Oregon suspends coach following hospitalization of 3 football players
By Luke Norris
The University of Oregon has suspended strength and conditioning coach Irele Oderinde following the hospitalization of three players earlier this week.
Earlier this week, The Oregonian reported that three University of Oregon football players, tight end Cam McCormick and offensive linemen Doug Brenner and Sam Poutasi, had been hospitalized “after enduring a series of grueling strength and conditioning workouts at UO last week”, which has resulted in the suspension of the Ducks’ strength and conditioning coach, Irele Oderinde.
Oderinde, who was hired by Oregon just a week ago, will be suspended without pay for one month and upon his return will no longer report to new head coach Willie Taggart, but instead to Oregon’s director of performance and sports science, Andrew Murray. Taggart, who himself is new to the Ducks after being hired from the University of South Florida to turn around a team that’s coming off a horrible 4-8 campaign, stated in a news release that he had visited with the three players that were hospitalized, had spoken with the strength and conditioning staff in private. He said that he fully agreed with the university’s decision to suspend Oderinde and offered apologies to the alumni, students and staff of Oregon.
Numerous sources have described these workouts as being close to military-style drills, including an hour of push-ups and up-downs. Sam Poutasi’s mother, Oloka, stated that her son had been diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a syndrome that can lead to kidney failure. However, there are some Oregon players that have come out in defense of Oderinde, claiming that the workouts in question were not as strenuous as the media has made them out to be. Cornerback Ugochukwu Amadi tweeted on the situation following the initial report on Monday.
The workout was not even what the media is portraying it to be 🙄
— Ugo Amadi (@UAmadi7_) January 17, 2017
In a tweet that has since been deleted, offensive lineman Brady Aiello agreed, saying that “the workouts are just fine…Coach O is getting us right.”
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Former strength and conditioning coach Jim Radcliffe, whom Oderinde actually replaced but has stayed with the university, will take over offseason workouts for the next month.