Who will be Maryland’s football coach next season isn’t yet known, but Athletic Director Jim Smith outlined what his process will look like in finding that person as he introduced Aazaar Abdul-Rahim as the Terrapins’ interim coach Tuesday.
“To our fans: We will get a really good coach,” Smith said at a press conference inside SECU Stadium. “We are committed to compete at the absolute highest level, and we’re going to find the resources to be able to do that.”
Smith said the unique timing of the decision to fire coach Mike Locksley — not after Maryland’s fifth-straight loss Oct. 17 to Rutgers but instead on Oct. 21 in the middle of of the Terrapins’ bye week — was deliberate.
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“[It] was fortunate enough to be the bye week, so there wasn’t the immediate urgency,” Smith said. “I wanted to make sure we weren’t making — I was not making — an emotional decision, and we came to the right conclusion for the program.”
Locksley had a chance to address the team before his departure.
“His main message was just his love for Maryland as a program, and that he kind of understands how the coaching business goes, and he really just wants the best for us going forward,” said linebacker Sidney Stewart. “It was from the heart. I appreciate him for saying all he had to say. I mean, I know coach’s dream job was coaching here. He got an opportunity to do it multiple times, and all he really wanted was for us to be successful.”
Smith won’t have a deadline for his first major coaching hire as Maryland’s athletic director, saying instead the timeline will be dictated by candidates who are interested and available, of which there are plenty.
“Maryland is an incredibly attractive job,” Smith said. “The volume of inbound calls and texts have been enormous. There’s not an agency that represents coaches that haven’t that hasn’t already reached out with a possible candidate. So know that this is a very, very, very attractive job.”
Who that person will be must have two key characteristics, Smith said: someone “who understands how to build a program and build a program” in today’s college football environment, and can understand, embrace and connect with the state and D.C. region. To help find its next coach, Smith said Maryland will hire a search firm to identify candidates not just among Power Four or Group of Six college programs but also among the ranks of the NFL.
“I talk to [university president] Darryll Pines a lot. So we are in alignment. We’re in alignment on the decision and the timing, we’ll continue to be in alignment going forward,” Smith said.
An additional factor? Navigating the beast that is the Big Ten, as the Terrapins have lost 17 of their last 18 conference games.
“Understanding the Big Ten and how to win in the Big Ten is going to be critical,” Smith said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean you have had to coach in the Big Ten, but you definitely are going to have to articulate how we’re going to be able to compete and how you understand what the Big Ten represents.”
In the interim, Smith will turn to Abdul-Rahim, whom, much like Locksley, is a District native and has deep coaching and recruiting ties to the area.
He’s got an excellent relationship with our players, and he was clearly the right choice to become our interim head coach. We have been very attentive. He has taken the well-being of our all our players, our coaches and our staff very seriously,” Smith said. “You’re going to see a renewed energy from our players. He has changed a lot in a really short period of time.”
To that end, Abdul-Rahim made a point to shake the hands of everyone in attendance, grateful for the chance to lead at a place so dear to him.
“I was at Boston College four years ago, and [Locksley] gave me the call [to be an assistant], and I felt like I was going to just run down here,” Abdul-Rahim said. “I am a D.C. native and proud of it. So it means a little bit more to me to be standing in front of you as the interim head coach of the University of Maryland.”
Smith said Abdul-Rahim will be considered for the full-time position. In the meantime, he’s intent on resetting Maryland’s 2-5 season, emphasizing a clean slate for the Terrapins’ final five games. Three of those are at home, starting with Illinois on Saturday.
“Really excited to really move on to the next steps, the next season, which we’re calling this,” Abdul-Rahim said. “This is a five game season for us, and as far as I’m concerned, we’re 0-0 right now, and the kids are excited to show you guys a different [and] better brand of football.”
No doubt, the change in leadership also means some may be playing their final games as Terrapins — a reality Stewart acknowledged.
“I mean, I think that’s a pretty obvious answer, that yes, I have to reevaluate my own future. But ultimately, I got five more games to play, and that’s all I’m excited for,” Stewart said. “This college football stuff goes by fast, and I got an opportunity to keep playing.”
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