LAS VEGAS — Maryland coach Mike Locksley admitted Tuesday that he “misplaced” the locker room in 2024 over which gamers to compensate, an element that led to the Terrapins’ worst season since Locksley’s debut in 2019.
The Terrapins completed 4-8 and dropped all however one among their Huge Ten contests final fall. Maryland had extra gamers chosen within the NFL draft (six) than wins, because it misplaced its closing 5 video games, all by 14 factors or extra. Locksley attributed a part of the struggles to the altering monetary panorama in school soccer, the place Maryland needed to make selections on easy methods to compensate gamers via NIL offers and finally created some divisions.
“I personal the truth that I misplaced my locker room,” Locksley instructed ESPN. “And that is Coach Locks, the locker room king, telling you this panorama, I had to decide on between paying younger gamers who have been coming in or reward the older gamers which have been via the fireplace, three bowl wins, and I attempted to do each with restricted sources, and that is what you get, a locker room with the haves and have nots.”
Locksley, who’s coming into his seventh season at Maryland and tenth total as an FBS coach, known as the expertise “a useful lesson” in easy methods to handle gamers, relationships and expectations. Maryland received three consecutive bowl video games beneath Locksley from 2021 to 2023.
“You go exterior my locker room 1753233398 and I’ve an indication that claims: ‘Go away your Louis belts, go away your monetary statements and your automobile keys exterior of this locker room, as a result of in right here we’re all going to pay the identical worth for fulfillment or failure,'” he mentioned. “If I’ve obtained to place my desk in that locker room, I’ll. A useful lesson realized.”
Locksley mentioned the Home settlement and the cash Maryland distributes to its gamers have allowed him to focus extra on the locker room slightly than exterior fundraising. Maryland will enter the season with questions at quarterback — the place UCLA switch Justyn Martin, redshirt freshman Khristian Martin and embellished incoming freshman Malik Washington, ESPN’s No. 134 total recruit, will compete — and different positions.
“I name this a yr of vulnerability for me, as a result of I have been torn about what to say about our group when folks ask, however I do not know what kind of group we’ve but,” he mentioned. “Some folks, as a coach, it is like a foul factor to say, ‘I do not know.’ But it surely’s a very good factor that I do not know.”