Maryland’s coaching search is already crowded with names, but not every option floating around deserves real consideration. If the Terps want this hire to land with the fan base and still make sense for the program’s budget and long-term direction, they have to be selective. A few of the candidates getting buzz should be left right where they are.
Start with Frank Reich. On paper, he checks boxes: Maryland alum, accomplished football mind, and a Super Bowl ring from his time as an offensive coordinator.
That sounds clean enough. The problem is that college football is a different animal now, especially with NIL and unlimited transferring reshaping everything.
Reich has only one college season on his résumé, when he served as Stanford’s interim head coach in 2025. Add in the fact that he was fired from NFL head coaching jobs in back-to-back years, plus the reality that he is 64, and Maryland would be wiser to spend this hire elsewhere.
Scott Satterfield has a sturdier college track record than Reich, but the shine has worn off. His run at Appalachian State was strong, with the Mountaineers reaching double-digit wins for a third time in four years before he left for Louisville.
That move didn’t age well. Over four seasons there, his teams finished a combined 25-24.
Cincinnati has brought some better moments, including an upset over No. 8 Texas Tech last weekend, but the larger picture still shows a coach with a sub-.500 overall mark, a history of shaky decisions, and second-half problems that Maryland fans know all too well.
With Satterfield set to be a lame duck this offseason and plenty of Cincinnati fans wanting a change, his camp will likely point to that win as proof of upward momentum. Maryland should be aiming higher than a coach whose ceiling looks like seven regular-season wins at a Power conference school.
Then there’s David Poggi, who has already made it clear he wants the job. He told The Baltimore Sun that he wants the Maryland job, invoking the idea that if Indiana can win, anyone can.
But the pitch comes off more like a sales job than a serious answer. Poggi, who is 67, coached at two prominent Baltimore high schools, Gilman School and St.
Frances Academy, and he has some college experience too. He spent less than two seasons at Charlotte, where he went 6-16, and his tenure came with friction between him, his assistants, and fans and media alike.
Beyond that, he spent three years in total as associate head coach at Michigan, including 2021-22 and 2025. Even if he has the financial backing he says he does, the combination of limited Power conference experience, his age, and almost no support from the fan base makes this a hard sell.
Jamey Chadwell is the one name here who looks like a legitimate coach in the room. He did strong work at Coastal Carolina and has carried much of that success to Liberty.
The concern isn’t coaching acumen; it’s the money and the fit. Chadwell is the highest-paid head coach in C-USA, making more than $4 million plus incentives each year, with $5.9 million in 2025.
The Flames are also far better resourced than most of their conference peers, which gives him a major edge in recruiting and the transfer portal. Maryland would need to pay him a significant raise just to get him to move, and then buy out the final three years of his deal on top of that.
Even more importantly, the way Liberty has been built, with players starting fast and transferring up after two years, is not a realistic blueprint for a Top 2 football conference job.
And finally, Brian Kelly. His name is only in the conversation because of chatter on Reddit and Twitter, but even discussing him would be a tone-deaf move for Maryland.
The issue isn’t the cost. It’s what he represents.
At Notre Dame, Kelly held a practice outdoors in winds gusting over 50 mph, a decision that led to the death of student videographer Declan Sullivan. Maryland is still less than a decade removed from the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair from heatstroke.
The entire point of hiring Mike Locksley was to rebuild some measure of local trust after a difficult period, and bringing in Kelly would tear up that progress in the name of a flashy name. That kind of move would do far more harm than good.
In Other News...
Maryland's Interim Coach Is Already Reshaping More Than The Sideline
Aazaar Abdul-Rahims first days as Marylands interim head coach have already brought more than a change in title. The school moved quickly to formalize the transition with an amended contract that reflects the rest of the season, and Abdul-Rahim has started putting his stamp on the program through a different practice structure and a reworked approach to game planning as the Terps prepare for what comes next.
The staff around him has shifted, too, with new voices stepping into bigger roles and former Maryland players joining the on-field mix. Those adjustments are about more than optics, because the next stretch will show how much freedom Abdul-Rahim has to reshape the operation while the Terps try to steady themselves under a new interim setup. [Read more 🡒]
Maryland Football Search Now Hinges On A Bigger Big Ten Commitment
Marylands football search is moving with a familiar Big Ten refrain: if the Terps are going to take the next step, the next coach will need more than a good board and a promising pitch. Athletic director Jim Smith spoke about the opening with appreciation for Mike Locksleys work, while also making clear that a search firm is helping guide the process and that the programs next leader will be expected to keep recruiting heavily in the DMV and beyond. The message around the job is less about a quick fix and more about finding someone who can help make the operation sturdier from top to bottom.
Smith also framed the opening as a chance to build something more sustainable in the league, which is where the stakes get interesting for Maryland. The Terps have long talked about being able to do more with the right leadership in place, and now the search is tied to how committed the athletic department is to giving the next coach what he needs to compete in the Big Ten over time. The school is looking for a fit that can grow the roster and the program at once, and the rest of this search will tell plenty about how serious Maryland is about that ambition. [Read more 🡒]