Daniel John Durkin (born January 15, 1978) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach, who is currently the defensive coordinator at Texas A&M. He is the former co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...

( Ole Miss) and head coach for the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

. Before Maryland, he was the defensive coordinator at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. He also served as the interim head football coach and

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

of the Florida Gators football team for the team's 2014 bowl game. Durkin began serving as the head coach of the

football team in 2015. Following the practice-related death of player

Jordan McNair Jordan Martin McNair (March 3, 1999 – June 13, 2018) was an American football player from Randallstown, Maryland, who played on the offensive line. In May 2018, following an offseason workout with the Maryland Terrapins football team, McNair was ...

, Durkin was placed on leave in August 2018.

Matt Canada Matt Canada (born January 19, 1972) is an American football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Ma ...

was named acting head coach until further notice. The

University System of Maryland The University System of Maryland (USM) is a public higher education system in the United States, U.S. state of Maryland. The system is composed of the eleven campuses at College Park, Maryland, College Park, Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimor ...

Board of Regents reinstated Durkin on October 30, 2018, instigating protests and uproar. University of Maryland President Wallace Loh fired Durkin the next day.

Playing career

A native of

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, whi ...

, Durkin attended

Boardman High School Boardman High School is a high school in Boardman Township, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Boardman Local School District. Athletic teams compete as the Boardman Spartans in the Ohio High School Athletic Association as a ...

where he was an all-conference and all-Northeast Ohio selection. Durkin played wide receiver and

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

from 1997 to 2000, and served as a team captain his final two seasons. He started a total of 33 games in his career and recorded 131 tackles, including 28 for loss. Durkin led the team in sacks in 1998 and finished second in that category in 2000. He earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

in business marketing in 2001, and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in educational administration and supervision in 2004.

Coaching career

Durkin began a career in coaching immediately following his playing career. He worked as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respo ...

at Bowling Green under new head coach

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...

in 2001 and 2002, and at Notre Dame under head coach

Tyrone Willingham Lionel Tyrone Willingham (born December 30, 1953) is a former American football player and coach. He was the head coach at Stanford University (1995–2001), the University of Notre Dame (2002–2004), and the University of Washington (2005–2 ...

in 2003 and 2004. He returned to Bowling Green in 2005, where he coached defensive ends, linebackers, and special teams on the staff of

Gregg Brandon Gregg Brandon (born February 29, 1956) is a former American football coach and player. He was most recently the head football coach at the Colorado School of Mines, a position he had held from 2015 until his retirement after the 2021 season. Pri ...

. In 2007, he moved to

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. S ...

on the first staff of

Jim Harbaugh James Joseph Harbaugh (; born December 23, 1963) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current and 20th head football coach of the Michigan Wolverines. He played college football at Michigan from 1983 to 1986. He play ...

, where he served for three seasons as the Cardinal defensive ends coach and special teams coordinator. In 2010, Durkin was reunited with Meyer when he joined the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as th ...

as linebackers coach and special teams coordinator. He remained on Florida's staff when

Will Muschamp William Lawrence Muschamp (born August 3, 1971) is an American football coach and former player. He is the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at the University of Georgia. He served as head football coach at the University of Florida fr ...

took over as head coach in 2010, and in 2013 was promoted to defensive coordinator, replacing Dan Quinn. Durkin has a reputation as a strong national recruiter and was named the 2012 Rivals.com Recruiter of the Year. On November 22, 2014, Durkin was named interim head coach for Florida's bowl game after the previous head coach,

, announced he would step down following the regular season. Durkin led Florida to a 28–20 victory in the 2015 Birmingham Bowl against

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its origi ...

. On January 5, 2015, sources confirmed that Durkin was hired as the defensive coordinator of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. The hire reunited Durkin with new Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh. Michigan confirmed the hire on January 8, and announced that Durkin would also coach linebackers. On December 2, 2015

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's Joe Schad announced that Durkin was expected to be named head coach of the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

football team, which was confirmed later that day. Durkin would lead the team to a bowl game appearance in his first year. Following a scandal involving the death of a player and reports of a toxic team culture, Durkin was fired by Maryland midway through the 2018 season. On January 2, 2020, Ole Miss announced it had hired Durkin as an assistant to head coach Lane Kiffin, along with Chris Partridge and Joe Jon Finley. On January 5, 2022, it was announced Durkin would become the new defensive coordinator at Texas A&M under

Jimbo Fisher John James "Jimbo" Fisher Jr. (born October 9, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies. Previously, Fisher was the head coach at Florida State, where his team won the 2014 BCS ...

Player death at Maryland and resulting scandal

On August 11, 2018, Durkin was placed on

administrative leave Administrative leave is a temporary leave from a job assignment, with pay and benefits intact. Generally, the term is reserved for employees of non-business institutions such as schools, police, and hospitals. The definition of administrative leav ...

after Maryland was placed under investigation amid toxic culture allegations against the team after the death of player

. McNair was hospitalized on May 29, 2018 after showing signs of heatstroke and exhaustion while participating in a team workout, and later died at the age of 19. He returned 80 days later, after the Board of Regents recommendation to stay. Damon Evans, the athletic director, announced the Board of Regents' decision to the team with Durkin present; Durkin later held a meeting with the team without other coaches, and several players walked out of that meeting. However, due to intense backlash Durkin was fired as head coach on October 31, 2018, just one day after being reinstated.

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

Texas A&M profile

Ole Miss profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durkin, D. J. 1978 births Living people American football defensive ends American football linebackers Bowling Green Falcons football coaches Bowling Green Falcons football players Florida Gators football coaches Maryland Terrapins football coaches Michigan Wolverines football coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches Ole Miss Rebels football coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches People from Boardman, Ohio Coaches of American football from Ohio Players of American football from Youngstown, Ohio