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Maryland football players react to head coach DJ Durkin’s firing

This is the Maryland Minute, a short story followed by a roundup of Terps-related news.

By Justin Fitzgerald

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Lila Bromberg-Testudo Times

It’s been a whirlwind last two days for Maryland football. Yesterday, the Board of Regents announced it was reinstating DJ Durkin only to have Wallace Loh fire him a day later. The move to reinstate Durkin brought a wide range of reactions, and his firing did as well.

Ellis McKennie and Tre Watson, who both criticized Tuesday’s decision, commended what happened Wednesday evening.

Michael Cornwell hugged Jordan McNair’s dad before he spoke on SportsCenter, then tweeted a picture of his fallen teammate.

Cam Spence, who was a member of McNair’s recruiting class, just wants people to remember the team is playing for their fallen teammate.

Raymond Boone and Terrance Davis are both annoyed that people other than the team are trying to be a part of the story.

Somehow, Maryland is supposed to play a football game this weekend against Michigan State, which the players and staff would much rather focus on than this.

McKennie wants students and fans to show up this weekend. Others are more content to stick with playing for each other.

(We believe this means “Fuck Everybody But Us.”)

This story is far from over, and we’ll have updates as more information trickles out.

Other stories and opinions on the last 24 hours of Maryland football news

Ryan weighs in on why DJ Durkin didn’t deserve his (ultimately brief) second chance.

McKennie is happy Maryland “finally did what was right,” writes The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Barker.

From The Washington Post: According to Billy Murphy, an attorney for the McNair family, an altercation broke out between two players at Tuesday’s practice.

Several politicians criticized the initial Board of Regents decision, including Governor Larry Hogan, from The Baltimore Sun.

With another round of news, local and national columnists continued to weigh in:

The Washington Post: “Maryland rights a wrong — but it remains a long way from being out of the woods”

The Baltimore Sun: “Firing Durkin was right decision, but there’s no excuse for how badly situation was handled”

Yahoo! Sports: “D.J. Durkin’s belated firing shows Maryland’s extraordinary level of incompetence”

USA Today: “Maryland had to be forced to fire DJ Durkin, so board of regents, AD must be next to go”

In other news

Maryland women’s basketball will start the season at No. 9 in the AP Poll.

Maryland field hockey won three of the Big Ten conference’s five yearly awards. Linnea Gonzales won Player of the Year, Bodil Keus won Defensive Player of the Year and Bibi Donraadt won Freshman of the Year.

Yesterday was Halloween. Here’s how some of the teams at Maryland celebrated.

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