The college football was turned upside down when Nick Saban announced his retirement on Wednesday, prompting some of the nation’s top coaches to be linked to the vacancy. Mike Norvell and Kalen Deboer have emerged as the primary candidates after Dan Lanning announced on Thursday that he’s staying at Oregon. While news has surfaced that Alabama hopes to have a coach in place by week’s end, Maryland head coach Mike Locksley was one of two new names that FootballScoop reported for the Alabama vacancy.
Locksley has garnered significant support from former players, FootballScoop is told, and he also is believed to have key support from at least one prominent Alabama mega-booster as well as top former Tide assistants.
The news came roughly one hour before Mike Locksley was spotted in College Park for the basketball game vs. Michigan, alongside new assistant Aazaar Abdul-Rahim.
Locks, Zaar to the left and Plank to the right pic.twitter.com/OtYQeMCf5D
— wayne viener (@WayneTerp) January 12, 2024
Following his second stint with the program from 2012 to 2015, Mike Locksley found himself as a finalist for Maryland’s head coaching job before the DC native made the move to Tuscaloosa where he spent three seasons with Nick Saban. After joining as an offensive analyst, Locksley left the Crimson Tide as the winner of the 2018 Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant coach.
The support that Locksley would draw from former players isn’t a surprise given his active relationships with players like Tua Tagovailoa, Devonta Smith, Jalen Hurts and Jerry Jeudy among others. Still, multiple reports indicate that Norvell and Deboer are primary candidates for the vacancy with one sportsbook pointing to Norvell as the favorite. Whether Norvell is more likely to move after Florida State’s NIL-related recruiting violations remains to be seen, but for Maryland, Locksley has always made it clear that College Park is home.
Locksley is also coming off extensions in consecutive offseasons, while Maryland has finished with eight wins in each of the last two seasons.
“I’m grateful for the belief that President Pines, Damon Evans and the entire administration has shown in me, and the support they are providing to enhance what we’re building here with the Maryland football program,” Locksley said in the release. “We are developing young men to be outstanding leaders both on and off the field, and our goal is to compete for championships in the very near future. I have more passion and energy for this job than the day I was hired and I can’t wait to continue to build a team and brand of football that our fans, alumni and entire university can be proud of.”
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