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Maryland dismissed head coach Mike Locksley seven games into the season, marking the first in-season head coaching change of the 2026 college football campaign. The move breaks an unexpectedly quiet coaching market and puts the Terps in the middle of a search for new leadership.
What led to the firing
Locksley was relieved of his duties after the Terrapins fell to Rutgers, 37–30, last Saturday — Maryland’s fifth straight loss. The team is on a bye this week.
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Seven games into his eighth season in College Park, Locksley’s team was 2–5. He had overseen consecutive 4–8 seasons in both 2024 and 2025 and finishes his Maryland tenure with a 39–54 record.
Asked after the Rutgers game how he would want to be remembered if that had been his final outing, Locksley told local media, “I won’t get into that. As I said, man, I’m here for these players. Super convicted. The only thing that I’m concerned about is doing my very best for them until they tell me I can’t.” He added that, as a coach, parent or teacher, you can’t fix everything at once but must keep giving issues the attention they require.
Contract and buyout details
According to the program, Locksley is owed nearly $10 million under the terms of his contract. About $4.9 million—representing 50% of the buyout—must be paid in a lump sum within 60 days of his termination. The agreement reportedly contains no mitigation or offset obligations for Locksley.
His contract extended through 2028, with reported compensation of $6.4 million this season, $6.7 million in 2027 and $7 million in 2028.
Interim leadership and the search ahead
Maryland expects defensive coordinator Aazaar Abdul-Rahim to serve as the interim head coach. Abdul-Rahim had been listed as a co-defensive coordinator alongside Ted Monachino, who was dismissed earlier in the week.
The university says athletic director Jim Smith will lead a national search for a permanent head coach. In an official statement released by Maryland athletics, Smith said, “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.”
Where this fits in the wider coaching landscape
Maryland’s action is the first midseason head coaching change of 2026 and has opened what had been an unusually calm coaching carousel. The season had been notable because, excluding the pandemic-affected 2020 year, it was the first since 2019 without any FBS head-coaching firings before Oct. 1.
By comparison, the previous year saw eight FBS coaches dismissed before Oct. 21 — a group that, according to reports, included DeShaun Foster (UCLA), Brent Pry (Virginia Tech), Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State), Sam Pittman (Arkansas), Trent Dilfer (UAB), James Franklin (Penn State), Billy Napier (Florida) and Jay Norvell (Colorado State). Those early-season changes reportedly generated more than $60 million in buyout obligations.
