Offensive line coach, Jim Turner, of the Miami Dolphins coaches hi players during their game at Sun Life Stadium on November 17, 2013 in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The Miami Dolphins have fired offensive line coach Jim Turner and athletics trainer Kevin O’Neill, the team said Wednesday, following an extensive report that detailed a culture of harassment in the organization.
“The language and behavior as described in the [report] are against the core values of our organization,” Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said in a statement, according to ESPN. “After receiving the report, I conducted my own internal review of the facts to determine the appropriate steps for our organization. Jim Turner and Kevin O’Neill are good people who care a great deal about their profession and the players whom they serve, but both exhibited poor judgment at times which led me to this conclusion.”
The report, conducted by an NFL investigator and released Friday, said that Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin suffered from a “pattern of harassment.” Three teammates—Richie Incognito, John Jerry and Mike Pouncey—used racial slurs and made sexual threats about his mother and sister, according to the report, forcing Martin to leave the team halfway through the season. The three men also routinely harassed another offensive lineman, Andrew McDonald, and an assistant trainer, according to the report.
O’Neill failed to defend his assistant and “allegedly even laughed at some of the racial insults,” according to the report. Turner also did nothing to stop the harassment and even took part in it, the report says. Those interviewed told the investigators that Turner gave McDonald a male sex doll as a gift in 2012.
[ESPN]