Jim Tatum
James M. "Big Jim" Tatum (July 22, 1913 – July 23, 1959) was an American football and baseball player and coach. Tatum served as the head football coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1942, 1956–1958), the University of Oklahoma (1946), and the University of Maryland, College Park (1947–1955), compiling a career college football record of 100–35–7. His 1953 Maryland team won a national title. As a head coach, he employed the split-T formation with great success, a system he had learned as an assistant under Don Faurot at the Iowa Pre-Flight School during World War II. Tatum was also the head baseball coach at Cornell University from 1937 to 1939, tallying a mark of 20–40–1. Tatum's career was cut short by his untimely death in 1959. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1984.
Maryland Terrapins football
In 2016, Durkin coached the Terrapins to a 6–7 record including a bowl loss. Maryland finished 4-8 and was ineligible for a bowl game in 2017. During the 2018 offseason, football player Jordan McNair died from an apparent heat stroke after a practice. Following McNair's death and news reports that players "faced abuse and disparagement" from football staff, Durkin was placed on administrative leave on August 11, just weeks before the start of the 2018 season. One of those football staffers Rick Court, one of Durkin's first hires and the strength and conditioning coach, was dismissed from Maryland due to sources describing his abusive training methods.. Offensive coordinator Matt Canada, in his first season with Maryland, was named interim head coach. The UM Board of Regents recommended that Durkin stay as head coach after a report was released. However, due to intense backlash Durkin was fired as head coach on October 31, 2018.