Maryland has fired football coach Mike Locksley on Wednesday following the Terrapins' 12th consecutive Big Ten loss, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel on Wednesday.
Maryland has called a team meeting for 11:30 a.m. ET, sources told ESPN, where the team will be informed of the change. Longtime assistant Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, who has strong ties to the area, will be named interim coach, sources told ESPN.
Locksley, 56, who is on the books to earn $6.4 million this season, was working on a contract that ran through the 2028 season. His firing means that the program owes him a buyout of slightly less than $10 million.
He was 39-54 in his eighth season, but just 10-21 since the start of 2024.
Maryland has given up 219 points during its current five-game losing streak, and the Terps are ranked 127th nationally in points allowed and 83rd in yards allowed.
A week removed from a 45-16 loss to Ohio State on the road in which the Terrapins (2-5, 0-4) were outclassed, Locksley's team battled Saturday before eventually running out of steam in a 37-30 home loss to Rutgers, giving up 24 unanswered points in the second half. It was the Terrapins' 20th loss in 22 Big Ten games, and sealed Locksley's fate seven games into his eighth season.
"I won't even get into that," Locksley said Saturday, when asked what he wanted his tenure to be remembered for. "As I said, I'm here for these players. I'm super convicted. The only thing I'm concerned about is doing my very best for them, until they tell me I can't. And those players continue to give me their best, so I'll continue to give them my best."
Defensive coordinator Ted Monachino was fired by Locksley on Sunday.
While Locksley's ability to recruit and build a roster was undeniable at Maryland, the success simply didn't pour out onto the field. In his era, the Terrapins produced five or more selections in two of the past three NFL drafts. They also signed the nation's No. 2 overall recruit in defensive end Zion Elee, out of Baltimore, this year. But Maryland posted identical records -- 4-8 overall, 1-8 in Big Ten play -- the last two seasons.
Athletic director Jim Smith, who took over in May and did not hire Locksley, gave the coach another year to get things right, deciding in the offseason to keep the status quo. But despite the emergence of quarterback Malik Washington, there just wasn't enough progression in a league that has produced the last three national champions. With the loss to the Scarlet Knights, the Terrapins have now dropped 13 consecutive games to Power 4 opponents.
"If the scenario arises, the scenario arises. We'll deal with it. If it doesn't arise, it doesn't arise," Washington said Saturday, when asked how the team would respond to a coaching change. "We'll deal with it either way. Regardless, it's about the team, it's about us together as a unit no matter what goes on."
Locksley, the interim coach at Maryland in 2015, secured the permanent role with the Terrapins in 2019, after three seasons on the coaching staff at Alabama. He played safety and cornerback at Towson before beginning his coaching career by joining the Tigers staff in 1992.