Maryland football began the next phase of prep work for the 2022 season with the start of spring football on Tuesday, inching the Terps closer to year four under head coach Mike Locksley. Wes Neighbors, Lance Thompson and Gunter Brewer were hired to round out the 2022 staff while a short stay in Florida was all James Thomas got before making his way back to College Park to replace Ron Zook, but Maryland football will see a pair of familiar names leading both sides of the ball this fall.
Brian Williams and Mike Miller were elevated to defensive coordinator and co-offensive coordinator this past offseason as both continue to progress in Locksley’s system. “My goal as the head coach is to continue to put the coaches and the players in my program in positions to reach the goals that they want to achieve,” Locksley said on Tuesday. “I think both those guys are not young as much as I always like to say young coaches, because they're definitely not young guys anymore, but both very capable. And so really excited about Brian, really excited the way Mike has continued to grow, has been an integral part of what we're doing on offense as well.”
Brian Williams, now entering his fourth season with the program, has seen a steady progression as an assistant during his time in College Park. After joining as an outside linebacker coach back in 2019, Williams took over the defensive line in 2020 before being promoted to co-defensive coordinator following the season. Williams’s recruiting prowess also invited interest from outside programs in the Terps’ rising assistant, but the Florida native continued to draw opportunities to elevate before taking over play-calling duties in Maryland’s final two games, ironically both wins.
“Obviously meant a lot, coach trusted me especially in that moment,” Williams said. “And it wasn't just me stepping up, everyone collectively around did a really good job, coaches players, and just believing in each other, put our best foot forward and the guys came to play.”
Williams knows the opportunities to rise within the program have been there under Locksley. “I’m living proof of it,” he added. “So I've just been able to come here, learn from the coaches that have been around, continue to develop professionally also take previous opportunities to learn and apply all of those things into one. So just working hard taking advantage of the structure our program and really improving as well as gaining the trust of our players. When you have that, you have the chance to be successful.”
Like they did on the defensive side last season, Maryland will roll with co-offensive coordinators this season between Dan Enos and Mike Miller. Miller, a former Alabama offensive grad assistant, joined the program back in 2019 and helped Terp fans enjoy the emergence of the tight end after watching both Tyler Mabry and Chigoziem Okonkwo during the first three seasons. That also led to other schools attempting to reel in Miller. “A guy like Mike Miller had opportunities this year to leave and coordinate because of some of the things we do on offense,” Locksley added.
Miller added that Locksley has “always been very clear with me about my role and my responsibility” within the program, but he had a reason for sticking in College Park.
“After this season something we kind of had talked about was obviously the coaching carousal and coaches portal, transfer portal and there's so much movement in college football. I really I wanted to stay and do it the right way and see it through.”
Both Williams and Miller will continue coaching their respective position groups with Miller working “hand-in-hand” with Dan Enos. “Gameplan, scripted practice and all that stuff has been a lot of fun,” he added. But with the ascension comes added responsibility to the staff’s mantra.
“Recruit, develop, manage. We hear it every day in staff meeting, recruit, develop, manage, that's my job. Recruit the tight end position and my area my area, most importantly my area, develop players and manage them so that things don't get on [Locksley’s] desk.”