A bum job to some, Maryland a plum job for Locksley
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By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Soon, after spending about a week back home, Mike Locksley will return to Alabama, an environment that makes his new job at Maryland look like Pop Warner. Back to all the championship trophies, fanatical support, and historical significance. Back to aid the Crimson Tide’s quest for a second consecutive national title, which would be its third in four years and its sixth in 10 years.
Yet, when he says being the Terrapins head coach is his dream job, you don’t immediately question his sanity. Few new hires would say that – and even fewer would mean it – but Locksley appears to be that rare.
“When I got into coaching, this was the one job that I always coveted,” he said during his introductory news conference last week.
Considering that he entered the profession a quarter-century ago as an assistant at Towson, his alma mater, we’d understand if his career goals had changed. Somewhere, there must be a Top 25 list for “Jobs Better Than Maryland,” including more-attractive options in the “also receiving votes” category.
But Locksley is a native Washingtonian who grew up as a Terrapins fan. In a sense, Maryland football is a dilapidated, one-stoplight small town. Unlike most who grow up and escape for better lives elsewhere, Locksley wants to return home and help fix it. It’s where he’s from and it’s a fine place to him, regardless of outsiders’ sneers and snickers.
“Mike is ingrained in the very fabric of who we are as a state and who we are as Terps,” athletic director Daman Evans said.
That was true three years ago, too, but Locksley was bypassed in favor of DJ Durkin.
Instead of sticking around to accept a job on Durkin’s staff, Locksley went to work for Nick Saban and “spent three years saturated in winning and seeing what it’s like to be done right.” The experience should make him a better head coach than he would’ve been in 2016 and definitely better than he was at New Mexico (2-26).
We can’t say for certain that Jordan McNair would still be alive if Maryland had hired Locksley instead of Durkin.
Locksley vowed that his program will make players’ safety and well-being a top priority. He and his wife are friends with McNair’s parents, and share a common bond of having buried a son. The Locksleys lost a son to gun violence in September 2017. McNair, the 19-year-old lineman who died after a team workout last summer, went to school in Baltimore County with the Locksley’s daughter.
We also can’t say for certain that Dwayne Haskins would’ve been a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Instead of becoming a record-setting quarterback at Ohio State, Haskins likely would be slinging passes at College Park. He was a Maryland commit who vowed to draw more top local recruits. But he backed out when Locksley – who went 1-5 after replacing Randy Edsall in an interim role – didn’t get the permanent job.
Locksley’s ability to recruit the fertile DMV area is one reason he’s betting on himself. He was responsible for getting five-star recruits Damian Prince and Stefon Diggs to College Park, and a busload of blue-chippers to Tuscaloosa.
His reputation here has paid dividends quickly. Four-star wide receiver Isaiah Hazel, from Prince George’s County powerhouse Wise High School, officially decommitted from West Virginia and flipped to Maryland. Locksley’s pull on local talent figures to be strengthened further with word that Elijah Brooks, head coach of DeMatha High, is joining the Terps’ staff as running backs coach.
Between hiring assistants, holding one-on-one meetings with current players, and trying to recruit some new ones, Locksley’s week in Maryland has been hectic. But he’s expected back in Alabama Thursday night, right before the team begins practice for its showdown against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
He should enjoy his last go-round with Saban and Tide, college football’s equivalent of Bill Belichick and the Patriots. Life for coaches and players isn’t better anywhere else, a far cry from what Locksley will experience when he returns here for good.
Just don’t tell him that Maryland is dead-end job. He doesn’t want to hear it
“I think the biggest thing that I’ve learned from being under coach Saban is, focus on the process and not the results,’’ Locksley said. “Don’t worry about game day. Don’t look up at the scoreboard. Let’s win every day and maximize every opportunity in your program.”
It’s his program now, a dream become reality.
— Brooklyn-born and Howard-educated, Deron Snyder writes his award-winning column for The Washington Times on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Follow him on Twitter @DeronSnyder.
