Maryland Athletics partners with TurnkeyZRG on football head coach search

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One day after athletic director Jim Smith noted the university would do so, Maryland Athletics announced its partnership with TurnkeyZRG on Wednesday with the head coaching search still in its early stages.

This marks the latest partnership with Turnkey, who the university also turned to following Damon Evans' abrupt departure for the same position at SMU, leading Jim Smith to earn the job before officially starting in July 2025. Turnkey has also been involved in several other head coaching hires including Curt Cignetti at Indiana and Steve Sarkasian at Texas, while North Carolina is also among the schools currently partnering with Turnkey in their ongoing general manager search to replace Mike Lombardi, who faced multiple allegations after departing the program.

It marks an expected move with the athletic department beginning to lay the foundation for the search, though Jim Smith noted it's a vacancy that has drawn significant interest. Maryland announced that the search is already underway with a pool of candidates from "both the college football and professional ranks," though Smith also expanded on the traits he's looking when hiring the program's sixth permanent head coach since 2000.

"The leader that we're looking for, our next leader we're looking for, who is an exceptional leader, who understands how to build a program and build a program in today's environment. Or have been part of building a program in today's college environment. As you all know, college is very different today than what it was just a few years ago and you need to understand Rev Share, NIL, and the management of those players going forward in order to be successful."

New Mexico head coach Jason Eck and Wake Forest head coach Jake Dickert are among the top names viewed to be in the mix for the vacancy at this stage, though Dickert has also drawn buzz as maybe the hottest name on the coaching carousel. Eck, meanwhile, was pegged to be a potential name to watch at Wisconsin, his alma mater, but the Badgers find themselves rolling in year four under Luke Fickel with wins over both 16th-ranked USC and 13th-ranked Penn State in Happy Valley and sitting at 5-2 ahead of this weekend at Iowa. Memphis head coach Charles Huff has also drawn buzz as a fit, while several close to him have made a push for New York Giants defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson to return to his alma mater to take over, despite never being a head coach and being out of the college game since his two-year stint as a grad assistant on Maryland's staff from 2007 to 2008.

What other names Turnkey produces in the search that will likely span throughout the rest of the 2026 season, however, is the biggest storyline as Maryland looks for the right hire to build the program back to being competitive in Big Ten play.

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