The University of Maryland has fired football coach Mike Locksley in the middle of his eighth season in College Park, athletic director Jim Smith announced Wednesday.
“Following thoughtful conversations with Coach Locksley, we agreed that a coaching change was in the best interest of Coach Locksley and the Maryland football program,” Smith said. “On behalf of the University of Maryland, I want to thank Michael for his dedication to our football program and the genuine care he showed our student-athletes. Michael represented Maryland with pride, strengthened our connection throughout the state and the region, and made a lasting impact on the young men he coached.”
The District native’s firing comes on the heels of five straight losses: to Virginia Tech, UCLA, Nebraska, No. 5 Ohio State, and the latest, 37-30 to Rutgers on homecoming Saturday.
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“Maryland football and this community mean a great deal to me,” Locksley said in the same statement. “I am grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of this program for so many years, and for the relationships I have built with our players, staff, alumni and supporters.
“I am proud of the work we have done together and remain deeply invested in the success and well-being of the young men in this program. They deserve our continued support, and I will always want the best for them and Maryland football.”
The team’s 2-5 start this year follows back-to-back 4-8 seasons in 2024 and 2025. The firing was first reported by ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel.
Locksley is the first Power Four coach to be fired this season, and his termination marks the start of Smith’s first major coaching hire since he took the job in spring 2025.
Locksley had vowed to make changes all season, and had fired defensive coordinator Ted Monachino on Sunday, the beginning of Maryland’s bye week, but it was not enough to keep his job. Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, one of Locksley’s top recruiters and a defensive backs coach who was promoted to defensive coordinator after Monachino’s dismissal, will be Maryland’s interim coach.
“Maryland is a world-class university with a proud football tradition, an outstanding location, a passionate fan base and tremendous potential,” Smith said. “Our expectation is to build a program that competes for championships and makes our students, alumni and supporters proud. We understand the responsibility that comes with leading Maryland Football, and we are committed to finding the right person to guide the Terrapins into the future.”
Locksley signed a contract extension in 2022 that ran through the end of this season, but it was automatically extended by a year, twice, after Maryland won at least seven games in 2022 and 2023.
Locksley’s annual base salary is $600,000 this season, with an additional $5.8 million earned via “supplemental annual income,” for a total compensation of $6.4 million. Per his contract, Locksley is owed 65% of his remaining compensation — a total of $8.9 million for the final two years of the deal, in addition to 65% of what he would be owed for this season, adding up to a total buyout of approximately $9 million.
Half of that money is due to Locksley in a lump sum within 60 days, with the rest paid in equal installments in accordance with the university’s regular payroll dates through the original end of his contract.
“My connection to this region and the people who make this community special is something I will always value. I appreciate everyone who has supported me and our entire program during my time at Maryland, and I wish the players, staff and the entire Maryland football community success in the future,” Locksley said.
In his seven-plus seasons since taking the Maryland job in 2019, Locksley finished 38-49. The Terrapins had winning records in three of them, culminating in three-straight bowl victories from 2021-2023.
However, Locksley struggled against Big Ten opponents, going 16-49 in conference play, with only two of those wins over teams that finished above .500 and five of them over league-designated rival Rutgers.
He never won a signature league game, finishing 0-21 against ranked Big Ten opponents and failing to beat Ohio State and Michigan. The Terrapins never finished with a .500 or better record in league play, including a 2-20 mark in his final two-plus seasons.
The 56-year-old led the Terrapins on an interim basis for six games in 2015 (1-5) before coming back to College Park in 2019 from Alabama, where he was an offensive assistant and then coordinator under coach Nick Saban, including on the Crimson Tide’s 2017 national championship team.
When Locksley took over at Maryland, he helped stabilize a program that was still reeling in the wake of the heat-related practice death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair in 2018 and the ouster of coach D.J. Durkin and university President Wallace Loh due to their handling of the incident and its aftermath.
Smith said a search for Locksley’s replacement will begin immediately. One of the names that will be connected to the Maryland vacancy is Charles Huff, the first-year coach at Memphis and former coach at Southern Mississippi and Marshall. A native of the Eastern Shore town of Denton, Maryland, Huff led Marshall to a 2024 Sun Belt Conference title and improved Southern Miss from one win to seven in his lone season there.
Another will be New Mexico coach Jason Eck, who was 9-4 in his first season in Albuquerque in 2025 and 5-1 so far this season.
“[University] President Darryll J. Pines and I are fully aligned in our commitment to providing the investment, infrastructure and resources required for Maryland Football to succeed,” Smith said.
Maryland has never won a Big Ten football championship or appeared in the conference title game since joining the league in 2014.
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