SerpApi.Org
OTB continued with its preview of 2026 opponents with Greg’s Maryland preview.
Mike Locksley is entering his eighth season leading the Terps, his eleventh overall as a head coach. Technically, he’s led Maryland in two stints, taking over in 2015 when Randy Edsall was fired; he went 1-5 in that role.
As a college head coach, he’s 39-75. That’s 2-26 at New Mexico (fired four games into year three) and 37-49 in College Park. That’s an overall winning percentage of just .342.
But he’s 4-4 vs. Rutgers (including 0-1 in his interim stint in 2015) and 3-3 vs Greg Schiano. But he’s lost the last two games against RU.
There aren’t many publications or sites that don’t have Locksley on the hot seat. CBS Sports has him as one of three coaches in the “Start improving now” category, the second worst situation. By comparison, CBS has Greg Schiano at “All good…for now”. And ESPN had Locksley in its worst category, “Hottest of the Hot”. He’s one of several Rutgers opponents coaches in that position.
Last fall, Locksley was asked directly whether he should keep his job, and his unequivocal answer was, “Yes”.
New Maryland athletic director Jim Smith sounded very confident in supporting Locksley. “Getting to know them [Locksley and basketball coach Buzz Williams], getting to understand how they think, how they approach their job, has been great,” Smith said. “It makes me feel really confident we’ve got the right people.”
In that same article, Smith pointed to three straight bowl wins from 2021 to 2023, the first such string in Maryland history. Throw in name, image and likeness payment changes, and Maryland’s place as the lowest-spending team in the Big Ten and it seems as if Locksley is getting a bit of a pass. For now.
For what it’s worth, Locksley has worked at some high level programs over his career, spending time at Florda and Illinois (OC there) before getting the Maryland OC position. He also worked under Nick Saban at Alabama including two years as offensive coordinator. His next stop was moving back to Maryland as the head coach.
Regardless of the words of his AD, it seems pretty clear that Locksley is on a short leash. Despite Kevin Planck’s and Under Armour’s money, Maryland lags in the Big Ten. Even Rutgers seemed better positioned to move forward. But, maybe more than Mike Locksley, it’s the new AD, Jim Smith, who is going to lead the Terps out of the woods.
But will that continue to be with Locksley at the helm?
