D.J. Durkin is the latest coach to enter the Nick Saban coaching car wash

D.J. Durkin

Former Maryland coach D.J. Durkin, who was fired in October, has reportedly been hired by Nick Saban and Alabama in a consulting role.

They wash cars at Alabama coach Nick Saban’s Mercedes-Benz dealership, and they scrub fired coaches clean inside his football program.

Former Maryland coach D.J. Durkin is the latest fired coach to begin the process of being processed by Saban and Alabama football. Durkin is doing some consulting work for Alabama this week as the Crimson Tide prepares for the College Football Playoff, according to a report by AL.com’s Matt Zenitz. If recent history is a guide, then that means there’s a possibility Durkin will join Alabama’s staff officially for the 2019 season.

Nationally, this will be another reason for everyone to hate Alabama. There will be blowback for this relationship — even if it’s fleeting — and rightly so.

Durkin was the coach at Maryland when player Jordan McNair died during an offseason workout. The coach was initially suspended by the university, and after a lengthy and public investigation, the Maryland Board of Regents reinstated the coach. Then, after national outcry from Maryland alumni (and the threat of a player revolt), the university reversed its decision and fired Durkin one day later.

Players said Durkin’s program created a dangerous culture of bullying. The Maryland Board of Regents determined that Durkin failed in his duty to monitor his strength and conditioning coach, but, in fairness, it’s important to note that Maryland Board of Regents chairman James Brady initially said the board believed Durkin was “a good man, and a good coach.”

The complicated saga now takes another odd twist because Maryland just hired Alabama offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, and Alabama analyst Butch Jones (the former Tennessee coach) might be headed to Maryland, too.

Both of those guys were fired head coaches before landing at Alabama.

So, to review, Maryland and Alabama are trading coaches, but before the swap occurs, Locksley and Durkin apparently are going to be working together for the best team in college football.

Why does Saban hire so many fired coaches? There are several reasons, but the bottom line is it helps Alabama win football games. This latest coaching car wash is a controversial one, though, and could be viewed — maybe — as an unnecessary distraction as Alabama locks down all of its commitments for the early signing period. Seriously doubt it, though.

Alabama has the No.1 recruiting class in the country, which includes three highly rated players from Maryland, and something tells me those guys aren’t going anywhere now.

Hiring fired head coaches has worked out every time for Saban. No one wanted to hire Lane Kiffin after he was fired from USC, and Saban made Kiffin his offensive coordinator. Kiffin then masterminded some of the most successful offenses in the history of Alabama football.

Then Locksley came along, and his offense this season outperformed Kiffin’s.

Other than unemployment, all of these fired coaches have one thing in common when they come to Alabama. They all have the same agent as Nick Saban.

Super agent Jimmy Sexton and Saban have a nice thing going. Sexton sends fired clients through Alabama’s coaching rehabilitation program, and Saban gets an experienced coach for pennies on the dollar. He then gives that overly qualified former head coach a task like breaking down every single forward pass attempted by Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray this season. If Murray is intercepted three times in the first half of the College Football Playoff, we’ll know why.

At this point, maybe Saban should start charging Sexton a percentage of his percentage.

No one produces more head coaches than Saban, recycled or not. Consider this ridiculous fact. Since 2015, here’s the list of Alabama assistants who are now head coaches or have been hired to be head coaches after this season: Locksley (Maryland), Jeremy Pruitt (Tennessee), Mel Tucker (Colorado), Kirby Smart (Georgia), Billy Napier (Louisiana), Kiffin (Florida Atlantic) and Mario Cristobal (Oregon).

That’s more than twice as many future head coaches (eight) than Alabama losses (three) over the last four seasons. All that winning and polish will make even the most beat up coach look brand new.

Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He’s on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.

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