Maryland has not named its next head coach yet, but one name has already raised a hand. The former Michigan interim head coach, who now works as a Big Ten Network analyst, wants to replace Mike Locksley in College Park. And he already has a plan with a few strong opinions about what went wrong.
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“Biff Poggi is interested in the Maryland football coaching job,” wrote Baltimore Sun Sports on X. “The unlikely candidate lays out his vision for success in College Park.”
The vision starts with a straightforward point that one new hire will not fix Maryland. Poggi wants the head coach to work like a company’s chief executive, getting the university, the athletic department, donors, and local businesses all pulling the same way.
“Don’t think you can think, ‘Hey, we’re just going to hire a new coach, and everything’s going to be better,’” Poggi said in a phone interview with The Baltimore Sun.
He even gave a budget, ranging between $25 and $28 million a year for the roster, paid through revenue sharing and sponsors. Poggi was pretty clear on his stance for the role, though.
“Yeah, I really would like the job,” Poggi said.
However, the 66-year-old said he has not talked with athletic director Jim Smith or anyone else involved in the search. Yet, even if to consider him as a candidate, he’s an unusual one.
Poggi was a hedge fund manager before he turned to coaching, and he made his name in Baltimore. He went 135-43 at Gilman School with 13 conference titles, then helped build St. Frances Academy into a national power that went 34-1 from 2017 through 2020. At Michigan, he was an associate head coach for two Big Ten title teams in 2021 and 2022.
The problem is his record in Charlotte. He went 6-16 there across 2023 and 2024 and was fired with two games left in the 2024 season. That record raises fair questions about whether he can lead a rebuild at this level. But Poggi gave a reason for that as well.
“We had no money,” Poggi said.
He has said he lacked the funding to build the program the way he wanted, and that the transfers he did land came through relationships from his Michigan days.
The idea of being a head coach came when Maryland parted ways with Mike Locksley earlier this week, the first coach to be fired this season. The former Alabama offensive coordinator took Maryland to three straight bowl games from 2021 through 2023, but the team slid to 4-8 in both 2024 and 2025.
This season started 2-0 and then fell apart, with five straight losses, the latest a 37-30 home defeat to Rutgers. During an ESPN interview on Thursday, Locksley shared his stance about firing,
“To be honest, I kind of knew it was coming, just didn’t know when,” Locksley said. “I’m not mad about leaving. I’m not. I’m at peace with it because I know it’s better than what it was when I got here. A player died right before I got here, and this place was burnt to the ground. Stabilized it, went to three bowls, NIL kicks in, and wasn’t prepared for it.”
Poggi did not pile on his friend as the two go way back, and Poggi once coached Locksley’s son.
“Mike’s a great football coach,” Poggi said. “I’m actually the one that called Nick Saban and recommended Mike to him, but you can’t do it alone.”
Where Poggi does push back is on the staff around Locksley. He criticized Maryland’s recent assistant hires. He named Chip Kelly, Wink Martindale and Lou Esposito as the kind of assistants he would chase if he got the role.
Locksley’s buyout is reportedly a little over $9 million, with no offset if he takes another job, and half of it is due in 60 days.
Maryland’s search starts with plenty to fix
Co-defensive coordinator Aazaar Abdul-Rahim will be the interim head coach for the rest of the season, while Smith runs what has been described as a national search. Maryland has a bye before hosting Illinois on October 31.
Two bigger names are part of the search for Maryland’s next head coach. Brian Kelly has made it clear he wants to coach again after LSU fired him last year. He won 10 games five years in a row at Notre Dame and had success at Cincinnati and Central Michigan. LSU was reported to owe him $54 million in remaining contract, subject to the contract’s mitigation provisions.
Dan Mullen left ESPN’s studio for UNLV and led the Rebels to a 10-4 record and the Mountain West title game in 2025. He also won 10 games in back-to-back seasons at Florida before that stay fell apart. Maryland could bring him back to a power conference, but he is only just starting to build at UNLV.
The Athletic floated several other names. New Mexico’s Jason Eck is 40-18 as a head coach at Idaho and New Mexico. Wake Forest’s Jake Dickert has the Demon Deacons at 6-1. Memphis’ Charles Huff grew up in Maryland and has recruiting ties in the area. Oregon State’s JaMarcus Shephard is 5-2 in his first year as a head coach, and Indiana coordinators Mike Shanahan and Bryant Haines were also mentioned.