The Atlanta Falcons are bringing on former college football coach D.J. Durkin as a guest coach, the team announced Monday.
Durkin was fired last year after two season as head coach at Maryland in the aftermath of the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair following a heat stroke. (RELATED: Investigation Into Maryland’s Football Program Following Player’s Death Yields Unexpected Result)
Maryland’s handling of the incident that led to McNair’s death and the aftermath drew sharp criticism. Durkin was not directly found responsible for any wrongdoing, but was fired anyway. Falcons head coach Dan Quinn is defending the hire.
DJ Durkin still hasn’t been hired to coach football, but he’ll spend some time with former colleague Dan Quinn and the Atlanta Falcons in training camp. https://t.co/YlOQOWy7vW
— Testudo Times (@testudotimes) July 22, 2019
“I didn’t probably because I know who the person is having coached with him before,” said Quinn, who previously coached with Durkin at Florida. So, I knew his background as a defensive coach and special teams. By doing our due diligence from there. … An unfortunate situation, of course, but as far as eyes to look at the defense to help us, I definitely knew the advantage of that.”
On the field, Durkin was 10-15 in two seasons at Maryland, making a bowl game in his first season. Durkin also served as interim coach for Florida in 2014 after the firing of former head coach Will Muschamp.