ESPN.com: D.J. Durkin challenges Maryland players in first meetings
When D.J. Durkin sat down to meet individually with his new players at Maryland, he wanted to bring along some notes on each of them. Durkin, having spent most of his first two weeks as the Terps’ new head coach on the recruiting trail, didn’t have time to break down their film, so instead he decided to show them the scouting reports he put together while game-planning against them as Michigan’s defensive coordinator.
Some were complimentary. Some were not. All of them drew interesting reactions.
“I think some of them were probably kind of shocked. They looked at me a little crazy,” Durkin said. “But that’s OK. That won’t be the last time they look at me like I’m crazy.”
This stood out to me....it's the kind of attitude you need at MD. I like him more each day.
Durkin said he got plenty of well-intentioned calls in the last few weeks asking if he was sure that taking the Maryland job was the right move for his foray into head coaching. Given the competition, it’s a valid concern. He said each call made him more confident in his choice. The Terps likely aren’t going anywhere without some nay-saying fuel.
“It’s such a positive,” he said. “I want to recruit guys that embrace challenges and embrace adversity and embrace competition. If you’ve got a team full of guys that embrace those situations, you’re going to be pretty good. If a guy is shy of that or doesn’t really want to do that, then this is probably not the right place for them.”
