Mike Locksley said he was never fully prepared for how name, image and likeness compensation would reshape college football, and that the resulting staff turnover was the hardest part of his run as Maryland’s head coach. Locksley made the comments to ESPN two days after Maryland fired him following a 2-5 start.
“NIL kicks in, and wasn’t prepared for it,” Locksley told ESPN. The remark offers a different window into his departure than the won-loss record that led to his dismissal, pointing instead to structural changes in the sport he said he could not fully solve.
The Main Development
Locksley told ESPN that keeping his coaching staff together, not recruiting players, was the toughest challenge of his eight seasons leading Maryland football.
“The hardest thing I dealt with here was not recruiting players, it’s being able to get the right coaches and assistants with me,” Locksley said. “For whatever reason, I struggled to keep the really good coaches I had because we win, we were having success, and people come hire them.”
He named three assistants specifically who left during his tenure: Scottie Montgomery, Jon Hoke and Dan Enos. Locksley pointed to salary competition, speculation surrounding his own job security and general negativity around the program as factors that made it difficult to keep that group intact.
“I was not able to keep consistency with the staff. And then NIL hit,” Locksley said.
What It Means For Locksley’s NIL Comments On Maryland
By linking staff instability to NIL, Locksley described two pressures compounding each other rather than existing separately. Losing veteran assistants meant rebuilding coaching relationships and systems year after year, and he said NIL added another layer of complexity on top of that churn, one he admitted he had not anticipated when he took the job.
Locksley said he has reflected on his own accountability since the firing and that retaining top assistant coaches sits at the top of what he believes he could have handled differently.
Context: A Program That Fell To 2-5
Maryland fired Locksley on Wednesday after a 37-30 home loss to Rutgers dropped the Terrapins to 2-5, according to Yahoo Sports. He finishes his eighth season in College Park with a 39-54 overall record.
Locksley met with Maryland athletic director Jim Smith on Sunday before the school dismissed him three days later, per ESPN. Despite the outcome, Locksley said he does not harbor resentment toward the program.
“I’m not mad about leaving. I’m not. I’m at peace with it because I know it’s better than what it was when I got here,” Locksley said.
What’s Next
Maryland has not named a permanent successor. The athletic department’s coaching search comes as speculation around potential candidates, including Brian Kelly, has already begun circulating, according to USA Today. The program also recently moved on from defensive coordinator Ted Monachino, leaving multiple staff decisions still ahead for whoever takes over the Terrapins.
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