Maryland made the abrupt decision on Wednesday to part ways with longtime head coach Mike Locksley, effective immediately. The move came after a 37-30 homecoming loss to Rutgers, which marked the Terrapins' fifth straight defeat and dropped them to 2-5 overall and 0-4 in Big Ten play.
Locksley leaves College Park after nine seasons leading the Terps, finishing with an overall record of 39-54. His time as head coach had some bright spots, including three straight bowl appearances from 2021 to 2023, but Maryland has fallen off in the last couple of seasons, finishing 4-8 last year and already on pace for a worse result this season.
Maryland is now searching for a new head coach for the first time in nearly a decade, becoming the first Power Four college football program to open a coaching vacancy this year. And now, one Baltimore native has thrown his name in the hat: Biff Poggi.
Poggi, the former Michigan interim head coach, has publicly expressed his desire to take over the Maryland program. He called the position "one of the great honors of my lifetime" and pointed to Indiana's recent success as proof that Maryland can compete at a high level, saying, "If Indiana can win, we can win."
"If I was named the Maryland coach, I would have 50 calls that day from kids and their agents," Poggi said.
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Poggi is from Maryland and has decades of coaching experience in the area. He spent years coaching at Gilman School, a college preparatory school in Baltimore, where he eventually became head coach and won 13 conference championships. He later led Saint Frances Academy, also in Baltimore, helping build the high school program into a national powerhouse.
Recently, Poggi has worked at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh (2021-2022) and Sherrone Moore (2025), serving as associate head coach and later as interim head coach after Moore's departure in December 2025. He also spent two seasons leading Charlotte in 2023 and 2024, finishing with a 6-16 overall record before going back to Michigan and working under Moore.
Poggi's reputation as a program builder and local ties could make him an intriguing option for the Maryland job, but he's not the only name in the mix. Early reports have already identified several candidates, including Wake Forest head coach Jake Dickert, James Madison coach Billy Napier, Duke head coach Manny Diaz, Memphis coach Charles Huff, and New Mexico's Jason Eck.
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