Hogan: Durkin's Firing 'Not The End Of The Story'

University of Maryland President Wallace Loh's decision Wednesday to fire head football coach D.J. Durkin isn't the "end of the story," Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday.

Speaking to C4, the governor said he remained "so shocked" at the decision by the University System of Maryland Board of Regents to recommend Durkin and Athletic Director Damon Evans be retained.

"One of the things I called for at the beginning was transparency to make sure they made the right decision, that they got to the facts, but that it was transparent," Hogan said.

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Regents set a special meeting for Thursday afternoon, with an update possibly to follow. Prior to the announcement of Durkin's dismissal, state lawmakers announced a hearing on the board's decision making process.

As governor, Hogan can appoint regents, and has appointed or reappointed 13 of the 17 regents now on the board, including Chairman James T. Brady. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous called on Jealous to fire Brady. However, there's no language in the law allowing for regents' removal, and the board is supposed to be insulated from politics. However, Hogan made clear he wants to know more about how the original decision was reached.

"I was as outraged as many people across the state and across the country were," he said. "I still don't know all the facts, but I still want to get to the bottom of this... but I think we're in a better place than we were yesterday."

Loh fired Durkin on Wednesday, citing discussions he had with student leaders, faculty and staff. Word came down not long after a statement from Hogan that called on regents and Loh to reconsider decisions announced Tuesday. Hogan said he wasn't sure if that contributed to Loh's decision, which was reportedly made without consulting regents, who recommended Tuesday that Durkin stay on.

"How is that not possible and if you feel that there's something wrong, why not clean house?" Hogan asked. "There are those who would say firing the coach was enough, others say, 'You've gotta get rid of the athletic director,' and some people want to clean house, so I don't want to prejudge without having all the facts that the regents had and we haven't seen, but to me, [regents and administrators] certainly have a huge task ahead of them."

He said that even though he questions the actions not taken by regents, the reports laid out a number of reforms Maryland will have to make.

"This is a serious matter about the tragic death of a young man, Jordan McNair, and we can't be playing politics with it," Hogan said. "They found some real problems that they have tried to address, and we want to make sure that takes place as well, but this is not the end of the story."

Hogan also talked about a number of other issues, including the economy, Baltimore City violent crime, opioid abuse, early voting and his recent endorsements from the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun.

WBAL-TV 11 contributed to this report.