Afternoon Edition

October 21, 2026

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Seven weeks into the season, college football has its first head coach firing. On Wednesday, Maryland football said it fired Mike Locksley, who was in his eighth season in College Park. Locksley, who will be owed nearly $10 million, had posted a 2–5 record after consecutive 4–8 campaigns in 2024 and 2025.

—Kennington Smith III

First Up

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In a press conference Wednesday, Yankees general partner Hal Steinbrenner laid blame for the club’s latest playoff exit squarely on the club’s roster.
MLB’s free-agent qualifying offer figure is set for the 2026–27 offseason, but the structure is just the start of what is set to be an uncertain player market.
NBC said that Game 1 of the WNBA Finals between the Valkyries and the Dream drew 2.1 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, a record for a Game 1.

Maryland’s Mike Locksley Is First FBS Coach Fired, Owed Nearly $10M

Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

On Wednesday, Maryland football made the first in-season head coaching change of the 2026 college football season, firing Mike Locksley. Seven games into his eighth season in College Park, Locksley had posted a 2–5 record after consecutive 4–8 campaigns in 2024 and 2025. He leaves Maryland with a 39–54 overall record.

The Terrapins are on a bye this week following a 37–30 loss to rival Rutgers last Saturday, the team’s fifth consecutive defeat. Following the game, Locksley was asked how he would want to be remembered if it was his final game.

“I won’t get into that,” Locksley said to local media. “As I said, man, I’m here for these players. Super convicted. The only thing that I’m concerned about is doing my very best for them until they tell me I can’t.

“I don’t know if you ever can, as a parent or as a coach or as a teacher, fix everything once and for all. What you can do is continue to give it the attention that it needs to fix, and to me that’s where my conviction lies.”

Following his firing, Locksley is owed nearly $10 million from his deal. A reported $4.9 million, which represents 50% of his buyout, is due in a lump sum within 60 days of termination. The buyout also includes no mitigation or offset obligations for Locksley. His deal went through 2028 and was set to pay him $6.4 million this season, $6.7 million in 2027, and $7 million in 2028.

Defensive coordinator Aazaar Abdul-Rahim is expected to take over as interim coach. Abdul-Rahim had previously served as the Terrapins’ co-defensive coordinator alongside defensive coordinator Ted Monachino, who was fired earlier this week.

Maryland’s decision is the icebreaker in the 2026 coaching carousel, which has been uncharacteristically quiet to this point. This is the first season since 2019—excluding the COVID-19-affected 2020 season—that no FBS coaches were fired before Oct. 1. On average, two coaches have been fired before October each season within that time span.

Last year, eight FBS coaches were fired before Oct. 21: DeShaun Foster (UCLA), Brent Pry (Virginia Tech), Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State), Sam Pittman (Arkansas), Trent Dilfer (UAB), James Franklin (Penn State), Billy Napier (Florida), and Jay Norvell (Colorado State), which totaled more than $60 million in buyout money.

While Abdul-Rahim is the interim coach, Maryland says that it will begin a full-time search led by AD Jim Smith.

“President Darryll J. Pines and I are fully aligned in our commitment to providing the investment, infrastructure and resources required for Maryland Football to succeed,” Smith said in an official statement released by Maryland athletics.

AI in Sports: Everyone Is In

AI adoption is accelerating across the sports industry, but meaningful returns remain elusive. A new joint report from Front Office Sports and Teamworks, based on a survey from hundreds of sports organizations, examines how teams, leagues, and athletic departments are investing in and using AI.

While 90% of organizations expect their AI usage to grow, just 15% report a clear, measurable ROI. The report explores what separates organizations seeing returns, including dedicated AI budgets, centralized ownership, and organization-wide implementation. It also examines where sports organizations are using AI today, what they want from the technology, and how they plan to invest in the year ahead.

Read the full report to see where sports stands on AI and where it’s headed.

LOUD AND CLEAR

Take It to the Grave

Action Images via Reuters/Paul Childs

“Would I say it’s a brick on steroids? Yeah, maybe.”

—Eternal Fan founder Matt Linn tells Front Office Sports about the monument his company is creating for die-hard Jaguars fans. The roughly 14-foot-by-14-foot installation will be placed on the plaza outside the team’s “Stadium of the Future,” currently under construction and slated to open ahead of the 2028 NFL season. Fans can purchase dedicated space within the memorial—dubbed the 904Ever Club, a nod to Jacksonville’s area code—to store memorabilia and personal items, including sealed cremains.

“At the end of the day, we’re creating a type of fan engagement—fan legacies—that’s kind of never been done before,” says Linn.

Where Your Conversations Move Work Forward

In sports, a great play doesn’t end when the huddle breaks. That’s when execution begins. Work should be no different. But how many times have you left a meeting with a game plan, only to spend the rest of the day chasing notes, building decks, updating project plans, and tracking down next steps?

Every conversation creates work. Zoom helps you move it forward. Its AI-first work platform takes action on the context of your meetings, calls, and chats—helping turn discussions into deliverables, from drafted documents and presentations to updated plans and next steps.

So you spend less time managing the playbook. More time making plays.

STATUS REPORT

One Up, Three Down

Brad Penner-Imagn Images

LeBron James ⬆ In his first game with the new-look 76ers, LBJ helped spoil the Knicks’ ring night by chipping in with 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists in Philadelphia’s 106–100 victory at Madison Square Garden. The 22-time All-Star took a significant pay cut to join the Sixers, making just under $4 million this year. However, as Front Office Sports first reported, James has an endorsement deal with Polymarket that comfortably eclipses his salary, earning him $15 million annually.

Julian Sayin ⬇ Ohio State coach Ryan Day said Tuesday that his star quarterback will be out indefinitely after he injured his throwing elbow in the team’s 19–15 win over Indiana on Saturday. Sayin has an NIL contract worth roughly $2.5 million. Day said the team will prepare as if Sayin will be out for the rest of the season, without putting a timeline on his return.

LIV Golf ⬇ Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open Champion and captain of LIV’s Southern Guards GC team, is the latest player to announce his exit from the league as it works through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Oosthuizen, 44, posted a message on social media Wednesday revealing plans to focus on the DP World Tour in 2027. Oosthuizen joined LIV in 2022 and fronted the all–South African team for five seasons.

Jordan Elliott ⬇ After the Titans defensive lineman was released Tuesday due to an undisclosed “incident” at the team’s practice facility, multiple outlets reported Wednesday that Elliott sought to retrieve a firearm from his car after a dustup during practice with offensive lineman JC Latham. The situation was reportedly de-escalated before the firearm could be brandished with the help of defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, and no police reports were filed. Titans coach Robert Saleh said Elliott is a “good man” but had a “terrible lapse in judgment.”

ONE FUN THING

Ring Reveal

PWHL

The Professional Women’s Hockey League unveiled the 2026 Walter Cup championship ring, plus a second ring for everyday wear, to Montreal Victoire players in a ceremony in Montreal, Quebec, on Tuesday. The Victoire beat the Ottawa Charge in the PWHL championship in May.

The custom gold-plated silver rings were designed with Canadian fine jewelry brand Paris Jewellers. Each ring holds 2.03 carats in lab-created diamonds: 28 diamonds for 28 total wins, 41 diamonds surrounding the logo, in a tribute to team defense with the fewest goals allowed in the league during the regular season, and 29 diamonds representing each player on the team. Four blue sapphires and two aquamarine stones circle the ruby-set Victoire crest, signifying the team’s six playoff wins. The ring’s inner band includes the date of the final championship game and the 4–0 score engraved.

And in case the Montreal players want a more understated championship ring for daily wear, Paris Jewellers created a second smaller ring, also with the Victoire logo.