College Football

Mike Locksley working to build something big at Maryland

Updated Apr. 26, 2023 2:32 p.m. ET

When Mike Locksley and his Maryland Terrapins take the field on Saturday for their spring game, it will be with the hope of improving on what has been a slow but steady march to respectability in one of the sport’s two toughest leagues.

He has seen how difficult it is to build a program in the Big Ten. The more he's seen, the more sense it makes to him to make a fundamental change to the business of the sport: Pay players for their labor and create a salary — like the NFL.

"We signed a billion-dollar TV deal in the Big Ten," Locksley told me. "Let's take $25 million out of that and give it to every school and say, ‘That's your salary cap. That's what you recruit with. You manage it how you see fit,’ which is very similar to what the NFL does with their salary cap."

After combining to finish 5-12 in his first two seasons in College Park, Locksley took the Terps bowling for the first time in six years in 2022 — and in back-to-back years for the first time since the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

2013 also was the last year that Maryland played in the ACC, and 2014 was its first in the Big Ten. A decade later, Maryland is on the precipice of change in the league and the sport once again.

With USC and UCLA set to join the Big Ten — the same year Oklahoma and Texas become SEC members — Locksley has made hires that not only reflect disparity among coaches in the sport but could help push the Terps toward contending with the upper echelon of the Big Ten.

After an 8-5 finish ended with a 16-12 win against No. 25 North Carolina State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, Locksley looked back at his schedule and this is what he saw: A one-score loss to the Big Ten champs (Michigan), a two-score loss to the team that fell short of knocking off defending champ Georgia in the Peach Bowl (Ohio State) and a two-point loss to defending Big Ten West champ (Purdue), a two-score loss to a Wisconsin team that finished 7-6 and finally a 30-0 blowout loss to Penn State.

Winning two of those games would've made Maryland a 10-win team for the first time since 2003. Winning three might've put the Terps in a New Year’s 6 Bowl for the first time since 2002.

Winning four? That wouldn't make them dissimilar from 2021 Michigan, which won the Big Ten title, beat Ohio State and made its first-ever College Football Playoff semifinal.

That's one reason Locksley decided to make a move for Josh Gattis — Michigan's offensive coordinator in 2021 and a Broyles Award winner — to run the offense. He hired Brian Williams to run the defense.

He's brought in former Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin to fortify the Terps in game-week preparation and to help tune an offense with the potential to be explosive.

"As I saw our program, I thought it was necessary for us to take that next step and find a way to maybe improve us as coaches in terms of guys that have been in some of these big games," Locksley told me. "We played Ohio State and Michigan really close. But ‘close’ is only good in a game of horseshoes. I thought that there were some things that we could do now when you hire experienced coaches that have been in some of these big games."

One of the reasons he made those moves is he knows it has the chance to pay dividends as early as September. But X's and O's are only gonna get you so far without talented platters.

In this age of transfer portal entries, immediate eligibility following a first transfer, and universities and alumni forming NIL programs and collectives to pay players, Locksley has an idea that could allow for fairness among those at the top of the sport and the programs in league with them.

"If you continue to study the way college football's gonna go, the people who have been able to raise money the most are the guys that have opportunities to win championships," Locksley told me.

Right now, that's the way he must coach, recruit and manage the game. Right now, that's what he is working toward and slowly accomplishing in a unique administration.

Maryland is the only FBS program with a Black President (Darryl Pines), a Black athletic director (Damon Evans), a Black offensive coordinator (Gattis), a Black defensive coordinator (Brian Williams) and a Black head coach (Locksley).

Of course, Locksley, who founded the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches — an organization with the mission of developing Black football coaches and personnel — went to hire the best and the best turned out to be this staff.

"I try to practice what I preach," Locksley said, "and that's to hire the best available coaches, the best possible coaches.

"I’d like to see some of these others, especially these NFL owners, look at it as if there's qualified candidates, black or white, that they have an opportunity. It just so happened that it worked out this way. I can't tell you that I intentionally thought ‘Hey, let's go hire Josh Gattis, and now I'll have two minority coordinators.’ I wanted to hire the best available coach and the best coach I thought would give us the opportunity to move the Maryland program forward."

If only more would follow his lead when head coach vacancies arise. There are just 15 Black head coaches among 133 FBS programs in 2023.

There were 16 head coach vacancies during the 2022-23 cycle. Only three Black head coaches were hired: Deion Sanders (Colorado), Ryan Walters (Purdue), Kenni Burns (Kent State).

With some success in the Big Ten — which features four Black head coaches, the most among Power 5 conferences — perhaps more folks will listen to Locksley, who is out here making sense.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast "The Number One College Football Show." Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young and subscribe to "The Number One College Football Show" on YouTube.\