Maryland lost 37-10 last night to Northwestern, falling to 3-3 overall, and 0-3 in the Big Ten.
The Terrapins had athletic advantages across the field on both sides of the ball.
While the score ballooned late, losing in any fashion to this Northwestern team at home when you are coming off a bye is just indefensible.
Today has to be a day where University of Maryland President Dr. Darryl Pines, and Athletic Director Damon Evans need to be meeting and discussing what they want their football program to be.
I consider myself a Mike Locksley fan; but after last night there has to be discussion about his future as Maryland’s Head Coach.
Why I Like Coach Locksley
He comes across as a very likable guy.
You can tell how much this job means to him, and how much he cares.
His enthusiasm shows through, and it’s easy to root for someone like that.
We should remember what he inherited.
2018 is when Jordan McNair died in practice, ending the DJ Durkin era.
Matt Canada served as the interim coach that year, and the MD program was in complete turmoil.
Locksley was tasked with steadying the ship when he took over in 2019.
After 1 year on the job, there’s COVID 19 and all the fun that 2020 brought the world.
Over 2021 – 2023, Locksley got MD back in the bowl cycle, and produced 3 successive bowl wins.
The bowl cycle meant increased practice time.
He’s had success recruiting both at the High School level, and with the Portal.
You can look at the 247 Sports Composite Rankings, and see that MD has been putting more talented, and deeper teams on the field.
This has been reflected by MD putting increasing numbers on the All-Conference teams, and graduating more players into the Pros.
Lots of his players have been on the record talking about the culture he’s worked to cultivate.
That’s a credit to Locksley and how he builds relationships.
That’s also been shown in his Coaching staffs, where he’s been able to attract others who’ve had success elsewhere.
These are all legitimate reasons to like and support Locksley.
The Case Against?
Some will fixate on the lack of results against Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State.
I don’t think anyone was coming to helm MD in 2019, that would have done any better against those powers.
You aren’t building a basketball program, which you can quickly turn with 5-7 players.
For me, the bigger strikes against Locksley are losing both the Illinois and Northwestern games last year, and the three losses so far this year.
MD beat Indiana and Michigan State last year by a combined 75-26 score.
Both the Hoosiers and Spartans found new Head Coaches entering ’24.
Losing to both of those programs, after dominating them last year is disappointing.
Last night can’t be ignored.
This isn’t one of the occasional Pat Fitzgerald Northwestern teams which would be a real threat.
This is a down Northwestern team, with significantly below average Big Ten level talent.
It’s a game MD had to have, and they lost by 27.
At home.
Coming off a bye.
And while MD had superior talent, they made repeated self-inflicted errors which point to a lack of discipline.
Which falls on the Coaching.
More than fixating on any one game (or three, or five); the case against Locksley right now is that he’s losing the narrative.
Locksley has always been a quality recruiter.
As Head Coach, you aren’t just recruiting players, you are selling the program at all times.
When you go to and win three straight bowls, and the recruiting rankings are improving; you can craft a viable argument that the program is building incrementally.
Even if Locksley hasn’t shown an ability to beat the powers, he has been able to show the program is progressing to some degree.
That’s something Locksley has been able to persuasively sell with recruits.
He’s been less successful selling the program to average fans, and creating further buy in.
Maryland is always going to be in-between two pro markets.
Pro markets with lots of other things to offer, and for your fans to spend their discretionary money on.
Those average fans who weren’t buying in even after the bowl wins, aren’t going to suddenly be on-board when there is regression.
If you can’t beat a down Northwestern team in Year 6 of your tenure, in a game the program has to have; you aren’t going to convince anyone that you are gaining on Penn State, Oregon, Michigan, and Ohio State.
Realities?
Locksley has a deal through 2027, that would be extended out to 2028 if Maryland wins at-least 7 games this year.
If you want to move on from Locksley, you have to come-up with the money to buy out his remaining contract, and a talented Assistant Coaching Staff.
And then have the money to bring on a new Coach, and his staff.
Maryland coming up with that type of money feels unlikely.
Are the Boosters motivated to make a change?
Is the apathetic fanbase ready to buy tickets if there is a change?
It’s Catch-22 though.
If the fanbase is apathetic, and Locksley is losing the narrative; is anyone going to be more engaged if Locksley is retained?
A New Coach Or More NIL Money?
There is a prestige deficit for MD vs. the blue blood programs.
There is an interest deficit for MD vs. most other Power 4 programs.
And there is a dollar and cents difference for MD vs. their conference foes.
That’s a lot to overcome.
So, if MD was able to generate the money needed to buy out Locksley and his staff; would you rather see that happen or that money be utilized for the portal?
Curt Cignetti is having a lot of early success with Indiana (their schedule will get harder); so he’s showing what a new Coach can bring.
He also brought a ton of players with him from James Madison and the rest of the portal.
That’s an example of how things can change relatively quickly.
Locksley has shown he can recruit without having big dollars behind him.
Shouldn’t it be realistic to think he would recruit (and retain) at an even higher level with more NIL funds?
Some Potential Names If You Wanted To Move On?
There are several coaches on the existing staff, which could be viable if a change was made.
Kevin Sumlin is the Associate Head Coach, and obviously he has vast experience being the prior Head Coach at Houston, Texas A&M, and Arizona.
What about outside the program?
Biff Poggi is in his second year as Head Coach at Charlotte. He’s yet to break through with the 49ers, but the Baltimore native and former High School coach has all of the requisite local relationships.
Jamey Chadwell is the Head Coach at Liberty, formerly at Coastal Carolina. The 47 year old is making $4M a year, and has already had a lot of career success. He seems poised to take a bigger job.
Bob Chesney is the Head Coach at James Madison, formerly at Holy Cross. Chesney replaced Cignetti, and despite the mass departures that occurred, JMU is in the hunt for the Sun Belt title.
Alex Atkins is the Offensive Coordinator at Florida State. This year went sideways, but he was a hot name last year.
Tim Banks is the Defensive Coordinator at Tennessee. He was on Coach Friedgen’s staff at Maryland during 2003-05.
Garrett Riley is the Offensive Coordinator at Clemson. The brother of USC’s Lincoln Riley.
Other Thoughts?
As I think about the program as a whole, my general thoughts are that Maryland has to continue to work at controlling what they can control.
Maryland has improved their facilities.
SECU Stadium will also get some upgrades with that naming deal.
I think Maryland should continue to work on improving their tailgating, and game day experience.
There are lots of local breweries and distilleries in the Baltimore and Washington Metros.
There are also lots of local barbecue joints.
Reach out and give them prominent space, and incentivize them to be part of gameday.
Have food and drink competitions and tastings.
Maryland will probably have a good crowd next week for Homecoming.
They had 35,421 for UConn.
They had 34,819 for Michigan State.
They had 38,000 for Villanova.
They had 39,371 for Northwestern.
Those aren’t horrible crowds, but SECU Stadium holds 51,802.
I would advocate for Maryland’s Athletic Department to prioritize filling the SECU; even if it means giving away tickets.
Maryland had 6 home dates on the 2024 schedule.
Let’s forget about Homecoming, and focus on the other 5 games.
Using this as a hypothetical for future seasons, work on bringing another 10,000 people to each game with free tickets.
Give them to:
- Baltimore and DC High Schools (Football programs, and their families).
- First Responders
- Teachers
- Non-Profits
- The Businesses of Maryland Alumni*
* On LinkedIn, I have 4,000 1st and 2nd connections, of CEO’s who went to Maryland. If those 4,000 CEO’s each have an average of 5 employees; that’s a decent block of people.
I’ve heard for years that you can’t give away this many tickets, because you will disincentivize your existing paying fanbase.
That’s myopic reasoning.
The game day experience at Maryland is lacking.
That means the people that are attending right now, their experience is not optimized.
The recruits that visit, don’t see you at your best.
The players look up and see empty seats, and it becomes a talking point (Locksley has been asked about the crowd size or lack thereof multiple times this year after games).
The thinking is always that if the program gets good enough, more fans will show up.
And that’s true to a degree, I believe that.
The pro fans in the Baltimore and DC markets will show more interest, if MD is suddenly a Top 25 program.
Totally agree at that point more people will show.
Until you reach that point where demand is higher, an immediate goal should be increasing the interest in the program.
Getting more people out to the games.
Getting more people talking about the program.
And even if they aren’t paying, if they’re spending on parking, food, and concessions; that’s a win.
It’s an even larger win if they’re helping making the experience better for everyone, and becoming fans of the program.
If you build the fanbase, you’ll likely have more NIL to utilize as well.
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.