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 hospitalized with heat stroke; despite an emergency liver transplant, McNair died fifteen days later on June 13, 2018, from the criminal neglect of his coaches and physical trainers. Following the ensuing investigation of the culture of the University of Maryland football program, head coach D. J. Durkin was fired on October 31.
Early life and playing career
McNair was the son of Marty McNair and Tonya Wilson. He was touted as a four-star recruit, ranked in the top 25 nationally for offensive linemen, according to ESPN and Scout. During his high school career, when he played offensive tackle for McDonogh School in Owings Mills, McNair was named to the American Family Insurance All-USA Maryland Football Team (2016) and the Baltimore Sun All-Metro first team (2015, 2016). McNair was also considering attending Ohio State, Penn State, or Rutgers, and had been extended offers from Alabama, Auburn, Boston College, and Duke, but chose to attend the University of Maryland.
Death
On May 29, 2018, McNair collapsed during a strenuous afternoon practice. He was hospitalized that evening after visibly showing signs of extreme exhaustion with a body temperature of recorded upon arrival. He was airlifted later that night to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center to receive an emergency liver transplant, where he died on June 13. Though no cause of death was initially listed for McNair, on July 16 his parents stated that he died from heat stroke. This was corroborated by a report published by ESPN in August, with teammates and medical staff noticing that McNair suffered an apparent seizure at approximately 5 pm, one hour before a 911 call was placed. University officials dispute the time of the seizure.
An investigation started immediately after his death showed that McNair first complained of cramps, an early sign of heat illness, at 4:59 pm but did not arrive at the hospital for treatment until 6:36 pm and that trainers failed to recognize the signs of heat illness, nor did they take aggressive measures to cool him. A second investigation, this one covering the culture of the Maryland football program, was started after ESPN published an investigative article on August 10, 2018. Initially, one coach and two trainers were suspended after the ESPN article, including Rick Court, the strength and conditioning coach named as the primary source of abuse. Court resigned almost immediately after being suspended. Head coach D.J. Durkin was suspended one day later; after the second investigation concluded that Maryland football did not have, by definition, a toxic culture, Durkin was reinstated on October 30, only to be fired the next day by University President Wallace Loh.
Walters Report
An independent report was commissioned from Walters Inc., a South Carolina-based sports medicine consulting firm, in June 2018 following the death of McNair, and the report was released on September 21. During the investigation, the board of regents of the University System of Maryland assumed control from the campus. The Walters report found that trainers failed to identify the symptoms of exertional heat illness, did not take sufficiently aggressive measures to treat McNair's elevated core temperature, and the University's catastrophic incident guideline was not followed. When questioned for the development of the Walters report, the head trainer stated he was afraid McNair could have drowned if they had attempted immersing him in cold water to lower his body temperature.
Starting at 4:41 pm, McNair ran the first of ten timed runs; athletes in his group were allotted nineteen seconds to complete each run, and McNair successfully completed seven repetitions. By the eighth repetition, McNair was visibly laboring to complete the training and by 4:59 PM, trainers began to assist McNair, who had described symptoms of cramping. A witness recalled a coach forcing McNair to finish the sequence of sprints despite struggling mightily, telling his teammates to "drag his ass across the field".