Penn State has long been the dominant force in the Big Ten east of the Appalachian Mountains. The arrivals of Maryland and Rutgers did nothing to threaten that status, even at Penn State’s weakest points.
However, with its location in the recruiting hotbed of the DMV and its proximity to Washington, D.C., Maryland has long been considered a potential sleeping giant. Now, after firing Mike Locksley on Wednesday, it's the first program to hop onto the coaching carousel, with more than a few options out there who look like they could wake it up.
For Penn State’s and the rest of the Big Ten’s sake, let’s hope the Terrapins don’t land one of those coaches.
Scariest potential hires Maryland could make
This would be a meteoric rise for a man who was coaching Alabama’s wide receivers in 2025, but JaMarcus Shephard is leading one of the most dynamic offenses in the entire country after plucking three-star wide receiver Jesse Legree right out from under Locksley’s nose in Maryland.
Maybe Maryland could import the entire Oregon State offense with Shephard, immediately bringing one of the three most prolific wide receivers in the country to the Big Ten.
Jason Eck has done a lot of winning at places that are not easy to win at. A Midwest guy who has spent his head-coaching career in the Mountain Time Zone, he would be an interesting fit at Maryland, but so was Bob Chesney at UCLA, and it didn’t matter because he was just a good football coach.
Eck will probably have his pick of the litter in the coaching carousel this cycle, but if Maryland can convince him that he could build a winner in College Park, that would be cause for concern.
Jake Dickert went 9-4 in his first year at Wake Forest, after making the cross-country journey from Washington State. Now, with a quarterback whom Bill Belichick cast aside last season, he has the Demon Deacons positioned as the likeliest team to play Miami in the ACC Championship Game, despite its $16-20 million roster budget, the third-lowest in the conference.
Bryant Haines came up through the ranks with Curt Cignetti, and while he’s never been a head coach before, it would be a massive shock if he didn’t immediately improve whatever program he took over.
When people talk about the reasons for Indiana’s rise to a national championship, they don’t often mention the schematic brilliance, but it was a massive piece of the puzzle, and Haines was more responsible than anyone. He’ll understand the types of players he needs to build an elite defense, and at least turn around that side of the ball right away, assuming he finally makes the jump and throws his hat in the ring for head coaching jobs.
Ideal Maryland hires for Penn State and the Big Ten
As he once did at Louisiana, Billy Napier has it rolling at James Madison. He’s a quality recruiter who identifies and acquires high-level talent wherever he goes, but he proved at Florida that when the other team has a comparable roster, he loses on the chalkboard.
Napier would probably slightly improve a recruiting operation at Maryland that was always solid under Locksley, but it’s unlikely that Napier would suddenly get the most out of the talent he assembles.
That his name is being floated is not a surprise. If a serious program legitimately considers him, it would be. But then you have to ask: Is Maryland a serious program?
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