Jordan McNair's parents angry with Maryland for handling of investigation findings

An investigation into the untimely death of Maryland offensive lineman Jordan McNair has been complete, but for some reason McNair’s family has not yet been brought up to speed on the findings.

In fact, ESPN’s Heather Dinich is reporting that The University System of Maryland Board of Regents will announce the findings of the independent investigation into McNair’s death publicly after a scheduled meeting at 9:00 a.m. EST this Friday. There will be closed meeting in which members of the Board of Regents will be brought up to speed by sports medicine consultant Rod Walters.

This all sounds by the book and the results of said investigation will tell the board whether or not the Maryland football staff, then coached by D.J. Durkin, reacted properly when McNair passed out with an apparent heat stroke after an off-season workout this past summer.

What’s not by the book and rather worrisome is the fact that McNair’s family will apparently find out these results with the rest of us. ESPN is reporting that the Maryland Board of Regents has not informed McNair’s parents about the report, and they haven’t had the opportunity to redact any private info on their son. This was according to a letter that was sent to the board’s chairman by a McNair family attorney.

Dinich goes deeper:

“Jordan’s parents do not want to learn the details about what happened to their son by watching television tomorrow and seeing a press conference,” wrote Hassan Murphy, a managing partner at the law firm.

Murphy pointed out in the letter that “the family has the right to review the report and insist on redaction of any material that would violate Jordan’s privacy rights or violate federal state health privacy laws.”

Notably, ESPN is reporting that McNair’s family first heard that the results of the investigation would be made public on Friday through the media. Again, like the rest of us.

McNair’s family has requested that the results be given to them and their attorneys before it’s released to the public, and in a statement it does appear that Maryland will look to work with them in that regard.

When that information is shared is the question, though, and Murphy (mentioned above) told ESPN in a phone interview that McNair’s parents are disappointed and angry with the way this has all been handled.

In fact, he went as far as to call out the university and its football program in their handling of this situation:

“Since Mr. Brady and the Board of Regents took over the investigation, there has been no communication with the family or with us, and there was no attempt to coordinate our review of the report prior to its intended release,” Murphy said. “… This whole thing is cruel and lacking any empathy or compassion for the victims here, and instead reeks of orchestration around the interest of the university and its football program.”

A terrible situation at Maryland continues to get worse.