The family of football playerJordan McNairsays they feel they have been “spit in the face” after the news that University of Maryland football coach DJ Durkin was reinstated from administrative leave following the 19-year-old’s death.
McNair did not have his temperature taken and staff did not give him cold immersion treatment, otherwise known as an ice bath, which is therecommended procedurefor heat stroke.
Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun/TNS/Getty
“The Board of Regents recommended that DJ Durkin return to his coaching responsibilities,” Athletics Director Damon Evans said in a statement sent to PEOPLE. “This has been a season like no other for our football players, and I have been tremendously impressed at how our student-athletes have come together as they grieve the loss of their teammate Jordan McNair.”
After the announcement, McNair’s father, Marty, said hearing the decision felt like he had been “punched.”
“I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach and somebody spit in my face,” he said, according toCBS.
The only school administrator to step down following McNair’s death is president Wallace D. Loh, who announced his resignation this week after admitting the university carries “some responsibility” for the “dysfunction” of their athletics department.
However, on Wednesday afternoon, the school confirmed to PEOPLE that they were indeed parting ways with Durkin, as it was “the right [decision] for our entire University.”
When it was initially announced he would be returning, some players expressed their disappointment with his return.
Player Ellis McKennie sent out a picture of his teammates kneeling in remembrance of McNair with a message that called for someone to be held accountable for his death.
“Every Saturday my teammates and I have to kneel before the memorial of our fallen teammate,” McKennie wrote. “Yet a group of people do not have the courage to hold anyone accountable for his death. If only they could have the courage that Jordan had. It’s never the wrong time to do what’s right.”
Jordan McNair/Facebook
Adam McLean, another of McNair’ teammates, said the team feels it is their responsibility to find justice for their former teammate.
“My brother Jordan can no longer speak his mind,” McLean said. “He must live and speak through us.”
ESPNreports that the University of Maryland student body had already organized rallies to protest the decision to bring back Durkin.
“The only person who paid, as the McNair family’s representative said, was Jordan, and that was with his life,” Jonathan Allen, Maryland’s student body president, told thesports outlet. “That’s why we’re outraged.”
source: people.com
