Maryland and Mike Locksley Mutually Part Ways After 12 Straight Big Ten Losses: What It Means for the Terps
Maryland announced Wednesday morning that it and head coach Michael Locksley have mutually agreed to part ways, effective immediately. Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, promoted to defensive coordinator three days earlier, is the interim head coach. The release went up on umterps.com at 11:45 a.m. ET, and it makes Maryland the first Power Four program to fire its head coach in the 2026 season.
The number that ended it
Twelve. That is how many consecutive Big Ten games Maryland has lost, the longest active conference losing streak in the league. The Terrapins are 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten, and both wins came against an FCS team and UConn.
Then the bottom fell out. Virginia Tech won 35-26 on Sept. 19, ending Maryland’s nation-best 20-game nonconference winning streak. UCLA won 54-3. Nebraska won 48-23. Ohio State won 45-16. Rutgers won 37-30 on homecoming last Saturday after Maryland led by 10 at halftime. Five straight losses, four of them by 14 or more.
What Locksley built, and what he could not
Locksley took over in December 2018 after serving as interim coach for six games in 2015. His official record at Maryland is 39-54, which includes that interim stint; his full-time mark is 38-49. He went 16-47 in Big Ten play.
The middle of his tenure was good. Maryland went 7-6 in 2021, then 8-5 in both 2022 and 2023, and won all three bowl games it reached: the Pinstripe Bowl over Virginia Tech, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl over NC State, and the Music City Bowl over Auburn. Three straight bowl wins was a program record. He never finished better than fourth in the Big Ten East and never won a division or conference title.
Since the start of 2024, Maryland is 2-20 in the Big Ten. Over the last two seasons it is 1-12. That is the stretch that cost him the job.
The buyout is nearly $10 million
Locksley was owed $9.94 million for a firing before the end of the 2026 season, according to On3’s review of his contract, with half due as a lump sum within 60 days and no offset for whatever he earns next. His 2026 salary was $6.4 million, and the deal ran through 2028 after rollovers triggered by his seven-win seasons. Athletic director Jim Smith said a national search begins immediately and will be run “with a high degree of confidentiality.”
Smith framed it as mutual: “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.” University president Darryll J. Pines thanked Locksley for 18 years of service and said he “rebuilt Maryland football.” Locksley, asked by The Diamondback about his legacy, said only, “I won’t even get into that.”
What happens now
Abdul-Rahim inherits a bye week before Illinois visits on Oct. 31, then Purdue, Wisconsin, USC and Penn State. He has been at Maryland since 2024 and was on staff from 2016 to 2018, and he got the coordinator job on Oct. 18 when Ted Monachino was relieved of his duties. Three days later he is running the program.
Sophomore quarterback Malik Washington has taken essentially every meaningful snap this season: 63 percent completions, 1,288 yards, seven touchdowns, six interceptions through five games. He has not been reported as transferring. Five-star freshman edge Zion Elee posted a photo with a Maryland flag after the news broke, captioned “It’s gud.” A 2028 running back commit decommitted the same day.
The names already circulating are Brian Kelly, Memphis coach Charles Huff and Wake Forest’s Jake Dickert, all of it media speculation at this stage. Maryland just opened the first job of a cycle that is about to get crowded, with $9.94 million already committed to the last guy.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
