AD Jim Smith on Maryland men's basketball's struggles, 2026 football schedule

Ahmed Ghafir
2 hours ago
4 min read

Maryland athletic director Jim Smith joined 105.7 The Fan for his weekly appearance as he dove into men’s basketball’s struggles, football’s finalized schedule, spring sports and getting the facilities squared away following last weekend's snow storm:

On campus facilities

“I got to give our staff here at the XFINITY Center an incredible shout out for getting - and everybody on campus here - working really hard to get our parking lots and our stairs and the entrances and everything here to be able to play basketball last night and all through the weekend because it was a sheet of ice two days ago. We didn't even know we were going to be able to play the game and they did just a great job to get us ready to play. And unfortunately, we dropped a double overtime game last night. Exciting, but came out on the wrong end of that game.”

On supporting Maryland through NIL, One Maryland

“Well, the winter hibernations got to end as it relates to NIL…I say this all the time when I'm out there talking to people that this is really a team effort. Maryland is the flagship institution in the state of Maryland. We all can do this together. We can accomplish a lot together and feeling a part of it is really important. In an effort to put on the best product we possibly can, especially in football and men's and women's basketball, it really does take a team effort. And that's where everyone who is capable and able to make a donation into the NIL fund and with our One Maryland NIL fund, it helps us compete. And the university is doing its part. Our corporate partners are doing its part. So we're just asking everyone in Maryland who wants to see the University of Maryland athletic department - football, men's and women's basketball, all our sports - be as successful as possible, to see if they can make a contribution into that One Maryland fund.”

On the 2026 football schedule

“When you're playing in the Big Ten, it's going to be competitive every week. So I think it laid out pretty well. I like opening - making UCLA come all the way across the country to open in the Big Ten. I think that's a good home opener for us. And then we got to go to Nebraska and a really tough game at Ohio State. So I think the schedule is good. I like it. I like our team. I know we're going to be very competitive this year. We've got a lot of experience after playing a lot of young guys last year, so I'm excited to see how it laid out.”

On men’s basketball blowout loss vs. Michigan State

“I already erased it from my memory, thanks for bringing it back up. Look, it was a tough game. I think everybody saw that the team, little tired after the Illinois game going into Michigan State. Tough place to play and really just didn't play well. I mean, there's no other way to say it. It was our worst game of the year. We're going to put it behind us, and we're going to go be as competitive as possible against Purdue this weekend at home. It's going to be nice to be back at home and end this really, I mean, this is the gauntlet. These three games in a row, really hard in the Big Ten. We got to fight through it and move on. But what was going through my mind during that? Boy, it was a struggle that was. That was hard, hard to watch for everyone, hard for the players to play in a game like that, hard for the coaches to be a part of it. And so we just got to move on from that one.”

On upcoming lacrosse season, non-rev success

“Yeah, they are in. And look, Coach Tills has done an incredible job with the lacrosse program. And he'll say he doesn't look at the rankings right now. It only matters at the end of the year, and it's a nice tribute and credit to the roster he's put together to go in at number one. But all that means is everybody wants to knock off number one, and we're going to have to play our best, like we do each and every week. So he's going to take that with, right now, a grain of salt. But it's a pride point for the program and for the organization. And also, we’ve got four teams ranked in the top 25 right now with men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, obviously women's basketball and gymnastics. We've also had track and field gotten off to a good start. So our tennis team is off to a good start. And so we've got some good programs here really, really competing at a high level. And look forward to seeing how the rest of the winter season goes.”

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