MM 7.23: Maryland football head coach Michael Locksley gives candid interview at Big Ten Media Day

This is a Maryland Minute, a short story followed by a roundup of Terps-related news.

With the Big Ten converging on Las Vegas for a three-day marathon of media appearances, Maryland football head coach Michael Locksley had the opportunity to set lofty aspirations about his program’s response to a disappointing 2024 season on a national stage.

Instead, the seventh-year coach took a different tack — one that is defining his approach both in front of national media and inside the program.

“This, for me, is kind of a year of what I like to call vulnerability,” Locksley said. “One of the greatest characteristics you could have as a leader is the ability to be vulnerable.”

The admission in his opening statement that “Coach Locks lost his locker room” due to the newfound presence of “haves and have-nots” was the most stunning example of that openness.

“Last year was tough on me as a coach, because for the first time, those really strong relationships were questioned. Because I had to decide whether to pay a freshman coming in or take care of a veteran player that helped me go to three bowl games and have success and do something that hadn’t been done in 130 years in the history of Maryland football,” Locksley said.

The NCAA’s new revenue sharing model will expand Maryland’s formerly tight budget for paying players, yet Locksley’s stand against college athletics’ new landscape has quickly been integrated into the team’s culture. Following financially motivated controversy within the Maryland locker room, its Jones-Hill House entrance sports a new sign.

“[It] reads, ‘You can leave your Louis [Vuitton] belts, your car keys and your financial statements outside of this locker room, because when you enter those doors, we’re all going to pay the same price for success or failure,’” Locksley said.

That vulnerability also extended to the future, where Locksley insisted that the momentum that existed prior to the 4-8 season remains. He cited the program’s consecutive bowl game appearances from 2021-2023 and its six players selected in the 2025 NFL Draft — the eleventh-highest mark in the nation — as evidence that Maryland is continuing to elevate talent.

However, while individual pieces have grown, how they come together remains a mystery for Maryland’s main man.

“I don’t know what type of team I have yet,” Locksley said. “[For] some people, as a coach, it’s like a bad thing to say, ‘I don’t know.’ But it’s a good thing that I don’t know.”

With just 37 days remaining until the program’s 2025 season opener against Florida Atlantic University, numerous unknowns clouding the program’s outlook need to be answered. It will take far more than 15 minutes of brazen vulnerability for Maryland to right the ship.

In other news

Maryland’s The Basketball Tournament alumni team, Shell Shock, won their Sweet Sixteen game against NXT ERA Elite on Tuesday. They advance to Monday’s tournament quarterfinals, where they will play West Virginia alumni team Best Virginia.

Maryland defensive back Jalen Huskey, linebacker Daniel Wingate and offensive tackle Isaiah Wright made the trip to Las Vegas alongside Locksley.

Maryland football extended an offer to class of 2027 edge Success Nwabude.

Maryland men’s basketball extended an offer to three-star class of 2026 forward Jalyn Collingwood. The Sidwell Friends teenager, formerly of Bishop McNamara, has received double-digit Division I offers in July after an explosive summer.

Alyssa Thomas earned the WNBA’s State Farm Assist of the Week.