should have been fired and it shouldn't have taken as long as it did. I'm not one to dismiss negligent abusive behavior. He is still culpable and there will be continued consequences for him for a very long time. If I am an administrator, it would be difficult for me to justify giving him the opportunity to run his own program unless there is compelling evidence that he has experienced profound change. That kind of change doesn't necessarily happen often, but I have seen people make some pretty dramatic turnarounds.

The other aspect is Saban offering Durkin a position. I'm still OK with him offering the second chance. As has been pointed out, he doesn't need Durkin and it would probably make his life easier if he didn't take him on. I don't think Durkin is going to make much of a difference on the field for Alabama. What, then, is the motive if not to help someone in need? I'd be pretty surprised if Saban didn't have clear guidelines and boundaries for Durkin with plenty of accountability. I think it's possible to be deeply offended by Durkin's actions at Maryland while not consigning him to the scrapheap of humanity. To be clear, that doesn't mean forgetting what he did, or taking that in to account for future opportunities. He may well have forfeited any opportunity to ever run his own program, and I would be OK with that.

The Durkin situation is much more serious, but has parallels to Liberty's hiring of Hugh Freeze. I wouldn't have hired Freeze as the head man. I could see hiring Freeze as an assistant or staffer but he's not far removed from some undesirable behaviors that would appear to be deeply rooted. It's going to be much harder for him to honestly work through those issues as the head coach, as it will be harder to maintain accountability and the opportunity to sweep issues under the rug are much greater than for a guy who is on staff with plenty of oversight. I tend to see Saban's hiring of Durkin as an attempt to provide that kind of accountability and boundaries. You can argue it won't work, and I might not have been willing to take that risk if I were in Saban's shoes, but I still find there to be an admirable quality in offering the second chance.

Very well said, @wheat. I'm grateful to not have to come up with a way to say what you did, especially since I don't think I would have said it as well, even including the example of Hugh Freeze at Liberty. I also don't think that they should have hired Freeze now. I can understand why others would be opposed to hiring Durkin, but I think that Saban has the potential to help Durkin turn his life around. You can be upset about what happened at Maryland without simultaneously thinking that Durkin shouldn't get another chance.

 

[Middle-aged_Ball_Coach]

Actually I'm a 51 year-old father of two who coached both of his kids through multple sports including football for many years and now have one of them almost done with college with the second starting next fall.
I've seen plenty of dude's with Durkin's style over the years and have coached both against it and along side of it on occasion. I have zero tolerance for it anymore.

I apologize for my wrong assumptions. Do you coach for a living?

 

[wheat]

I think that the problem some of us are having is that he has not even had any time serving penance.

You can be upset about what happened at Maryland without simultaneously thinking that Durkin shouldn't get another chance.

I don't think Durkin has escaped without consequences. IIRC, he's front and center in a wrongful death lawsuit. It's also not like he is now the Alabama OC. He is a consultant who is basically analyzing film. I don't know for sure, but it sounds like a role where he has no contact with student-athletes. What he is doing is a major, major step down from where he was. What kind of job should he be allowed to have? Where's that line? I get the concerns and I totally understand why people are highly critical. I think it's hard to say what the right thing is from a distance. That depends entirely on the heart and motives of both Saban and Durkin.