Coach Michael Locksley’s time in College Park, for all intents and purposes, could be over.
Sure, he may finish out the regular season — maybe even limp into next year — but the dwindling trajectory is unmistakable. The window for Locksley to build something sustainable at Maryland has closed.
New athletic director Jim Smith may have to assess the direction of the program before the situation becomes more difficult to manage. It could be time for him to seriously evaluate whether a coaching change is in the program’s best interest this offseason.
Saturday’s 35-20 loss to Rutgers cemented an annual tradition under Locksley — a losing season in Big Ten play. In Locksley’s seven years as coach, Maryland has beat just two Big Ten opponents that finished with a winning record — a 7-6 Rutgers team in 2023 and a 7-6 USC squad in 2024, and has never finished with a winning conference record.
Entering the season, Locksley’s winning percentage was the second-lowest among Power Four coaches working since 2019. California’s Justin Wilcox was the only coach with a worse record and yet, the Golden Bears are 6-4 this season with a recent win over No. 19 Louisville.
After Saturday’s loss, Locksley tried to justify his team’s performance by saying this squad’s expectations shifted after their 3-0 start. But in the preseason, the coach said he viewed his roster on a “win now” basis and wanted his program to shift toward a pro-style approach. He said that meant less focus on developing young players, and an emphasis on preparing players to immediately win.
“I feel really confident that we put a plan in place that will allow this team to bounce back pretty quickly,” Locksley said in March. “We’re out of that model of developing and now it’s ‘What can you do now?’”
Fast forward to this week, and Locksley said winning a second Big Ten game would demonstrate “slow progress.” On Saturday, he pointed to reduced penalties as an area for improvement this season.
The Terps are still the fourth most penalized team in the conference.
They could be fighting for a bowl game or a strong rebound season after last year’s 4-8 showing. Instead, Maryland’s starting quarterback Malik Washington’s mentality is to “finish strong, play for pride,” he said Saturday.
It’s not just fans who have reset the expectations for this team. Over time, Locksley has lowered the bar himself.
When Locksley initially took the Maryland job, the program was unstable, reeling from the tragic death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair and the ensuing revelations of the toxic nature of coach D.J. Durkin’s methods.
Locksley reestablished a strong culture, leading the Terps to three straight bowl wins. His teams featured prolific offenses, several NFL draft picks and no major scandals. The span between 2021 to 2023 is the best stretch of Maryland football in the last 15 years.
It’s undeniable that Maryland is certainly in a better position than when Locksley arrived. He clearly loves the area — reminiscing on attending games at Byrd Stadium as a young child — and has brought in top talent and players tend to love him. His freshman class with Washington, edge rushers Zahir Mathis and Sidney Stewart and safety Messiah Delhomme has played well this year.
But he hasn’t won enough. And in a business that prioritizes winning above all else, Maryland needs to find a coach who can do that at a more consistent level.
There are other factors in deciding Locksley’s future, notably, his buyout that kicks in if Maryland fires him before his contract expires. Some sports journalists around Maryland reported that money may be hard to come by in this case.
Even if Maryland does gather the money required for a buyout, it will have to also pay a new coach in a competitive hiring cycle. Several other high-profile jobs have already opened up, including LSU, Florida, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Stanford and Arkansas. Those schools are all potentially better resourced and more attractive jobs than Maryland.
Two years ago, Indiana was mired in mediocrity, a program that closely resembled the Terps today. The Hoosiers hired Curt Cignetti, and he has the program on the brink of its second straight College Football Playoff appearance and the No. 2 ranking in the country.
Hires like Cignetti don’t happen often. But there’s plenty of attractive candidates in the coaching market who Smith could target. Any of them could bring juice to a program that desperately needs some positive momentum.
