Report Indicates Maryland Football To Name Matt Barnes Special Teams Coordinator
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The Maryland Terrapins thought they had their football coaching staff set for 2026, but that was before an unexpected departure.
2025 assistant special teams coordinator Chili Davis was promoted to the main spot, with Andre Powell moving over to the running backs room. But not even a week later, Davis was lured away by the Minnesota Vikings, leaving a big hole to fill on short notice.
According to CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz, Maryland has now found a replacement, bringing back former assistant Matt Barnes to lead the special teams unit:
Maryland is expected to hire Matt Barnes as special teams coordinator, sources tell @CBSSports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) March 1, 2026
Barnes, who worked at Maryland from 2016-18, was most recently co-DC at Mississippi State. Before that, was DC at Memphis and an assistant at Ohio State, including interim DC in 2021. pic.twitter.com/pEyM5MZIkw
Barnes has 14 years of Division 1 coaching experience, half of which occurred at Big Ten schools. After three years as a graduate assistant at Florida, he made the move to Michigan, spending one year in Ann Arbor as a defensive analyst.
His next stop was College Park, where he assumed control of the linebackers' room. He held that position from 2016-18, also taking the title of special teams coordinator in his final year. In that brief stint, Barnes' unit excelled.
The 2018 Terps had the 8th-most kickoff return yards (959) nationally and were one of only six programs to return multiple kickoffs for touchdowns. However, following the widely supported firing of head coach D.J. Durkin, he was also let go.
Barnes then landed on Ryan Day's staff at Ohio State as a defensive assistant and special teams coordinator. He kept the special teams tag for all three years in Columbus but also moved upwards, taking over the safeties in 2020 and the entire secondary in 2021.
Beginning in Week 5 of 2021, Barnes also called defensive plays for the Buckeyes, helping guide them to a 10-2 (8-1) regular season record and a trip to the Rose Bowl, where they defeated No. 11 Utah.
That strong finish got him hired as the defensive coordinator at Memphis, where he stayed for two years. The 2023 squad finished 10-3 with an extra home game in the Liberty Bowl, narrowly missing out on a Top 25 ranking.
Then came a move to the SEC with Mississippi State, where he was the Bulldogs' co-defensive coordinator and led the safeties. Things didn't exactly go smoothly, as Miss State allowed over 400 yards of offense per game both of the last two seasons, which ranked worst and second worst, respectively, in the conference.
Barnes was still listed on Mississippi State's athletic site at the time of publishing, so it's unclear if he was let go from his job there or chose to return closer to home. Barnes is a Maryland native, having grown up in Frederick County.
Either way, Terrapins' head coach Mike Locksley has one less thing to worry about with spring camp quickly approaching.
The rest of the staff is as follows:
- Ted Monachino - Defensive Coordinator/Outside Linebackers
- Clint Trickett - Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
- Aazaar Abdul-Rahim - Co-Defensive Coordinator / Associate Head Coach for Defense / Cornerbacks
- Andre Powell - Running Backs
- Latrell Scott - Wide Receivers
- Damian Wroblewski - Offensive Line
- James Thomas Jr. - Safeties
- Zac Spavital - Inside Linebackers
- Randy Starks - Defensive Line
- Kyle Schmitt - Tight Ends
- Pep Hamilton - Special Assistant to the Head Coach
- Hal Hunter - Senior Offensive Assistant
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Mike joined Maryland On SI with over four years of sportswriting experience. He started off his career in Syracuse on the Orange football beat, where he was featured on CBS Sports' Cover 3 Podcast and local ESPN sports talk radio. After that, he had a brief stint reporting on Major League Baseball before returning to college sports.
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