The Mike Locksley era at Maryland is over after seven-plus seasons. As the Terrapins figure out where to go next, Locksley will do the same thing. Locksley, 59, has a successful track record as an offensive coach, and he's proven himself on the recruiting trail as well.
Between that and his countless connections to coaches on other staffs, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Locksley wind up at another program sooner rather than later. Since he began as a defensive backs coach at Towson State in 1992, Locksley has been a fixture on college football sidelines. He's spent time on staffs all around the country, and he's coached at the highest levels of the sport.
In 2017, Locksley won a national championship as the co-offensive coordinator at Alabama. Locksley also orchestrated an explosive offense as the sole offensive coordinator with the Crimson Tide in 2018, and he put together some potent units in his multiple tenures at Maryland. If Locksley wants to keep coaching, there will be opportunities for him as teams look for an experience assistant who can provide some value on offense.
Locksley really made his way up the coahcing ladder as an assistant coach -- often working with running backs, wide receivers and tight ends. He got his first chance to be a coordinator in 2005, when Ron Zook hired him in that role at Illinois. The first couple of years of Locksley's tenure weren't great, but he eventually oversaw a fairly drastic turnaround.
In 2006, the Fighting Illini averaged a paltry 19.6 points per game. The next season, that number jumped to 27.8 points as Rashard Mendenhall emerged as a superstar at running back. Illinois was even better on offense in 2008 at 28.7 points per game.
After his brief coaching tenure at New Mexico ended, Locksley returned to Maryland as an offensive coordinator and put up solid numbers with future NFL stars like Stefon Diggs and D.J. However, Locksley's career really hit another level after accepting an offensive analyst position at Alabama in 2016. When Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian departed Alabama the following year, Locksley assumed co-offensive coordinator duties alongside Brian Daboll.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
