After suffering their fifth consecutive loss of the season to Rutgers in Piscataway on Saturday, it’s really starting to feel like the end of the road is near for Maryland head coach Michael Locksley. In what is now his seventh season at the helm of the program, a clear pattern has been established to the team’s seasons: a hot start in August and September, followed by stumbling in October, and falling apart in November. Without any real signature wins on his resume and clear regression over the last two years, new athletic director James Smith and the University System of Maryland’s (USM) Board of Regents have some tough decisions to make over the course of the next few weeks.
It’s important to remember the climate in which Locksley was hired as the football team’s head coach in 2019, because things weren’t great. Former head coach D.J. Durkin was placed on administrative leave just weeks before the 2018 season began following allegations of a toxic culture which resulted in the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair. After a months-long investigation the USM Board of Regents elected to reinstate him, a decision that was met by intense backlash both by people inside the building and across the country. He was fired one day later. Locksley was one of just three people to accept interview requests for the open job, the others being then-interim head coach Matt Canada and Pep Hamilton, Maryland’s current offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
There were serious questions about how Maryland would rebuild trust not only with the players on their roster at the time, but with all future recruits and their parents. Locksley was easily the best person for this job at the time, as he likely has deeper and more meaningful relationships within the DMV region than any football coach in the country. His hire allowed the program to rebuild that trust with the community more quickly than would have been otherwise possible.
In just his third season at the helm in 2021, Maryland reached their first bowl game in five years. This began a string of three straight bowl wins from 2021-23, a first in program history. Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa shattered many program records, and still stands as the Big Ten Conference’s all-time leading passer. Despite that success though, each of those teams finished their seasons with what often felt like meat still on the bone. They were 1-10 against ranked teams during that time, with their only win coming against #23 North Carolina State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Additionally, they finished with losing conference records in each of those seasons.
Since those relatively successful years though, the program has taken another step back. Following a 4-8 (1-8) record in 2024, they’re on pace for a similar (or even identical) record in 2025. A 4-0 start to the season was followed by three straight blown fourth-quarter leads against Washington, Nebraska, and UCLA, and has most recently featured a 45-point loss to #2 Indiana and a 15-point loss to Rutgers. These are simply not acceptable results in consecutive seasons for a head coach in his seventh year in charge.
Locksley has pointed to what he calls “progress” in recent press conferences, saying that his team has cleaned up many of the penalties and other issues which have plagued the program in the past. But if that “progress” doesn’t lend itself to wins, doesn’t that mean you’ve just solved certain problems while creating new ones? Maryland has won just 27.4% of their conference games under his leadership, and is now 12-36 during the months of October and November. They’re 1-18 against ranked teams during the regular season, and have had a losing record in conference play every single year.
I like Locksley, he’s a good man and a titan of football in the DMV region. He’s had some good moments as Maryland’s head coach, and led the program through its darkest era with impeccable stability. It certainly seems as though it’s time for new leadership however, and for Smith to earn his salary as he leads the search for his first head coach as Maryland’s athletic director.
Terps Analyst
Zack is a financial analyst for a defense contractor in Washington, DC. The Owings Mills native focuses most of his efforts on Maryland Football recruiting and individual coach and player pieces; but also covers Terps Basketball. He has established relationships with Big Ten beat reporters across the conference, which he utilizes in his game previews. Now a Sr. Terps Analyst for BSL, Zack can be reached at: zack.kiesel@baltimoresportsandlife.com.