Douglas Casa, the chief executive of the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut, named for a Minnesota Vikings tackle who died of heat stroke in 2001, said heat stroke is readily treatable with “100 percent survivability.”

“Jordan would have survived if he was treated properly,” Casa said of McNair, the Maryland player.

The onset of heat stroke is almost always preventable, too, Casa said, criticizing what he described as “crazy, ridiculous workouts” that players are subjected to, particularly in the off-season when training sessions are not always vigorously monitored and athletes can be subjected to “needless jeopardy.”