Why Mike Locksley Has Run Out of Time With Maryland
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After falling 35-26 to Virginia Tech last weekend, the feeling around Terpsville was one of depressing Déjà Vu.
Maryland football had been in the same situation many times recently. It happened last season when a 4-0 Terps squad blew a 20-point, second half lead at home to Washington. It happened the following two weeks as well, which ultimately resulted in an eight-game skid to end the season.
Yet when the Terrapins played their Big Ten opener against UCLA on Saturday, not even the early fire the team normally shows was there.
Instead, the Bruins ran right down Maryland's throats for sixty minutes and giddily walked out of SECU Stadium with a defining 54-3 win for new head coach Bob Chesney.
While that program gets another huge boost to its confidence, its evident that Mike Locksley's group is all out.
This wasn't a game they lost because they took their feet off the gas, or due to just a few small mistakes - they were utterly outclassed in every way. And that is the most alarming thing to admit for a program that was finally supposed to have their special season.
Simply put, Locksley - who fell to a pitiful 16-43 in Big Ten games - has run out of excuses.
There are none that explain how his star quarterback looked completely lost while throwing four interceptions, including two pick sixes, to the same defense that allowed over 400 passing yards a week before.
There are none that explain why the Terps' defense, which entered the game allowing less than 70 rushing yards per game, gave up 266 yards and four scores to a group they knew was largely dependant on the run.
And there are none that explain how, for the second week in a row, a team largely composed of transfers and led by a new head coach had more cohesion top-to-bottom than the one returning the second-most production in FBS football.
This is the type of loss that a program doesn't walk away from unscathed. It happened last season with Penn State, who nosedived after losing to Oregon and were left no choice but to fire James Franklin.
It happened to Syracuse - a school that was stuck in the middle like Maryland for a long time - in 2023, when yet another loss to Clemson spiraled into dropping six of seven.
And Saturday was evidence enough that it's happening to Maryland right now. With a buyout difference of around $1 million between now and the end of the season, even a program low on funds has to consider biting the bullet and starting their search for a replacement early.
During his postgame press conference, Locksley said he would have his normal meeting with Terps Director of Athletics Jim Smith on Monday. If a change is coming this week, it would happen by then.
AD Jim Smith and deputy AD Diana Sabau watched Michael Locksley’s postgame presser from the back of the room.
— Taylor Lyons (@taylorjlyons) September 26, 2026
Smith patted Malik Washington on the back on the QB’s way out and left behind him. pic.twitter.com/5XwWgyvTAR
For arguments sake, what, if anything, will save his job? It would take a combination of several unlikely factors to even have that conversation.
First, the bare minimum is a .500 record or better the rest of the way. Such an effort would match Locksley's best 4-5 conference record, but even the immediate future makes that look like a pipe dream.
The Terps' next two games are at a 4-0 Nebraska team riding high and an Ohio State group who have their sights set on the CFP and, even with one loss, a potential first round bye.
Lose them both, and even with Homecoming, the Week 7 game against Rutgers will have Saturday’s second half ghost town look right from the start.
Truthfully, that game is the only one left that I can see Maryland winning. Even Purdue, who sits at 1-3, put up a much better fight against both UCLA and their ACC opponent (Wake Forest) that the trip to West Lafayette no longer looks like an easy one.
Even if Maryland somehow claws its way to six wins, Locksley would once again have to retain the top players on the roster. If Malik Washington really has the NFL in his sights, he's going to move on at that point. One or more of Zahir Mathis, Sydney Stewart and Zion Elee would be gone for playing time reasons alone.
And as for whether the fans are really concerned about losing guys, just take a look at the ratio on this post from former Terps wideout Torrey Smith:
Know it all fans, if you get your wish, watch what happens with the roster.
— Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR) September 26, 2026
Y'all don't understand this climate. It's not the same. pic.twitter.com/5BTjFY9nvo
There was a time when Mike Locksley was the right man for the program - a local guy tasked with rebuilding trust in the Maryland name after the tragic and avoidable death of Jordan McNair.
And there were some good moments in his tenure, namely three straight bowl games from 2021-23 and the electric QB play of Taulia Tagovailoa. But the chance to build off that success has long passed them by.
The sooner Maryland Athletics reaches that conclusion, the sooner their future will be here.
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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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