Locksley between the lines

As Mike Locksley became the likely candidate to become Maryland’s next head football coach, stories in the media invariably mentioned the off-the-field behavioral problems he experienced while the head coach at the University of New Mexico (2009-11). 

Fair? Of course. What one has said and done in the past never goes away, especially in the Internet/social media era. (Just ask Kevin Hart).

That’s all behind him, Locksley said, and Maryland believes. He was introduced on Thursday as the  Terrapins’ new coach. 

As one who covered Locksley’s tenure at New Mexico, first as a columnist, then as a beat writer, I believe as well that the off-the-field issues that dogged him in Albuquerque will not reoccur in College Park.

It’s on-the-field issues that concern me.

Regarding the off-the-field stuff — an office manager’s sex-discrimination complaint, a physical altercation with a wide receivers coach, alleged intimidation of a UNM student newspaper reporter at a sports bar — all of those things happened either in Locksley’s first season or in the offseason that followed.

From the time I took over the UNM football beat four games into the 2010 season until Locksley was fired four games in the 2011 campaign, there really were no issues.

Yes, on the day of what turned out to be Locksley’s final game as UNM’s coach, a friend of his son Meiko was pulled over for alleged DWI while driving a car owned by the Locksleys. The kid initially said he was a UNM football recruit, but in fact he was not. This incident should never have gone on Mike Locksley’s tab. 

Still, there’s that other tab: Locksley’s 2-26 record as New Mexico’s head coach. 

Looking back, it’s easy enough to say Locks never had a chance at UNM. While Lobo opponents were signing up to 75 players in the 2009-10-11 recruiting classes, New Mexico — because of NCAA violations committed by the previous coach staff — could sign only 61. Nor was Locksley left with a ton of productive players from a 2008 team that went 4-8 in Rocky Long’s final season. 

But, then, what about that offense? 

At his introductory UNM news conference on Dec. 9, 2008, the former Illinois offensive coordinator and hot head-coaching prospect talked about lighting up the scoreboard and joked about how said scoreboard might need a third digit. 

Here’s the thing, though. Locksley’s scheme at UNM was, essentially, offensive football as usual in the 21st century.

I’m not a coach, of course, but you don’t have to take my word for it. 

In 2010, I had a phone conversation with Chuck Clausen, a former UNM player and a longtime college and NFL assistant coach. A devout Lobo fan (and a would-be Lobo head coach), Clausen — who died in 2016 — had watched Locksley’s offense and was not impressed.

“It’s a match-up offense,” he said. “The team with the better players is going to win.”

Locksley almost never had better players on offense at UNM than the opposition had on defense. Yet, there was little or nothing about the scheme that in any way could compensate for the talent gap.

The results were as predictable as the scheme: an average of 16.7 points per game during Locksley’s 28 games on the sideline. If one factors in the eight games in 2011 overseen by interim head coach George Barlow — it seems fair to say the offense got even worse after Locksley’s ouster  — the average drops to 15 per game. Over those three years, New Mexico was the lowest-scoring team in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.

So, regarding Locksley’s future at Maryland, what does his on-the-field history at New Mexico really mean? Maybe nothing. Locksley comes to College Park from Alabama, where words like “creative” and “innovative” were used to describe his contributions as offensive coordinator.

I confess I didn’t see a ton of Alabama football this season. But I know, everyone knows, that the Tide’s success on offense over the years has been predicated more on talent than on scheme. When you’ve got Tua Tagovailoa throwing to Jerry Jeudy behind one of the best offensive lines in the nation, it’s easy to look innovative.

At Maryland, Xs and Os aside, Locksley looks to be a near-perfect candidate to heal the pain caused by the senseless death of player Jordan McNair. He’s the classic player’s coach. His own personal tragedy, his son Meiko’s still unsolved murder in September 2017, is part of the story.

On the field, Locksley certainly is stepping into a far better situation than he inherited at New Mexico. The Terps were 5-7 this season, beat Texas and took Ohio State to overtime. His recruiting ties in the Maryland-Virginia-Washington D.C. area surely are intact, and His Alabama connection can only help.

Still, in the Big Ten, he’ll be competing against a top tier of teams that recruit nationally: Ohio State (even without Urban Meyer), Michigan, Penn State, Northwestern (yes, Northwestern).

 To compete with that top tier, or to reach it, I believe  Locksley’s going to need more offensive creativity than he displayed at New Mexico — and probably more than  during his four-year tenure (2012-15) as Maryland’s offensive coordinator.

During those four years, the Terrapins averaged about 26 points a game. That’s slightly below average for an FBS team, and Locksley will have to do better if he’s going to succeed his second time around as a head coach.

To do better, he’ll have to do something different.