Kyle Schmitt explains decision to leave Archbishop Spalding, join Maryland football's staff

Ahmed Ghafir
19 hours ago
2 min read

Two years ago, Kyle Schmitt explored the idea of making the jump from the head coach at Archbishop Spalding to become an assistant under head coach Mike Locksley at the University of Maryland. But it wasn’t the right time. Fast forward to the end of 2025 fresh off Archbishop Spalding winning its fourth consecutive MIAA-A title in convincing fashion, the conversation was a bit different.

“The moment we talked about it this year, like my whole I just felt different about it immediately,” Schmitt said.

Head coach Mike Locksley noted that Schmitt pointed to Malik Washington’s looming senior season as part of the reason why he opted to stick at the MIAA powerhouse instead of making the jump the first time around, but now, Schmitt admitted this “just felt like the right time.”

“Maybe winning four in a row - you never accomplished everything you can as a high school coach, because I think every day, a new kid walks through your door that you're trying to better his or her life, but this just felt like the right time for me to take the jump.”

The longtime Spalding head coach also revealed there was one person he confided in during the process: Malik Washington, his near-four year starting quarterback at Spalding before transitioning to the starter in College Park. “I knew the secret would be safe with him,” Schmitt said.

“This group and the retention of the roster, where this program I believe is headed, played a part in that as well. And coach [Locksley] believed in me, and that means a lot. It’s not easy to just hire a high school coach as a Big Ten position coach. That's not happening regularly. So that belief meant a ton to me. I just want to prove him right.”

Of course, Schmitt also returns to the program where he materialized into a key contributor as a player, starting 27 games and appearing in 48 games at both center and guard. His first career start materialized in the Orange Bowl following the 2001 season before becoming an All-ACC selection as a junior before his brief professional career. He also played in College Park against another player who materialized into an offseason coaching hire: Randy Starks.

“He won most of the battles,” Schmitt joked.

Schmitt joins the program as the new tight ends coach, taking over a unit now led by Dorian Fleming but also features multiple players he coached against at the high school level: JT Taggart and Daniel Owens, a pair of Calvert Hall grads; Preston Howard, a McDonogh grad; AJ Szymanski, a Loyola Blakefield grad. The son of Giants running backs coach Willie Taggart, JT enters his second season with the program as a dynamic option as a 6-foot-7 tight end with an 81-inch wingspan.

“I think it's versatile. I think finding a way to get multiple guys on the field in different ways. I've told those guys, I'm never going to tell Clint [Trickett] or Locks that we can't run that. We're gonna figure it out whatever personnel grouping it's in, we're gonna make it happen.”

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