Paul Finebaum ‘dumbfounded’ at Will Muschamp’s comments about Maryland’s DJ Durkin
By SDS Staff
Published:
With less than three weeks until kickoff, two Big Ten head coaches — Urban Meyer and DJ Durkin — are on administrative leave for separate scandals within their programs.
Maryland placed Durkin on leave Saturday as the school conducts an investigation into the coaching practices within the program. A recent ESPN investigation detailed the “toxic culture” that occurs within the program. The report on Maryland came after the unfortunate death of a former player Jordan McNair, who died of heatstroke after showing signs of extreme exhaustion when he was hospitalized during a practice in May. McNair died two weeks later.
Durkin used to coach under Meyer and Will Muschamp at Florida, and on Saturday following ESPN’s explosive report, Muschamp was asked about the situation at Maryland involving Durkin.
“There’s no credibility in anonymous sources,” Muschamp said Saturday. “If that former staffer had any guts, why didn’t he put his name on it? I think that’s gutless. In any business, in any company and any football team, especially right here in August, you can find a disgruntled player who’s probably not playing, so I think it’s a lack of journalist integrity to print things with anonymous sources.
“And I know D.J. Durkin personally. I know what kind of a man he is. I talked to him this morning and I don’t think it’s right.”
Muschamp’s response was met with sharp criticism.
On Monday morning, Paul Finebaum weighed in on the mess at Maryland on WJOX 94.5 FM, and he ultimately believes Durkin won’t return to the program. He also believes Muschamp’s comments were tone-deaf.
“You’re talking about a serious situation here just like we are at Ohio State,” Finebaum said. “Unfortunately in this case, we’ve seen someone die. I think that makes it more complex, and the fact that Will Muschamp stood up for him is magnanimous on Will Muschamp’s part out of friendship, but I was really dumbfounded by his logic and his reasoning. Maybe it comes after me being in journalism all my life, but for him to attack anonymous sources, it’s purely being tone-deaf. That’s unfortunately or fortunately the way the business works, and presidents have been overthrown because of anonymous sources. It doesn’t make every anonymous source right, but in this case, I think Will Muschamp was ill-advised to stand up for his friend. This was the wrong time to do it.
“This was one time when attacking the process was wrong.”
You can listen to Finebaum’s full interview below:
This morning @PaulFinebaum joins the show as we draw closer to CFB season courtesy of @Craneworks1987! https://t.co/uQLe64HNad
— WJOX 94.5 FM (@WJOX945) August 13, 2018
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
