Maryland hires Mike Locksley

[YoloinOhio]

Like the hire 

[Cynical]

2 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

Like the hire 

 

Another year, another new co-ordinator.

[YoloinOhio]

He was 2-26 at New Mexico so has to prove himself as HC. Should recruit just fine in that area. Osu and PSU battle pretty hard in the DMV. If he locks that down it would be a huge win. Has some baggage though. Punched an assistant. Sexual harassment/secretary etc

[JohnC]

9 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

He was 2-26 at New Mexico so has to prove himself as HC. Should recruit just fine in that area. Osu and PSU battle pretty hard in the DMV. If he locks that down it would be a huge win. Has some baggage though. Punched an assistant. Sexual harassment/secretary etc

You nailed it about the recruiting. He is tapped in to the local high school football scene. The local football market is a rich target area that other schools have raided. If he can keep some of the A-list players home then the staggering program can be stabilized. The hope is then that at the minimum it can compete with the big boys in the conference. As you well know Haskins was a Maryland commit until the coach he committed to was dismissed. Their loss was your gain.  

[Bill from NYC]

1 minute ago, JohnC said:

You nailed it about the recruiting. He is tapped in to the local high school football scene. The local football market is a rich target area that other schools have raided. If he can keep some of the A-list players home then the staggering program can be stabilized. The hope is then that at the minimum it can compete with the big boys in the conference. As you well know Haskins was a Maryland commit until the coach he committed to was dismissed. Their loss was your gain.  

Yes, Locksley is said to be a great recruiter and seems like a wise man.

 

At Bama he stays upstairs and not next to Saban. Before the season he was peppered with questions about who would start at qb. He would not be lured in and said the decision was "over his head." The players seem to respond well to the man as well.

 

I must however say that he was brought in to the OC job under extremely favorable circumstances. Coach Locksley obviously likes a vertical game and his team has receivers for it like none I have ever seen, let alone Tua and Jalen. Still, I have no way to really know but it appears to me that Saban gives Locksley more room than he has given past OCs, even more than Kiffen and Daboll.

 

I wish Coach Locksley well and predict that he will be successful at his future endeavors.

[YoloinOhio]

27 minutes ago, JohnC said:

You nailed it about the recruiting. He is tapped in to the local high school football scene. The local football market is a rich target area that other schools have raided. If he can keep some of the A-list players home then the staggering program can be stabilized. The hope is then that at the minimum it can compete with the big boys in the conference. As you well know Haskins was a Maryland commit until the coach he committed to was dismissed. Their loss was your gain.  

Yes it was! 

[JohnC]

7 minutes ago, Bill from NYC said:

Yes, Locksley is said to be a great recruiter and seems like a wise man.

 

At Bama he stays upstairs and not next to Saban. Before the season he was peppered with questions about who would start at qb. He would not be lured in and said the decision was "over his head." The players seem to respond well to the man as well.

 

I must however say that he was brought in to the OC job under extremely favorable circumstances. Coach Locksley obviously likes a vertical game and his team has receivers for it like none I have ever seen, let alone Tua and Jalen. Still, I have no way to really know but it appears to me that Saban gives Locksley more room than he has given past OCs, even more than Kiffen and Daboll.

 

I wish Coach Locksley well and predict that he will be successful at his future endeavors.

I'm not an unabashed fan of Saban mostly because of his personality. But to his credit although he has been tremendously successful what has really impressed me about the coach who I thought was old school was his willingness to grow. That has been exhibited in him going out and finding outsiders who could run a more modern and less conservative offense that is more suitable to the changing nature of college football. I was stunned when he brought in Kiffin and empowered hm (for the most part and sometimes reluctantly) to call the plays. There is no doubt that the immature and mercurial Kiffin was not his type of guy. But the coach being open to what the younger coach could offer is a testament to Saban's desire to keep learning and adding to his game.