Daniel John Durkin (born January 15, 1978) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) a ...

. He was formerly the 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, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

. 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 wa ...

, Durkin was placed on leave in August 2018. Matt Canada was named acting head coach until further notice. The

University System of Maryland The University System of Maryland (USM) is a public university system in the U.S. state of Maryland. The system is composed of the eleven campuses at College Park, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Princess Anne, Towson, Salisbury, Bowie, Frost ...

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 Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

, Durkin attended Boardman High School where he was an all-conference and all-Northeast Ohio selection. Durkin played

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

and

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

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 Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in business marketing in 2001, and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate 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 prac ...

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 resp ...

at Bowling Green under new head coach

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

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. In 2007, he moved to

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

on the first staff of

Jim Harbaugh James Joseph Harbaugh ( ; born December 23, 1963) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach at ...

, 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 College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

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 who is a defensive analyst at the University of Georgia. He previously served as the Bulldogs' co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach from 2022 ...

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

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. 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 (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Joe Schad Joe Schad (born c. 1974) is a reporter, writer, analyst and broadcaster focused on college football and the NFL for more than 20 years. In July 2016, Schad announced he would begin covering the Miami Dolphins and the NFL at the ''Palm Beach Post''. ...

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 college sports in the United States, varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate ...

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. He most recently served as the head football coach at Texas A&M Aggies, Texas A&M from 2018 until 2023. Prior to that, he led Florida State Seminoles, Fl ...

. On January 31, 2024, Auburn had announced that it had hired DJ Durkin as their next defensive coordinator.

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. Definition The definition of adm ...

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. Due to intense backlash, Durkin was fired one day later.

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