What Maryland Coach Mike Locksley Said at Big Ten Football Media Days

Maryland coach Mike Locksley left Penn State's Beaver Stadium in a fit last November, upset that Nittany Lions coach James Franklin's team scored a touchdown as time expired. Locksley had words with Franklin after Penn State's 44-7 win over the Terps and later called the touchdown "bulls---."

Turns out, Locksley might have been upset about more than the touchdown. The loss capped Maryland's 4-8 season (1-8 in the Big Ten). Eight months later at Big Ten Football Media Days, Locksley made a rare confession.

"I'll tell you, a year ago Coach Locks lost his locker room," Locksley said. "For me to stand in front of a group of media and tell you that I lost my locker room, and it wasn't because I wasn't a good coach, it wasn't because they weren't good players because we were better than a four-win team. What we had to do was we had haves and have-nots for the first time in our locker room, and the landscape of college football taught me a valuable lesson."

Locksley expanded on that idea and more during his availability at Big Ten Football Media Days. Here are the highlights.

On what he learned from losing the locker room: That valuable lesson is it's important for me, even in the midst of this change, to continue to educate our players on the importance of what playing for something bigger than yourself is all about, and I can tell you that if I've got to put my desk in the locker room this year, I will. I expect our team to show up, play hard, and probably one of the most exciting things is if you ask me what kind of team we have, I don't know yet. That's a good thing. That's a good thing because as a coach, sometimes we feel like we have to have that answer.

QUESTION: You you alluded to as far as losing your locker room at one point, but obviously you still got it back. What is the difference? When do you know the difference is between being a coach and being a teacher with you having to manage so many different permits within the locker room with yourself and your coaching staff?

MIKE LOCKSLEY: Great question. To be honest, there is no difference between being a coach and being a teacher in my opinion. I've always tried, and this is why losing the locker room a year ago for me was really personal, because it's bigger than football, and it has been for me. I would have never dreamt as a kid that grew up on the south side of Washington D.C. having an opportunity to coach at the place as a kid I grew up rooting for and worshipping. I loved everything about Maryland. I still do. I enjoy the job I have.

But I can tell you, last year was tough on me as a coach because for the first time those really strong relationships were questioned because I had to decide whether to pay a freshman coming in or take care of a veteran player that helped me go to three bowl games and have success and do something that hadn't been done in 130 years in the history of Maryland football.

It was hard to do both, and so what I've decided now is if you come to Maryland and you look outside of the our locker room, there's a sign. That sign reads, "You can leave your Louis belts, your car keys, and your financial statements outside of this locker room," because when you enter those doors, we'll all pay the same price for success or failure.

That's really important for me. That's what last year was about for me, but that's also why I'm excited about this year because I don't know what kind of team I have just yet, but I know that they're really talented. It's a matter of them playing for something bigger than themselves, which we're in the process of developing that type of culture.

"When you enter those doors, we'll all pay the same price for success or failure."

Michael Locksley shares the message posted outside the @TerpsFootball locker room this season 👇#B1GFootball pic.twitter.com/6aFNYemEdf
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) July 22, 2025

QUESTION: Obviously you lost a lot of great players to the draft [Maryland had six players drafted], essentially everyone you brought to media day last year. When you look at that quarterback room, obviously bringing Justyn Martin from UCLA, how do you, as you say, you're trying to redefine the character of the team, but how do you also hold the quarterbacks to the incredibly high standard that you're used to having?

MIKE LOCKSLEY: That's a great point there. We've had some quarterbacks that have come through. I had the fortune of having Taulia Tagovailoa for four years, four seasons there, and he left here as the Big Ten all-time leading passer. But when you look at the quarterback locker room or the quarterback room today as it stands, really, really excited about it. A lot because I don't necessarily know what I have.

I equate that quarterback room a lot to -- and I just was telling Tony in the back -- a lot like when you have a baby in the crib, and you throw the snake in the crib with the baby. The baby doesn't know that a snake is bad, and that's kind of what those quarterbacks when the new guy in Justyn that's never played in the system, Malik, who has been much talked about, and then you throw in Khristian Martin, who a lot of you guys are surprised by what you saw Khristian do in the spring game, but I wasn't. He's a guy that a year ago traveled with us as a true freshman every game, and I thought he had the right tools.

Pep Hamilton, who I brought in as my OC, one of my closest friends in this business, has done a tremendous job in preparing these guys. I'm really looking forward to getting into fall camp, having an opportunity to really see these guys and how they perform and who gives us the best chance to score points. I think they all three are very similar in their skill set. All three have great size, big arms to be able to take advantage of all parts of the field, while also being really athletic enough to make plays with their feet if need be.

To me the great thing about the Terps this year in my opinion is the fact that we're young, and we don't know what we don't know. I've had a lot of fun with teams like that, and I'm looking forward to this one.

More Penn State Football