Attorney Billy Murphy Says DJ Durkin Should Be Fired for Jordan McNair's Death

Billy Murphy, an attorney representing the family of deceased Maryland offensive lineman Jordan McNair, said he believes head coach DJ Durkin should be fired.

"No. 1, what he did," Murphy told ESPN's Heather Dinich, "No. 2, what he didn't do, and No. 3, the impact on this football program."

McNair died at age 19 after suffering a heatstroke during an offseason workout in May. His body reached 106 degrees, and Murphy said no proper effort to cool him down was made.

"Our preliminary investigation reveals there is an unexplained one-hour time period when nothing significant was done to avoid the complications of heatstroke," Murphy said. "Although there is some evidence they allegedly tried to cool him down, he should have been iced immediately. He presented at the hospital with a temperature of 106, which means he was not cooled down."

Maryland placed Durkin on administrative leave last week after ESPN published an investigation that showed an allegedly "toxic" culture under the coach. 

Multiple former players and staffers associated with the program described an environment in which players were verbally and physically abused on a regular basis. Players highlighted incidents like being forced to eat until they vomit and the use of profanity and epithets as insults when a player could not complete a workout.

Strength and conditioning coach Rick Court was named as the most prominent aggressor. Court has been placed on administrative leave.

"The language is profane, and it's demeaning at times," a former staffer said. "When you're characterizing people in such derogatory and demeaning terms, particularly if they don't have a skill level you think they need to aspire to, or they may never get, then it's rough to watch and see because if it was your son, you wouldn't want anybody talking to your son that way."

Maryland says it is currently conducting an investigation into its football team's culture.