Maryland Board of Regents announces new chair, who issues apology for last week’s decisions

The University System of Maryland Board of Regents elected Linda Gooden as its new chair Tuesday, five days after James Brady resigned following criticism for recommending DJ Durkin’s reinstatement in College Park.

Gooden joined the board in July 2009. She is the former Executive Vice President of Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services and Officer of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. She’s won plenty of awards in her business career and is in the Maryland Business Hall of Fame. Gooden has also served on several executive boards for Maryland’s engineering and business schools, among other endeavors outlined in her bio.

The board’s announcement of Gooden’s selection included a statement from the new chair. In addition to saying she’s honored to serve in the role, Gooden addressed last week’s decisions and issued an apology.

In its quest to keep an open mind about the facts presented in the two recent reports on the tragic death of Jordan McNair and the University of Maryland, College Park football program, and subsequent interviews with those involved, the board – in the minds of many – lost sight of its responsibility to the university system.

While the board’s decision was far from unanimous, and many members voted a different way, everyone on the board now understands that the board’s personnel recommendations were wrong.

For that, we apologize to the McNair family, the University of Maryland, College Park community, and to the citizens of our state.

Barry Gossett, a high-level Maryland athletics donor, had served in the interim chair role for six days after Brady’s resignation. While some thought he was well-positioned to hold this post permanently, the Baltimore Sun reports other board members and school administrators had concerns over his close ties to the Maryland football program (the team house adjacent to Maryland Stadium bears his name). Gossett is also closely aligned with athletic director Damon Evans and school president Wallace Loh, both of whom have received criticism for their role in the chaos at Maryland and faced calls for their removal.

In other news

Last week, the board recommended the reinstatement of athletic trainers Wes Robinson and Steve Nordwall, who had been on leave since August. Maryland has instead fired those two.

Marcus Lewis has started four games for Terps football this year, but he’s left the program.

In better news, Maryland volleyball went into Ann Arbor and swept No. 15 Michigan.

A Melo Trimble update: he’s become very good at Australian professional basketball.

The Left Bench’s Kevin Brown wrote about Maryland soccer twins Matt and Ben Di Rosa, who’ve been inseperable their entire lives.

And here’s a video feature on Antoine Brooks that’s very much worth your time.