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Maryland Fires Mike Locksley After 13 Straight Power 4 Losses, and It’s Paying $9.94 Million to Do It

Mark Haines on October 21, 2026

Eight years, one ceiling, and a 54-3 home loss to UCLA. Here’s why it ended, what it costs, who’s next, and who the Terps can’t afford to lose.

Maryland fired Mike Locksley on Wednesday.

It took eight seasons and a 54-3 home loss to UCLA to get here. Locksley leaves at 38-49 overall and 16-47 in Big Ten play. He lost his last 13 games against Power 4 opponents, which is the kind of streak that writes the press release for you.

The surprise is that he got an eighth season.

Here are the 4 things that matter now:

Why it ended
What it costs
Who’s next
Who has to stay

1. Why it ended: the same season, every season

Locksley could recruit.

Maryland produced five NFL draft picks in 2023 and six more in 2025. He kept Zion Elee, ESPN’s No. 2 overall recruit and a Baltimore kid, home in College Park. He grew up in D.C. and filled the roster with players most Maryland coaches only see on film.

He just couldn’t turn them into Big Ten wins.

Every year followed the same script. Maryland won its nonconference games in September, then the Big Ten schedule started. After back-to-back eight-win seasons in 2022 and 2023, Maryland has lost 20 of its last 22 conference games: 1-8 in 2024, 1-8 in 2025, and 0-4 this year.

Two years of that is a pattern, and patterns get coaches fired.

How do you survive 87 games at .437?

A UCLA fan on Reddit asked the question everybody else was thinking.

How does a coach last eight seasons while losing more than he wins? Part of the answer is where Locksley started: he took over after Maryland fired DJ Durkin in 2018, and the program needed a rebuild before it could worry about wins. Then came three straight winning seasons and three bowl wins from 2021 to 2023, and that bought him years.

The rest of the answer is recruiting.

Another commenter put it bluntly: Locksley got a long leash because he could land talent, even when he couldn’t win with it. Every time a blue-chip DMV kid signed, Maryland had a reason to believe next year would be different. His 2025 class alone had seven SC Next 300 prospects.

Eventually the losses come due, and on Wednesday they did.

2026 was the last chance, and everybody knew it

Last November, Maryland had the chance to move on and passed.

Athletic director Jim Smith brought Locksley back and promised more money for the roster. The Terps returned quarterback Malik Washington after a record-setting freshman season and kept veterans like linebacker Daniel Wingate. They opened 2-0 against Hampton and UConn, which is a sentence that should never make a Big Ten fan feel safe.

Then James Franklin brought Virginia Tech to College Park, picked up where he left off at Penn State, and Maryland hasn’t won since.

The losses kept coming: UCLA, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Rutgers.

The UCLA game ended 54-3, at home, a score usually reserved for September teams that get paid to show up. Earlier this week, Locksley acknowledged the frustration and said, “It won’t get fixed here at the podium.” He was right.

It got fixed in the AD’s office on Wednesday.

2. What it costs: $9.94 million for a coach who isn’t coaching

Maryland owes Locksley $9.94 million, about 65% of his remaining compensation.

Here’s the breakdown:

Lump sum: $4.97 million, due within 60 days
The rest: equal installments through 2028
Offset or mitigation: none

No mitigation means that if Locksley takes a coordinator job next year, Maryland still pays every dollar. The contract runs through 2028 because his 2022 extension added a year automatically every time he won seven games, and he did it in 2022 and 2023. The reward for those eight-win seasons turned out to be paying for the years that followed.

One more number: the buyout would have dropped to $8.9 million after this season.

Maryland just spent roughly $1 million for a head start on the search. Smith decided waiting until December would cost more than that. He’s probably right.

3. Who’s next: 5 names to know

This is Smith’s first major coaching search at Maryland, and his background is pro sports business, including time with the Atlanta Braves.

He has two jobs. He has to find a coach who can win in the Big Ten, and then give that coach the money to keep doing it. Maryland has never posted a winning record in Big Ten play and has finished with one or two league wins six times since joining in 2014.

Here’s who should be on his list:

Jake Dickert, Wake Forest: He’s won at Washington State and Wake Forest, two jobs that come with built-in disadvantages. Wake is 6-1 and ranked No. 17. The question is whether he sees Maryland as a step up or a step sideways.
Charles Huff, Memphis: He’s from Denton, Maryland, interned with the Terps in 2009, and worked under Franklin and Nick Saban. He’s 44-27 at Marshall, Southern Miss, and Memphis, with a league title at Marshall in 2024. The question is whether a fourth job in four years looks like ambition or a moving company.
Lance Taylor, Western Michigan: He won the MAC in 2025 and is 15-6 since the start of last season. He’s an offensive coach with deep NFL experience whose 2025 team still had the nation’s No. 9 scoring defense.
Dan Mullen, UNLV: He’s 117-68 in FBS with three 10-win seasons in the SEC and a strong quarterback track record. The 4-3 start at UNLV doesn’t help. Neither does the way Florida ended, especially on the recruiting trail.
Brian Hartline, South Florida: He’s 39, 5-2 in his first season as a head coach, and built the best receiver pipeline in the country at Ohio State. Smith and senior deputy AD Diana Sabau both spent time in Columbus. One season of head coaching is thin, but nobody would question his recruiting.

The name the internet wants: Brian Kelly

Reddit has already hired Brian Kelly, at least in spirit.

Within minutes, the jokes were up: Kelly studying how to eat a crab, Kelly watching The Wire for accent lessons, Kelly practicing Baltimore vowels in the mirror. This is the man who showed up in Baton Rouge and found a Southern accent somewhere between the airport and the podium. Nobody’s betting he couldn’t find a Baltimore one by signing day.

The funny part is that he’s available.

LSU fired Kelly midway through the 2025 season after a 5-3 start, and agreed to pay his full $54 million buyout as long as he made good-faith efforts to find work in coaching or media. He’s spending this season as a CBS Sports analyst and co-hosting a weekly SiriusXM show. He’s 64, and he’s said he hasn’t closed any doors on coaching, adding that his next job wouldn’t necessarily have to be with a national title contender.

Maryland is not a national title contender, so that box is checked.

At least one Maryland fan on Reddit said he’d take Kelly in a heartbeat if the school could afford him, arguing that a coach who could take the Terps bowling every year would be a massive upgrade. Kelly holds a 297-109-2 career record and won 113 games at Notre Dame. Maryland has won more than seven games three times since 2010.

The catch is motivation.

Kelly already has $54 million coming from LSU, and his buyout is built so that new earnings offset what LSU owes him. Money alone won’t move him, and neither will Maryland’s Big Ten history. He’d have to want the job, and Maryland would have to convince him it wants to win as badly as he does.

That’s the same problem Jim Smith has with every name on this list.

4. Who has to stay: the first recruiting class is already on campus

The new coach’s most important signing class is the one wearing Maryland jerseys right now.

Tampering season is coming, and a lot of these players grew up in Maryland. They’ll have to decide if they want to buy in to another staff and another rebuild. If they leave, the next coach starts over.

Here’s who matters most:

QB Malik Washington: He set the school freshman record with 2,963 passing yards last year. This season he has 1,615 yards and nine touchdowns, but also six interceptions, three of them returned for scores.
Edge Zion Elee: He’s the highest-rated recruit in program history and leads the team with 4.5 tackles for loss, despite playing only about 25 to 30 snaps a game. He also has 3.5 sacks and three forced fumbles.
Edge Sidney Stewart: He was a Freshman All-American last season with seven sacks, and he stayed when he could have left.
LB Daniel Wingate: He leads the team with 45 tackles, returned an interception 52 yards for a score against Ohio State, and has an extra year of eligibility if he wants it.
WR Chris Durr Jr.: The Wyoming transfer has 52 catches, tied with Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith for the Big Ten lead.
Edge Zahir Mathis: He had six sacks as a freshman before a season-ending injury in fall camp.

The 2027 class matters too: receiver Myles McAfee, safety Kenaz Sullivan, and defensive end Dallas Pauldo are all committed, and all of them will be getting phone calls this week.

The bottom line

Maryland has gone 2-20 in the Big Ten since 2024, and on Wednesday it finally acted on it.

Locksley proved you can recruit the DMV. He never proved you can win the Big Ten with it, and neither has anyone else at Maryland. Now Smith has to find a coach who believes it’s possible and convince the people writing checks to believe it too.

Otherwise, the Terps just paid $9.94 million to start the same season over.

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Brian Kelly Is Out at LSU—And the Coaching Carousel Just Got Absolutely Insane

Mark Haines on October 27, 2025

The coaching carousel just claimed its biggest name yet.

Brian Kelly is out at LSU. Fired. Done. Less than 24 hours after a humiliating 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M—after running into the locker room while students chanted “Fire Kelly,” after being forced to come back out and sing the alma mater with his players—LSU finally pulled the trigger. But this wasn’t a simple firing. This was a full-blown confrontation that spiraled out of control.

Here’s what happened.

The Dramatic Showdown That Ended It All

Sunday afternoon, according to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman and Ralph D. Russo.

Brian Kelly and athletic director Scott Woodward meet. Woodward wants staff changes. Specifically, he wants Kelly to fire offensive coordinator Joe Sloan. LSU’s offense ranks dead last in the SEC in rushing. Something has to give. Kelly fires back. If we’re making staff changes, he says, I want to make different changes. Ones Woodward isn’t comfortable with.

Things get tense.

The conversation escalates. Kelly pushes back hard against his boss. Threats about negotiating Kelly’s $53 million buyout come up. But there’s a question: will the LSU Board of Supervisors even give Woodward the authority to do that?

By Sunday night, it’s over.

Kelly is out. A team meeting is called for 8 p.m. Associate head coach Frank Wilson is named interim head coach. Tight ends coach Alex Atkins will take over play-calling duties. And on Monday morning, LSU announces they’ve fired Sloan anyway. “When Coach Kelly arrived at LSU four years ago, we had high hopes that he would lead us to multiple SEC and national championships during his time in Baton Rouge,” Woodward said in the release. “Ultimately, the success at the level that LSU demands simply did not materialize.”

Translation: You didn’t win enough.

The Wildest Coaching Carousel Year in Recent Memory

But here’s the thing: Kelly isn’t the only one.

This has been one of the most chaotic coaching carousel seasons in years. Jobs are opening everywhere:

Penn State
LSU
Florida
Oklahoma State
Arkansas
Virginia Tech
UCLA
Stanford

And that’s just so far.

Florida State and Oklahoma could be next. Maybe others. The competition for top candidates is going to be insane. Top-tier schools like Florida, LSU, and Penn State are in their own tier—massive resources, elite NIL, phenomenal facilities. But even they’re going to have to pay up. Big time.

Agents are salivating.

Salaries are about to get wildly inflated. And how many of these coaches will actually complete their contracts without needing to be bought out? History says not many. But here’s the question nobody wants to ask: Who are these schools actually going to hire?

And that leads to an even more uncomfortable question for programs down the ladder.

If You’re Cal (Or Nevada, Or Louisiana Tech), What Do You Do?

Let’s talk about the schools further down the food chain for a second.

If you’re Cal, what do you do? Justin Wilcox has been there for nine years. No winning seasons since 2019. The program is stuck in mediocrity. Do you fire him and jump into this insane market where every coach’s price just tripled? Do you keep investing in a guy who hasn’t delivered? If you’re Nevada, do you pay the $2.7 million buyout for Jeff Choate and try to compete with Penn State and LSU for the same candidate pool? If you’re Louisiana Tech, do you cut ties with Sonny Cumbie and hope you can find someone better in a market that’s about to be picked clean?

The reality is brutal.

The top jobs are going to snap up the top candidates. Everyone else will be fighting over the scraps. Or they’re going to have to roll the dice on assistant coaches and hope they hit on the next Cignetti. Schools like Vanderbilt, Missouri, Tulane, North Texas, Memphis, Wake Forest, and Boise State have coaches who are prime poaching targets. And they won’t have the money to keep them if the big boys come calling.

It’s a bad year to be a mid-tier program with an up-and-coming coach.

So, Who Is LSU Going to Get That’s Better Than Brian Kelly?

Which brings us back to the biggest question of all.

Think about Kelly’s résumé for a second:

Two Division II national championships
Took Cincinnati to 11-1 and a top-4 finish
Took Notre Dame to two national championship games
Ten top-25 finishes at Notre Dame, half of them in the top 10
Won 10 games in each of his first two seasons at LSU with top-15 finishes
Won 9 games last year
On pace for 8 wins this year

That’s not a bad coach.

That’s an excellent coach who didn’t meet LSU’s sky-high expectations. So who’s the upgrade? The names being thrown around: Lane Kiffin, Marcus Freeman, Brent Key, Eli Drinkwitz, Jon Sumrall. Are those guys sure things? Are they going to be infinitely better than Kelly?

Nobody knows.

LSU is about to spend $100 million (or more) buying out Kelly and his staff, then funding a new coaching staff, to get someone who might be better. It’s a massive gamble. Here’s the reality: You’re going to spend probably $100M buying out your previous coaching staff and funding your new one to get someone that isn’t necessarily a sure thing. It’s not like Brian Kelly was going 4-8.

And here’s the kicker.

Unless LSU is bringing back Nick Saban, Chris Petersen, or Urban Meyer from retirement, there isn’t a candidate out there who’s a sure thing. Lane Kiffin is going to make a fortune – either from Ole Miss giving him a massive raise to stay, or from one of these desperate schools throwing ridiculous money at him. Brian Kelly won’t be out of work long. Neither will James Franklin, who Penn State moved on from. They’re outstanding coaches. The problem is they weren’t great enough for programs with championship-or-bust expectations.

And that’s the new reality of college football.

What’s Next?

The carousel is spinning.

Fast. More jobs will open. More coaches will get massive paydays. More schools will regret the contracts they’re about to hand out. In about four years, a lot of these fan bases are going to be asking: “Why did we give him that contract?!”

But right now?

It’s chaos. And LSU is right in the middle of it.

Stay tuned.

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LSU Football 2025: Brian Kelly’s Championship Window Is Closing Fast

Mark Haines on July 7, 2025

LSU Football Coach Brian Kelly is coaching for his legacy.

After three seasons in Baton Rouge that have produced solid records but no championship hardware, the LSU head coach enters 2025 with the best roster he has ever assembled and absolutely no margin for error.

The Tigers finished 9-4 in 2024, including a Texas Bowl victory over Baylor (44-31), but that’s not why Kelly was hired. He came to LSU with one mission: to deliver a national championship. ESPN listed Kelly among the 10 “coaches to watch” in 2025, joining Colorado’s Deion Sanders and Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer as coaches facing make-or-break seasons.

The message from college football analysts couldn’t be clearer: “With [quarterback] Garrett Nussmeier, a guy I think will be the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft, (Kelly has) got to get it done this time around or Brian Kelly is going to be on the hot seat by November.”

This is “championship or bust” for LSU in 2025.

The Quarterback Question Is Finally Answered

Garrett Nussmeier isn’t just returning—he’s arriving as a legitimate Heisman candidate.

The redshirt senior threw for 3,738 yards and 26 touchdowns in his first year as the starter, completing 315.2 passing yards per game with a 64.4% completion rate. Those numbers powered LSU’s offense to 431.5 total yards per game, making them one of the SEC’s most explosive units.

But here’s what makes Nussmeier’s return even more valuable: he finished the 2024 season as LSU’s undisputed leader. The Tigers won their final three games, including victories over Vanderbilt, Oklahoma (37-17), and the Texas Bowl triumph over Baylor.

“He and I have talked about this, but he was as prepared as he could be and developed as much as he could have developed to play, but then there’s experience you have to get from playing,” offensive coordinator Joe Sloan said. “There were things that happened during the season that he’s now aware of how they transpired.”

The experience factor cannot be overstated. Nussmeier now understands SEC defenses, pressure situations, and what it takes to win championship-level games.

“You know, that’s not really my focus,” Nussmeier said about Heisman talk. “I think that I’m worried about doing the best I can to help LSU win a national championship. That’s the mindset; that’s the energy and intensity that I bring every single day.”

Portal Perfection: LSU Built A Championship Roster

Brian Kelly made the most crucial decision of his LSU tenure after the 2024 season.

He went all-in on the transfer portal, landing the nation’s No. 1 transfer class with 18 elite additions. This wasn’t just roster management—this was championship construction.

“We have a strong young nucleus in our program, but now it’s time to add to that,” Kelly said in December. “Those that have moved on, we wish them the best, and now we feel like we’ve put ourselves in a position where we can put together an SEC Championship roster.”

The results speak for themselves:

LSU landed 8 of the Top-100 transfer portal players
Every major weakness from 2024 was addressed
Immediate starters were added at critical positions
Depth was created across the entire roster

“It has put us in a position where we can be aggressive on anybody that comes into the portal. And that simply wasn’t the case before,” Kelly said of the new NIL approach.

The Offensive Additions That Change Everything

Wide Receivers: Barion Brown from Kentucky and Nic Anderson from Oklahoma join a receiving corps that already features Aaron Anderson (884 yards in 2024), Kyren Lacy (866 yards), and Mason Taylor (546 yards). This creates the deepest, most talented receiver room in the SEC.

Offensive Line: LSU’s biggest weakness in 2024 was their rushing attack, which averaged just 116.4 yards per game. The Tigers brought in Braelin Moore and Josh Thompson, two of the portal’s top interior linemen, to completely transform their ground game.

Tight Ends: After losing Mason Taylor, LSU added Bauer Sharp, Donovan Green, and JD LaFleur to create what many consider one of the nation’s best tight end rooms.

Running Backs: Five-star freshman Harlem Berry joins returning rusher Caden Durham (753 yards in 2024) to form a dynamic backfield capable of explosive plays.

Defense Gets A Complete Makeover

Blake Baker returns for his second season as defensive coordinator with a mission: fix everything that went wrong in 2024.

Last season’s defense allowed 364.4 yards per game and 24.3 points per game, struggling particularly against elite competition. The Tigers surrendered 140.1 rushing yards per game and couldn’t generate consistent pressure.

Baker’s solution? Reload through the portal with proven performers.

The Defensive Additions That Will Matter

Patrick Payton (Florida State): The crown jewel of LSU’s defensive haul. The 6-foot-5, 250-pounder logged 109 tackles, 32 tackles for loss, 16 sacks, 12 pass breakups, and three forced fumbles in three seasons. He was rated as the No. 2 overall transfer and the No. 1 edge rusher in the market.

Jack Pyburn (Florida State): Adds proven pass rush ability alongside Payton.

Jimari Butler (Nebraska): Brings 16 tackles for loss over his last two seasons.

Mansour Delane (Virginia Tech): Elite cornerback who tallied 146 tackles, 16 pass breakups, six interceptions, and four forced fumbles in his ACC career.

A.J. Haulcy (Houston): First Team All-Big 12 safety who provides leadership and playmaking ability.

Bernard Gooden (South Florida): All-AAC defensive tackle who addresses interior line depth alongside returning starter Jacobian Guillory.

This isn’t hope-based roster building. This is a surgical improvement of specific weaknesses.

The Schedule That Will Define Kelly’s Future

LSU opens the 2025 season at Clemson on August 30.

This isn’t just a season opener—it’s a statement game that will set the tone for Kelly’s entire campaign. The Tigers face a Clemson team with championship aspirations and a hostile environment that will test everything LSU has built.

But that’s just the beginning. LSU’s schedule includes:

Road games at South Carolina, Alabama, and Texas A&M
Home contests against Florida, Ole Miss, and Oklahoma
Multiple opponents are likely to be ranked throughout the season

The schedule provides opportunities for statement victories but offers zero margin for error. Every game becomes a measuring stick for Kelly’s championship vision.

The Hot Seat Reality Nobody Wants to Discuss

Brian Kelly is widely considered to be on the hot seat entering 2025, and for good reason.

Every LSU head coach this century has won a national championship. That’s the standard. That’s the expectation. That’s what Kelly was hired to deliver.

After three seasons, Kelly has produced:

Two 10-win seasons
One 9-4 campaign in 2024
Zero SEC titles
Zero College Football Playoff appearances

At LSU, that’s unacceptable in the long term.

However, Kelly’s massive buyout of over $50 million provides some protection. An immediate firing after early losses is considered unlikely due to the financial implications, but that doesn’t mean he’s safe.

“They have playoff expectations here, and it’s a better depth chart than he’s had in Baton Rouge. If they aren’t in the CFP, I think there’s some serious pressure here,” an anonymous SEC coach noted.

The pressure is real, but Kelly has the tools to succeed.

The Psychological Hurdle That Could Derail Everything

LSU has lost five straight season openers dating back to 2020.

This isn’t just a statistical oddity—it’s a psychological burden that could impact everything Kelly is trying to build. The opener against Clemson represents more than just a game; it’s an opportunity to break a troubling pattern and establish early momentum.

In an expanded playoff format where early losses aren’t necessarily fatal, starting strong becomes even more critical for confidence and team chemistry.

The Moves Nobody Is Talking About

Several under-the-radar developments could prove crucial to LSU’s championship hopes:

Special Teams Transformation: After ranking last in the SEC in special teams efficiency, LSU hired Aman Anand as coordinator and dramatically increased practice emphasis. With proven returners like Barion Brown and Aaron Anderson, this unit could become a difference-maker.

Harold Perkins’ Evolution: The standout linebacker returns from injury to play a hybrid “STAR” role, maximizing his athleticism and creating matchup problems for opponents.

Coaching Staff Additions: Alex Atkins joins as tight ends coach and run game specialist, designed to transform LSU’s ground attack that averaged just 4.1 yards per carry in 2024.

Leadership Integration: With nearly 40 new players joining the roster, veteran leadership from Nussmeier and linebacker Whit Weeks becomes crucial for maintaining chemistry.

These aren’t glamorous storylines, but they’re the details that separate good teams from championship teams.

What Championship Success Looks Like

LSU enters 2025 with legitimate College Football Playoff aspirations.

“This is the best roster that we’ve put together,” Kelly acknowledged during a recent SEC Network appearance. The combination of elite quarterback play, strategic portal additions, and recruiting momentum has created championship-level expectations.

“It’s the closest team I’ve been a part of at LSU from top to the bottom of the roster and so that’s very exciting,” Nussmeier said. “There’s a lot of expectations for us, and we accept those expectations.”

The statistical foundation supports championship aspirations:

2024 offense averaged 431.5 total yards per game
30.3 points per game scoring average
Proven quarterback with 3,738 yards passing
Elite defensive additions addressing every weakness

Success in 2025 will be measured by playoff qualification and championship competitiveness.

Anything less represents failure.

The Bottom Line: Championship Window Is Now

Brian Kelly’s LSU tenure reaches its defining moment in 2025.

ESPN’s assessment captures the reality: “Kelly came to the Bayou with the expressed purpose of winning a national title, just like the three Tigers coaches before him. Instead, he watched his former team, Notre Dame, make a CFP run while he sat home again.”

Kelly has eliminated every excuse:

The quarterback situation is solved
The transfer portal class ranked No. 1 nationally
The recruiting momentum continues with elite classes
The coaching staff provides continuity and expertise

The resources are available. The talent is elite. The expectations are championship-level.

For LSU football in 2025, it’s a championship or consequences.

Kelly’s future in Baton Rouge depends on delivering the breakthrough season that has eluded him since leaving Notre Dame. The pieces are in place for historic success. Still, execution under pressure will determine whether Kelly joins the pantheon of LSU championship coaches or becomes another coach who fails to meet the program’s unattainable standards.

The window is open. The question is whether Kelly can walk through it.

The Next Billion Dollar Game

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