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

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.