Maryland’s coaching search took its first big turn on Wednesday, and the name at the center of it is a familiar one.
After the Terrapins moved on from Mike Locksley following an 8-year run in College Park, CBS Sports insider John Talty reported that former Florida head coach Billy Napier has already emerged as the biggest name tied to the opening. The change came after Maryland’s 37-30 Week 7 loss to Rutgers, a defeat that dropped the Terps to 2-5.
Now the pressure shifts to second-year athletic director James Smith, who will be tasked with finding the next coach to lead the program. A search like this always starts with a long list, but Napier has landed near the top right away.
Napier’s Power 4 résumé is obvious. He took over at Florida in 2022 after a four-year run with Louisiana, where he had built plenty of momentum.
But Gainesville never clicked. Florida fired him last October after a rough 3-4 start, and he left with a 22-23 record.
Since then, he has been back on the sideline at James Madison, where the rebound has been immediate. The Dukes hired Napier shortly after he left Florida to replace Bob Chesney, and he has them rolling at 7-0. As it stands, James Madison looks on track for a second straight College Football Playoff appearance.
Maryland is still early in the process, so no final call is coming soon. Even so, Napier’s name is already front and center, and if his success at James Madison keeps up, a return to the Power 4 level could come sooner than expected.
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For a program trying to build momentum, the timing matters because these games can alter the pecking order just as conference races start to tighten. Florida is watching not only its own trajectory, but also how the rest of the SEC sorts itself out around it, and this weeks matchups could quickly change which teams look like contenders, spoilers or something in between. [Read more 🡒]