At least 22 "overexertion" deaths in College Football since the year 2000:

[fizzyskittles]

A good negotiator doesn't give anything unless they get something. My guess is that Durkin is toast, but the negotiator will use this as a lever to lower other demands..."we can fire the HC but that will be a problem...if you really want that, you will need to drop your demands of xxx.." So it makes sense that everything will be put in a package with a bow. In the meantime, the family is smart to lower their voices because the value of an NDA is less if it has all already been disclosed.

Just speculating, of course...

In the meantime, Jay Paterno has chimed in....

Jay is 100% right, but I'm going to add the wet bulb temperature thing was know for years before PSU started using it, I heard of it in the mid 80s.

 

[fizzyskittles]

agreed especially in a trauma situations

https://www.capableincorporated.com/author/t/

This fellow just finished 170 miles of a 200 mile race. He had a team with him along with the staff that was present. He's a former Delta commando and now instructs people in shooting, and also does physical training. Medical pulled him and he was grateful for their work, you cannot second guess them.

 

[Obliviax]

But they are saying there are no negotiations unless Durkin is gone. The actual negotiations themselves are subject to a precondition that they appear to be saying is itself NON-NEGOTIABLE.

"If you don't fire Durkin, we file suit. Give me PJ's available deposition dates during the next few months. Or we will subpoena him."

OK...but it is all part of the package. Its all about leverage and ruse. Let the games begin.

 

[marshall23]

yes that is a curious timeline. Not to be callus, but has there been an official cause of death released? Could his body temperature risen for another reason?
I had a HS teammate die while snow sledding, his internal temp had risen to the same level. It turns out he had a bad reaction to something he had ingested earlier that day. So far the only thing I've seen is ESPN reports its heat stroke. I dont trust them, I would rather have a medical examiner say that.

I think the reason U of M did not "accept responsibility" earlier was probably the result of waiting for all tests to be completed. My opinion is that since they have now done so and cut ties with the S/C coach and several trainers that indeed there were no mitigating circumstances.
On the surface the conditioning test as described did not seem barbaric. Even in 68-71 when I played college ball, we had conditioning tests that we needed to pass in order to be issued gear. I don't know if this young man was behind in his conditioning or it was just the "Imperfect storm." Unfortunately a young life was lost and along with that some people are paying a price with their careers. A terrible tragedy.

 

[marshall23]

agreed especially in a trauma situations

We are long past the days when coaches make the calls about injuries. Even in high school, trainers, doctors and EMTs handle the student/athletes and make decisions about if and when they return to a contest.

 

[bdgan]

Good points. Any death is tragic but it's hard to detect an undiagnosed medical condition unless every player is given a thorough physical prior to their first practice. That could very well be the direction it's headed. If an unknown condition is identified the player would then go the medical exemption route.

Also, having 300+ pound linemen running a series of sprints is nuts. Reports of players collapsing from heat exhaustion always seem to be about a big lineman. I can't recall ever hearing about a 190 pound receiver keeling over unless a medical condition was involved. Any conditioning coach with a brain should know there isn't a one size fits all aerobic training regimen. And using sprints as a form of motivation/punishment is just dumb.

Don't colleges give physicals before practice starts? Isn't that how Asiedu and Miner discovered their problems?

Doesn't Franklin force kids to run sprints?IIRC they ran if a kicker missed a FG.

Basketball players run a lot of sprints too. Do they have fewer such incidents? Not the same but I remember Reggie Lewis dying while with the Celtics. Perhaps there are underlying issues that have gone undiagnosed.

 

[marshall23]

Don't colleges give physicals before practice starts? Isn't that how Asiedu and Miner discovered their problems?

Doesn't Franklin force kids to run sprints?IIRC they ran if a kicker missed a FG.

Basketball players run a lot of sprints too. Do they have fewer such incidents? Not the same but I remember Reggie Lewis dying while with the Celtics. Perhaps there are underlying issues that have gone undiagnosed.

High schools, colleges and professional sports certainly require physicals. I'm sure the complexity of these physicals increase dramatically as players move up the ladder. Which explains why PSU was able to diagnose conditions that athletes played with in high school. I believe some heart conditions are difficult to diagnose and require expensive testing. High schools cannot and do not provide these as a result.

 

[hagberg]

If my math is flawed, feel free to correct it. Actually my math is probably overly conservative. It's probably a much lower percentage than that.

I did correct it and it was a much smaller percentage. My point was no matter how infinitesimal that number may be, we're talking about the preventable death of a young man. Even one death is too many when it was caused by multiple failures. They should not be so cavalierly dismissed just because the percentage of incidents is low.

 

[sluggo72]

I did correct it and it was a much smaller percentage. My point was no matter how infinitesimal that number may be, we're talking about the preventable death of a young man. Even one death is too many when it was caused by multiple failures. They should not be so cavalierly dismissed just because the percentage of incidents is low.

While this is a tradegy, you don't know if the death was preventivile because there is no official cause of death