As a 14-year-old, he took a summer job at Pallante Concrete Construction, and on one of the first days he was part of a small Sunday crew. Company owner Jim Pallante had to leave for a couple hours, but when he returned the trucks were backing into the site and the concrete was ready to pour.

 

The next thing Pallante noticed was his superintendent laughing. He’d given Durkin a pair of work gloves, and Pallante joked that the superintendent was getting soft. His hands were bleeding, the superintendent explained.

 

“He developed blisters and his hands were bleeding and he wouldn’t say anything,” Pallante recalled. “He was wheel-barrowing gravel and developed blisters. There was blood all over his hands. He was wiping it on his shirt.”

 

Go ahead and credit some of that attitude to growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, a city tucked about halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh where nearly everything is earned and little is given. And the example of his parents played a prominent role, too.

 

But Durkin’s own self-motivation and willingness to work shaped him as a teenager, as a linebacker at Bowling Green, as an assistant coach climbing the ladder at high-profile stops such as Stanford, Florida and Michigan.

 

And it is a defining trait as he approaches his first season opener as a head coach at Maryland.

“We’re all products of the environment we grew up in and the people we were around,” Durkin said. “Hard work, toughness and all that is held in high regard in that part of the country and that city. With my family and the coaches I’ve had in my past, there’s a long list of people who instilled that at a young age. I think that’s the key to be successful.”

 

Without question, it’s the foundation of Durkin’s rise. The Terrapins’ Sept. 3 game against Howard will technically be his second game as a head coach (he led Florida on an interim basis to a Birmingham Bowl victory after the 2014 season), but it’s his first with a program of his own.

 

At 38, he’s the youngest head football coach at Maryland since 34-year-old Tommy Mont led the Terps for the first time in 1954. But Durkin is ready.

 

“I think he is incredibly well-prepared for this challenge,” special teams coordinator Pete Lembo said. “I have been so impressed over the past eight months. You can tell he’s been preparing for this for a long time. He’s got a plan. He’s got a vision. He’s thought it through. He is very much up to the challenge.”

 

That’s clear to everyone in the program, even before Durkin has coached a game. Like others, sophomore offensive lineman Brendan Moore considered transferring after last season, when the Terps made a midseason coaching change and finished 3-9.

 

The very first team meeting convinced Moore he should remain in College Park and help Durkin turn around the program.

 

“Coach Durkin, he promotes all the things that I like and I was raised with --- competition, commitment to excellence --- and just the energy he brings to the team is amazing.” Moore said.

 

The wake-up call came at 4:30 a.m.

 

This was what Durkin wanted as a teenager. He’d pestered Pallante, the brother of his high school football coach, about a job and eventually the business owner agreed. Then came the tough part.

 

Durkin woke up well before the sun rose. Since he wasn’t old enough to drive yet, someone would be by to pick him up at 5:15 a.m.

 

Unorthodox? Yes. But it explains plenty about Durkin’s core values.

 

“You think about driving to work in the morning, all of your buddies are still sleeping and they’ll be sleeping for a long time,” Durkin said. “Sometimes, you’d say ‘What am I doing?’ You learn perseverance through not quitting. The thought goes through my head ‘What am I doing?’ or ‘Why would I even do this?’ It always came back to ‘I’m not going to quit and not be accountable. People are counting on you to do something to help them and you have to be there.’”

 

Pallante had modest expectations for the teenager --- any teenager, really. The top priority: Don’t get hurt. Occasionally, Durkin would bring a friend with him for a job. The friends never returned. Durkin always did.

 

Along the way, Pallante marveled at how effectively Durkin earned respect from men three or four times his age with the way he went about his labor.

 

“A 14-year-old doesn’t belong out there,” Pallante said. “But you know what? He belonged out there. He picked up on things. He was basically expected to be a water boy and just learn how to get up at four o’clock and show up and do his thing. He did it. He was the one that kept asking for more.”

Durkin’s concrete construction days continued through high school. He’d come back and put in time when he was home from winter break in college.

 

But the job also made him realize he would be wise to find a different long-term career pursuit. Durkin opted for another profession defined by long hours, but one with less grueling days.

 

“They were miserable,” Durkin said. “They were hard. They made you understand ‘You know what, I want to make sure I figure out something else to do. I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life.’ I say that with great respect for those who do that because it’s hard work.”

 

Even now, Durkin makes it a point to swing by Pallante’s office whenever he returns to Youngstown. These aren’t courtesy pop-ins, but multi-hour visits and extensive discussions.

 

“He’s an intense, hard worker, but as you guys will learn if you haven’t yet, he’s got a kinder side to him where DJ is really concerned with people,” Pallante said. “He cared about the guys he worked with. When I came to see him, he asked me about the guys he worked with by name. How many guys are going to remember that? But that’s one of the qualities he has, remembering older guys who have since retired and moved on.”

In just nine months, Maryland’s football program already has Durkin’s imprint.

 

“He is the head man,” cornerback William Likely said. “He has his hands on everything --- in a good way. We just love him.”

 

For his part, Durkin is excited about the opportunity. From the outside looking in, he saw plenty of potential with the Terps. The local recruiting territory was strong. The ability to sell playing in the Big Ten’s East Division --- against the likes of Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State --- would appeal to any competitor. The value of the education available in College Park also held appeal.

 

Many of the pieces for sustainable success were in place. Others, such as the program’s new practice facility, are on the way.

 

“You start looking at this thing and meeting people involved and I felt and even feel stronger now that we have an administration that’s fully behind us,” Durkin said. “It wants to be good and is very supportive, which to me is a necessity to being successful in the job.”

 

The same can be said for investing as much toil as possible into the endeavor. The Terps work with a purpose, and Durkin is on the go every bit as much as his players.

 

“He brings the blue-collar mentality,” linebacker Jermaine Carter Jr. said. “He’s always going to have energy, no matter what time of day it is. We walk into the building at 6 o’clock in the morning and there’s music blasting. You go on the field and everybody’s ready to go. He’s ready to go. He’s always ready to go.”

He’s especially ready for the opener to arrive. The hours leading up to the noon kickoff against Howard will be exciting and nerve-wracking. Durkin acknowledges there will be some anxiousness, though that can be a good thing.

 

But he’s most eager for his players to get onto Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium, a payoff for months of effort that will serve as the latest on-field step in a different kind of construction project than he worked on as a teen.

 

“I don’t see any limitation on this place,” Durkin said. “We’re not limited by the level we play at. We’re not limited by the resources we have. We’re not limited by the area we’re in in terms of recruiting. There’s not limits on us. It’s just a matter of getting this rolling and going in the right direction. I think it can snowball into something huge.”

 

There’s plenty to be said for optimism, and even more for someone eager to attack a task regardless of the circumstances. To Pallante, it was impressive that Durkin put those gloves on his bleeding hands years ago. But there was something else that stuck out as well.

 

“He never said a word,” Pallante said. “He got the job done. That’s who he is.”