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Maryland Congressman and former lieutenant governor Anthony G. Brown voiced his outrage Wednesday in the wake of the decisions made regarding DJ Durkin. Brown slammed Maryland in a detailed statement as well as comments made on social media. Brown called for the firing of both Durkin and athletic director Damon Evans, and encouraged the University of Maryland community to “reject this litany of excuses and demand accountability.”

“The University of Maryland athletic staff failed Jordan McNair, and on Tuesday the USM Board of Regents failed him again. They did not treat Jordan McNair like a person. They did not treat Jordan like someone’s child. They did not treat Jordan like the high-achieving young person who was worthy of being nurtured and developed into the accomplished man he could’ve become. They failed to protect him from a toxic environment, an abusive coaching staff and a system rife with neglect at all levels. Jordan’s tragic death was entirely preventable, and the appropriate way to honor his legacy was to urgently make meaningful changes and save other families from this heartache.

Rather than take necessary action, the Board of Regents’ highest priority was to reinstate head football coach DJ Durkin. This is appalling and unconscionable. Board Chairman James Bradyshamefully accepted Durkin’s excuse that he was not responsible or accountable for anything going on in his football program. Chairman Brady outrageously believed athletic director Damon Evans was blissfully ignorant of how student athletes were being wronged. The only person Chairman Brady held to account was Dr. Wallace Loh - the only leader who had enough moral clarity to accept responsibility for Jordan’s death. Durkin and Evans cannot be trusted to turnaround the dysfunction of UMD’s athletic program, nor should they be given the opportunity to fail again.

“Coach Durkin should be fired. Director Evans should be fired. And Governor Hogan’s hand-picked Board Chairman Brady should resign for the extreme callousness and ineptitude he demonstrated by putting his own personal vendettas and agenda ahead of the welfare of our students. Jordan McNair’s life matters. As a father and a University of Maryland parent, I urge the entire UMD community to come together and reject this litany of excuses and demand accountability.”

The statement comes just hours after The Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins penned a piece advising local recruits to look elsewhere as long as Durkin is in charge.

The University of Maryland announced Tuesday that Durkin was being reinstated this season in the aftermath of McNair’s death in June, many national analysts are at a loss for words, unsure of a decaying culture in collegiate athletics. Durkin, who has been on leave since Aug. 11, addressed his team for the first time in 2.5 months and several Maryland players reportedly got up and walked out.

McNair's father said Tuesday he feels like he's "been punched in the stomach" by the university's final decision. McNair's parents and their attorneys had previously called for Durkin to be fired for what they perceived as leadership failures that contributed to the circumstances of their son's death.

"How can a student athlete be called a 'pussy' as he is in the early stages of death, dying before their eyes, with no action taken, and yet no one be held accountable?" their attorney, Hassan Murphy, said. "Chairman Brady and the board of regents had an obligation, not only to the football players on the University of Maryland team, but also to the memory of our brother and our son, Jordan. And despite their agendas, the facts are undeniable. The university has an obligation to protect, to educate and to nurture every one of its students and its very first obligation is to the health and safety to the students.”