Maryland chooses Alabama OC Mike Locksley as new coach
Notable since Pep Hamilton was one of the finalists for the job. I wonder if this means that Pep is coming back or if Pep will continue to interview for coaching positions and that Michigan will be in the market for a new OC. I wouldn't mind seeing Matt Canada at Michigan even if it's for only one year. Maybe just to spice up Harbaugh's current offensive playbook.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:04 PM ^
Damn it....
December 4th, 2018 at 8:05 PM ^
Keep trying Pep
December 4th, 2018 at 9:28 PM ^
Yes, please keep trying until he is gone from Michigan.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:05 PM ^
Was hoping they’d take Pep and we’d go for a bonafide OC. I think all of their reported candidates were odd choices, do they really think he’s the reason for Bama’s offense and not the legion of 5 stars at his disposal? Not the risk I’d take.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:09 PM ^
He was their OC before Durkin was hired. Also probably the best recruiter Maryland has ever had. Maryland did not hire Locksley because of his success at Bama.
Aside from that, how was the guy who was the interim HC all season an odd candidate? The only one who seemed an unlikely choice was Pep.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:09 PM ^
Locksley was a candidate when Durkin was hired as well. He's well known around the Maryland/DC area so that was probably a huge sell on getting someone clean with ties to the program
December 4th, 2018 at 8:10 PM ^
Locksley was an obvious choice for them. A. He's been at Maryland before and went to Towson. He's going to recruit the hell out of the DMV. B. He learned under Brian Daboll, who is now back in the NFL, last year at Bama, and yes, was the coordinator of their elite offense this year. Yes, he is largely responsible for Bama's offense going from mid-20s in S&P (where ours is now) to top 10.
He's as good a hire as Maryland could get, IMO.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:06 PM ^
Pawning Pep sounds like a terrible reality show - but he really is a good pep, so please, somebody buy him.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:06 PM ^
Never give up, Pep
December 4th, 2018 at 8:07 PM ^
Maryland fans think Locksley is going to hire OSU's Larry Johnson as his DC. This would be a massive development in the Zach Harrison recruitment, and almost certainly assure that Harrison goes blue.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:08 PM ^
These are the kind of diagnostic skills that make you the physician of choice around here.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:11 PM ^
I wouldn’t mind if Matt Canada joined the Michigan staff. Very good offensive mind.
December 4th, 2018 at 9:09 PM ^
Doesn’t Canada have a rep for being kinda of a dick? I thought I heard something about him having a short shelf-life after his LSU stint — maybe that was just LSU / SEC spin...
December 4th, 2018 at 10:01 PM ^
He didn't get along with Coach O, but I can see why. If I had to listen to that dummass all day, I'd start to get on his nerves, also!
But I don't see any path for Canada to end up working for Harbaugh. They'd each want to control too much for the other to live with...
December 4th, 2018 at 11:09 PM ^
Rumor is he isn’t an elite recruiter. He doesn’t sell himself or his team effectively when in a living room.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:12 PM ^
Thanks - I have a law school buddy who is a Maryland mega-fan. He's pumped about "Locks". Now, go plug that bloody nose up with some chicken wings from the orgy buffet.
December 4th, 2018 at 10:55 PM ^
TD - Terrapin Devotee I presume???
December 4th, 2018 at 8:12 PM ^
Got to believe there are a few egos bruised over the Day hire. There are some seasoned coaches on that staff. Wouldn’t surprise me to see a few jump ship including schiano.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:14 PM ^
Schiano is going to be forced to look for other opportunities, like Drevno, IMO. I don't know that he wants to leave OSU, but OSU sure as hell wants him to leave.
December 4th, 2018 at 10:04 PM ^
Yeah, their defense this year was a collage of Schiano and Grinch. Remember that Schiano was supposed to go somewhere else, which is why Grinch was brought in. Very similar to Drevno and Frey last year...
Schiano is gone, he just might not know it, yet.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:28 PM ^
Locksley and Johnson would dominate dmv recruiting. If he learned to coach a lick from saban this could be a great hire for md
December 4th, 2018 at 8:44 PM ^
His first full class will probably be great (at least by Maryland standards), like maybe top 20 or top 15. If he can turn that into results in a year or two, it could be a great hire. He will definitely put together a staff that can recruit that talent-rich area well, his problem will be that he still has to play us, OSU, PSU, MSU every year, and Purdue and Nebraska in 2019, and Wisconsin, NW, and Minnesota in 2020. Could be some time before he puts together a 7- or 8-win season.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:43 PM ^
That actually makes sense. He left PSU because he was passed over and took a lateral to tOSU with AHC title added. DC would be a promotion to a position he always wanted,he's from the DC area, and still recruits there.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:47 PM ^
Coached at major High Schools in both MD (McDonough) and VA (TC Williams - Remember the Titans!!). He and Locksley together would absolutely crush DMV recruiting.
December 5th, 2018 at 8:42 AM ^
That will hurt us some, but it will definitely hurt Penn State.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:10 PM ^
Locksley is supposed to be a great recruiter and just went through rehab at Bama. He went to Towson, is a major Baltimore/Maryland football figure, and was the interim coach after Edsall was fired at UMD in 2015.
He also went 2-26 at New Mexico and 1-5 as the Maryland interim coach. He got in trouble at UNM when "In late May 2009, a former administrative assistant at New Mexico filed an age and sex discrimination complaint against Locksley...The claims were later withdrawn." He got in trouble again in September 2009 when he fought with an assistant coach who said "Locksley choked and punched him during the attack."
ESPN article about September 2009 stuff.
This seems like a tone deaf hire by Maryland. After everything that just happened you'd think they'd want a guy with a squeaky clean record. Instead they make hire a guy with a checkered past who seems like a bad coach, just for recruiting.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:29 PM ^
Wouldn't you say he already went through his rehab at Maryland from 2012-2015?
His time at New Mexico probably already cost him the HC job once. Ironic that it was Durkin who was hired instead.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:32 PM ^
For 99% of teams, yes. For a Maryland team that just had to clean house because of coaching incompetence killing a kid, probably should look somewhere else.
December 4th, 2018 at 9:03 PM ^
You have a point, but he's probably not a hard sell locally. They know him well and you could say it's better to take a guy whose issues you already know well too.
Schiano might be a hard sell for a lot of programs, but Rutgers would have no problem with him. OSU and Rutgers probably wish they could make a trade for him and Ash.
December 5th, 2018 at 7:42 AM ^
Au contraire, I live in Maryland, lots of angst about a Locksley here from Maryland fans. Indeed, I wouldn’t be shocked to see a blowback like Schiano at Tennessee, except no one cares about Maryland football. Like Michigan, Maryland is a basketball school. Unlike Michigan, it always has been a basketball school.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:10 PM ^
Good hire for Maryland. If Pep takes a different HC coaching job I wouldn’t mind if Harbaugh took a look at Canada for a job.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:23 PM ^
I like Canada and he obviously had success against OSU this year but I think we need someone more passing-oriented to replace our passing game coordinator
December 4th, 2018 at 9:39 PM ^
Yeah, coz after all, the passing game has been so great under Pep Hamilton. What, 106th last year, and improving to 84th this year only because of Ed Warinner and Jim McElwain.
December 4th, 2018 at 10:10 PM ^
10th in S&P. Using raw stats is silly.
December 4th, 2018 at 10:14 PM ^
Using your eyes is easier
December 5th, 2018 at 6:12 PM ^
Touché.
December 5th, 2018 at 6:16 PM ^
Can I put you down as being happy with 0 points scored in the 3rd qtr after half time adjustments against Ohio St?
December 5th, 2018 at 6:20 PM ^
And didn't Jim Harbaugh also want to see more from the passing game as he hired Dan enos, then Jim McElwain? I think we can conclude Jim Harbaugh thinks Pep Hamilton is falling short. Or heck, are my eyes wrong on that one too?
December 5th, 2018 at 1:28 AM ^
Shea Patterson probably helped.
December 4th, 2018 at 10:10 PM ^
Canada is probably a big reason Nathan Peterman is in the NFL. Remember that 2016 Pitt team that upset PSU and Clemson? That was him and James Conner under Matt Canada's offense.
Maryland last year lost at least 3 QBs and still managed to put up the third most rushing yards in the conference plus they put up 52 on OSU. He seems to know what he is doing.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:15 PM ^
Pep wasn't a serious candidate.
December 5th, 2018 at 8:44 AM ^
Go figure.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:19 PM ^
I still don't understand all the hate for Pep. As far as I can tell his biggest sins this year were:
- Wasn't able to outscore ND with a brand-new QB on the road against what turned out to be a CFP-level team.
- Wasn't able to engineer 63 points against OSU in the Shoe.
What am I missing?
December 4th, 2018 at 8:21 PM ^
That everything is the offense's fault, always. The OC is the worst person in Ann Arbor at all times, and the backup QB is the best. Pep is screwing the program, and only Dylan McCaffrey can save it by killing Pep and Shea with a single bullet.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:28 PM ^
Agreed. The defense cost this team its 2 losses, not the offense.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:30 PM ^
Agree on the OSU loss, not on the ND loss. The D gave up 24 which isn't great but is still winnable. The O scoring one offensive TD is the reason we lost that game.
December 4th, 2018 at 9:43 PM ^
It was a flat offence in the ND game.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:38 PM ^
My rebuttal to that would be how many games did (playoff-bound) Oklahoma’s defense cost them that were instead saved by an amazing offense? Regardless of our high defensive standards, we should always be seeking to optimize all aspects of the team and unfortunately Pep ain’t it.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:29 PM ^
I have mixed feelings. We ended up with 39 against OSU like you said which before the game we all would have taken in a heart beat. A lot of those points came late when the game was seemingly over, but if the D could have stopped a nose bleed we were always in striking distance to make it a game. The loss to OSU to me is on the D and Brown.
That being said the inability to finish drives and score early on when the game was still close was an issue. As was the continued insistence to run Higdon up the gut on first and second down getting 1 yard a carry, putting us in 3rd and long. There was seemingly nothing creative saved for OSU and no wrinkles to try and get an undisciplined OSU D out of position.
He's the OC and play caller so that's all on him. But he's also an extension of Harbaugh. He may be the play caller, but he's calling the plays Harbaugh's approved. The idea that we'll fire Pep and get a guy like Kingsbury or Canada seems like a pipe dream to me. Harbaugh doesn't want to run those offenses, so he's not going to hire those guys. Pep's an issue, but he's a symptom and not the main problem. If a major change is going to come offensively it will because Harbaugh is going to accept a change in scheme, which seems unlikely.
* I personally don't think a major change in scheme is necessary. Like you said, we scored 39 against OSU. If we have any sort of defense that offense is good enough to be in the playoffs right now. And this was a young offense too. If we brought back Pepe and changed nothing, we'd still have some very frustrating offensive playcalls, but we'd probably end with a top 10/15 offense IMO.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:38 PM ^
Judging Pep off OSU in a vacuum is difficult and ignorant. The 39 points are a bit deceiving. But at the same time Gentry had three devastating drops, that’s not on Pep.
My complaint is that over the season I didn’t think we were maximizing our offensive potential, particularly in the passing game. I like Brian and everyone on the board figured that we were holding back to keep Shea healthy and that they had an “extra gear” they could turn on for OSU.
Turns out there was no extra gear. Pep isn’t bad, but there are definitely coordinators who could do more with that offense.