Many members of this site will remember Elijah and Elisha Daniels, twin brothers from Florida who had originally committed to Minnesota and were very vocal about becoming Gophers until Coach Claeys and Co. decided they didn't want them in their class of 2016. They committed to Maryland instead and played under Coach Durkin the past two years before transferring after last season.
This article is an Interesting read here on several players perspectives of their time at Maryland under D.J. Durkin. The Daniels mother, Kimberly, was quoted as well in the story.
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Key parts:
“What was supposed to be a dream turned into a nightmare,” said Kimberly Daniels, the mother of two former Maryland players. “They feel like they lived through hell.”
Elisha received the worst treatment, she said, as coaches tried to force him to leave the program to free up a scholarship. She said Court once slapped him and that he was often verbally berated and dressed down. Elisha once showed up at 2:08 p.m. for a meeting that started at 2:15, his mother said. Being on time at Maryland, though, meant showing up 15 minutes early. Kimberly Daniels said Elisha had a plate of food and Court “came up in his face, grabbed his plate and threw it against the wall, screaming at him.”
“My son would call and say life’s not worth living. . . . They took something from them,” she said.
The brothers had had enough toward the end of their sophomore seasons of 2017. The last straw, their mother says, was when Elisha accidentally pocket-dialed his mother during a meeting with Durkin.
“I heard Durkin say to Elisha: ‘You’ll never be nothing; nobody likes you. Why don’t you just leave?’ — in the most horrible voice,” she recalled. “That’s when I got on the plane. He had one last game, and then I took my sons out of there.”
“I have no faith in this investigation. If they haven’t called my boys or me, the investigation is botched. They don’t want to hear the truth,” Daniels said. “And I’ll tell you this: If Durkin goes back, I will be standing in front of that school with a neon sign; I’ll be on the news every day. People need to know what it was really like.”
This article is an Interesting read here on several players perspectives of their time at Maryland under D.J. Durkin. The Daniels mother, Kimberly, was quoted as well in the story.
Story Link
Key parts:
“What was supposed to be a dream turned into a nightmare,” said Kimberly Daniels, the mother of two former Maryland players. “They feel like they lived through hell.”
Elisha received the worst treatment, she said, as coaches tried to force him to leave the program to free up a scholarship. She said Court once slapped him and that he was often verbally berated and dressed down. Elisha once showed up at 2:08 p.m. for a meeting that started at 2:15, his mother said. Being on time at Maryland, though, meant showing up 15 minutes early. Kimberly Daniels said Elisha had a plate of food and Court “came up in his face, grabbed his plate and threw it against the wall, screaming at him.”
“My son would call and say life’s not worth living. . . . They took something from them,” she said.
The brothers had had enough toward the end of their sophomore seasons of 2017. The last straw, their mother says, was when Elisha accidentally pocket-dialed his mother during a meeting with Durkin.
“I heard Durkin say to Elisha: ‘You’ll never be nothing; nobody likes you. Why don’t you just leave?’ — in the most horrible voice,” she recalled. “That’s when I got on the plane. He had one last game, and then I took my sons out of there.”
“I have no faith in this investigation. If they haven’t called my boys or me, the investigation is botched. They don’t want to hear the truth,” Daniels said. “And I’ll tell you this: If Durkin goes back, I will be standing in front of that school with a neon sign; I’ll be on the news every day. People need to know what it was really like.”
