Maryland coach Mike Locksley is interviewing for the New York Jets’ head-coaching job Friday, a source briefed on the discussions said.
The 55-year-old Locksley has spent the past six seasons as the Terrapins’ head coach and is 33-41, including a 4-8 season in 2024. Prior to this year, he had led Maryland to three consecutive winning seasons. In the previous 40 years, the Terps had only one stretch of three consecutive winning seasons until Locksley did it from 2021 to 2023.
Locksley previously spent three seasons at Alabama, serving in his last year as the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator under Nick Saban, where he won the Broyles Award, honoring the nation’s top assistant.
NFL Network first reported news of Locksley’s scheduled interview with the Jets.
The Jets fired coach Robert Saleh after five games this season and finished 5-12. It marked their ninth consecutive losing season.
Where Locksley fits into the search
New York is leaving no stone unturned in its coaching search. The Jets have already spoken with a handful of candidates for their open position — Ron Rivera, Mike Vrabel, Aaron Glenn, Matt Nagy and Rex Ryan — with 10 more candidates either requested or scheduled to interview.
Yet, this one feels like a head-scratcher — if the Jets were going to interview a college candidate, my reporting had indicated there might be some mutual interest in Iowa State coach Matt Campbell, who rejected an interview request from the Jets in 2019 before they hired Adam Gase. That has yet to happen, though it’s still possible it could — especially since Campbell is already expected to interview for the Bears opening.
It feels like a long shot that the Jets would seriously consider Locksley to be their next coach, considering he has no NFL coaching experience and Maryland has been inconsistent under his watch. But perhaps there’s an outside chance he’d be interested in joining the Jets as an offensive coordinator when they eventually hire a head coach. — Zack Rosenblatt, Jets beat writer
(Photo: Ali Gradischer / Getty Images)
