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Major Takeaways
- Maryland fired head coach Mike Locksley on Wednesday after five straight losses dropped the Terps to two wins and five losses this season.
- Defensive coordinator Aazaar Abdul Rahim takes over as interim head coach for the final five games, starting October 31 against Illinois.
- Locksley leaves with 39 wins and 54 losses, three straight bowl wins from 2021 through 2023, and a buyout reported at just under ten million dollars.
- The move ends the tenure of the only Black head coach in the Big Ten or the SEC and the founder of the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches.
The Mike Locksley era at Maryland is over. The school announced Wednesday that it has parted ways with its head football coach, ending a run that began with hope in December 2018 and closed with five straight losses this fall.
Locksley, 56, finished with 39 wins and 54 losses across his time in College Park. That mark includes a six game interim stint in 2015 and his run as the full time head coach that started with the 2019 season.
Athletic director Jim Smith said the decision came after long conversations. “Following thoughtful conversations with Coach Locksley, we agreed that a coaching change was in the best interest of Coach Locksley and the Maryland football program,” Smith said in a statement.
The Slide That Ended It
Maryland opened this season with wins over Hampton and UConn. The Hampton win carried its own meaning, a flagship state program starting its year against an HBCU with deep roots in Virginia.
Then the bottom fell out. The Terps lost to Virginia Tech, then dropped four straight games in Big Ten play, and the skid reached five on Saturday in a 37 to 30 Homecoming loss to Rutgers.
Maryland led Rutgers by ten points at halftime and gave up 24 unanswered points in the second half. The defense allowed 219 points across the five game losing streak, and the Terps have now dropped 12 straight games in Big Ten play.
What Locksley Built
It is easy to forget how much repair work waited for Locksley when he arrived. He took over a program in pain after the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair and the dismissal of coach DJ Durkin, and he gave Maryland a steady face from its own backyard.
The wins came in the middle years. Maryland won the Pinstripe Bowl to close the 2021 season, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in 2022 and the Music City Bowl in 2023, stacking three straight winning seasons and three straight bowl wins.
Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa rewrote the school record book in his offense. Locksley also kept DMV talent home, and prized local quarterback Malik Washington chose to stay and play for him.
The last two seasons broke the momentum. Maryland finished with four wins and eight losses in both 2024 and 2025, and the Terps managed just two Big Ten wins across that entire span.
This fall brought more of the same, and the school decided it had seen enough.
A Voice Bigger Than One Job
Locksley’s exit carries weight far beyond College Park. He stood as the only Black head coach across the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference, the two most powerful leagues in the sport.
In 2020 he founded the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches, an organization built to prepare coaches of color with the skills, connections and exposure the next step demands.
He spoke often about the shrinking number of Black head coaches at the top of the sport and about doors that stay closed too long. His dismissal leaves one of those few seats empty, and the whole sport should sit with that fact.
In his own statement, Locksley kept the focus on his players. “I am grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of this program for so many years, and for the relationships I have built with our players, staff, alumni and supporters,” he said. “They deserve our continued support, and I will always want the best for them and Maryland football.”
A Familiar Name Takes Over
The interim job goes to a man the DMV knows well. Aazaar Abdul Rahim, a Washington native, built his name as the head coach at Friendship Collegiate Academy in the District before moving into college coaching.
He coached the Maryland cornerbacks on Locksley’s staff. On October 18, one day after the Rutgers loss, Locksley dismissed defensive coordinator Ted Monachino and elevated Abdul Rahim to run the defense.
Three days later, the interim tag moved up a chair. Abdul Rahim now leads the whole program for the final five games, starting at home against Illinois on October 31, and his first job is holding a talented roster and recruiting class together.
The Money and What Comes Next
Locksley earned 6.4 million dollars this season on a contract that ran through 2028. Maryland will pay a buyout reported at just under ten million dollars, with half of that money due within 60 days.
The deal carries no offset, which means the school pays the full amount even if Locksley lands another job. It is a steep price, and it tells you how badly Maryland wanted a fresh start.
Smith now runs his first football coaching search since taking over as athletic director in 2025. Maryland offers a rich DMV recruiting base, a Big Ten address and a fan base hungry for a winner, and the school gets a head start as the first program at the top level of the sport to make a change this season.
For more football coverage from Urban City Podcast, read about the Rams hunting for a receiver after losing Davante Adams and the life and legacy of former Chiefs defensive end Allen Bailey.
For now, the program belongs to Abdul Rahim, a Black coach with five games to state his case. Whatever happens next, the Locksley years will be remembered for bowl trophies, for DMV pride, and for a coach who used his platform to open doors for the men coming behind him.
