This weekend's loss at Iowa officially allowed Maryland fans to classify this season as a dumpster fire. It took our leading receiver three catches to amass 18 yards, our leading rusher was our quarterback, and it took another Will Likely special teams return to make the score look more respectable than it really was. This was the latest installment of an offense that ranks 110th in the nation in average yards per game, 113th in passing yards per game, and dead last in turnover margin and interceptions thrown. These numbers should have the Kevins (Anderson and Plank) looking to hire a coach who is going to give a shot in the arm to the side of the ball that puts the proverbial butts in the seats. So here is a review of the candidates SweetDCSports believes the Kevins are looking at to skipper The USS Turtle Tears out of troubled waters in 2016 starting with the current steward of the throne.
Mike Locksley
I'm sure the Kevins are having a long and hard discussion about whether or not to hire Locksley as their head coach. And why not? He has brought top level talent from the DC area to every school he has coached, and he revitalized the perception that Maryland cannot recruit when he was rehired in 2011 and promptly landed top level recruits like Stefon Diggs. The problem has been in talent development, especially at the quarterback position. Under Locksley's tenure the Terps ran Danny O'Brien out of town a year after he was named the ACC Freshman of the Year. C.J. Brown was a dual threat helped out by a slew of medical redshirts and Stefon Diggs not leaving after his sophomore season. And now it falls to the Locksley recruited Perry Hills who has thrown 10 interceptions in 5 games this season. There has not been a lot of growth from the quarterbacks position under a guy whose title is offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, and Shane Cockerille's move from QB to fullback should give the Kevins pause about what they can expect from Dwayne Haskins if Locksley is allowed to continue as head coach. In my mind they should be looking elsewhere, but Locksley will be a strong candidate until the end due to his ability to recruit and his ties to the DC area.
With that out of the way, here are the head coaches who the Kevins should be desperately seeking:
Matt Rhule (Temple)
I must admit that I was unaware of Temple's rapid rise to college football relevance until this past weekend. Now, everyone knows Matt Rhule's name as he is on the short list for every coaching job East of the Mississippi regardless of whether that position is vacant or not. The Kevins should be taking a long hard look at this guy because he possesses a lot of qualities they desire. First, he is a reported
hands on recruiter with a pension for details. He was able to land the second best recruiting class in the AAC after winning only two games his first season. Second, he is a
noted players coach who has had experience at all levels of football. He is active in social media, and he was the offensive line coach for the Giants before taking the Temple position in 2012. Finally, he is a young coach who played in the Big 10, he has Under Armour ties (Temple is sponsored by Under Armour), he has placed Temple in the Top 25, and he came within two minutes of defeating a Top 10 Notre Dame team. The negatives are there. Temple's offensive yardage per game is worse than Maryland's. Temple plays in a weaker conference, which could account for their defense being ranked 28th in the country. And we recently saw the Temple Project Part 1 starring Al Golden come to an inglorious end in Miami. Despite these shortcomings, Rhule should be getting daily calls from the Kevins about coming to College Park.
Matt Campbell (Toledo)
The second youngest FBS coach at 35 years old, Campbell has done an amazing job at Toledo in only a short period of time. He is 33-13 in his three plus seasons at Toledo, and the Rockets are 7-0 this season on the backs of a relatively balanced team that is ranked 24th in total offense and 51st in total defense. Some may point to Campbell's
emphasis on discipline and manners as being a younger version of Randy Edsall, but the Kevins should at least throw a line in Campbell's direction. Campbell is described as a relentless competitor who is
straightforward in his personal approach with players and who knows the type of players he wants to recruit for each position. Campbell developed his notion of an offensive system after studying
Urban Meyer's spread offense as a graduate assistant at Bowling Green. Maybe his old offensive coordinator at Bowling Green, Greg Studrawa, could convince him to finally leave the state of Ohio seeing is how Studrawa is the current offensive line coach at Maryland. The Kevins should use that leverage, along with Toledo being outfitted by Under Armour, to gauge Campbell's interest in coming further east but buyer beware. Campbell has vehemently expressed his desire to build the Toledo program further, and he has no coaching experience outside of the state of Ohio or outside of any conference bigger than the MAC. He was turned off by his experience as a freshman at Pitt, so while his success in the MAC is tantalizing he may not be ready for the rigors of what the Kevins are expecting the new head coach to bring to Maryland. Campbell is still an intriguing candidate and he should be worth a look.
Justin Fuente (Memphis)
Fuente may be more of a longshot for Maryland, but he definitely has the highest pedigree of the three. The mastermind behind TCU's air raid offense and Andy Dalton's rise to stardom, he parlayed his success as TCU's offensive coordinator into a head coaching position for a 2-10 Memphis team. Fuente has since turned Memphis into an 8-0 team that finds itself ranked 13th in the College Football Playoff Ranking and 6th in total offense in the country. What is more impressive than these results is the way Fuente was able to accomplish these feats at a school that was a college football backwater located at the confluence of Big 10, Big 12, and SEC recruiting grounds. Fuente weathered the storm in his first two seasons as the Tigers won only seven games while he tried to bring in the right personnel to run his air raid scheme. His patience and determination paid off with a 10-3 record last season and a flawless campaign so far this season. Some will point to the luck involved in Memphis's success this season as their star QB was
mostly overlooked coming out of high school. Others will say that Fuente's recruitment of Paxton Lynch is a sign of his ability to know what type of players will fit his offense. Whatever it is, the Kevins will need to drive a hard bargain as South Carolina and Miami sound like more suitable places for a coach from Big 12 country that has not had any football experience north of Kentucky. Fuente has also has seen what happens to coaches who like to run spread offenses in the Big 10 (
see Rich Rodriguez at Michigan). But Maryland's new Cole Field House renovations coupled with some financial convincing and Maryland being below the Mason-Dixon Line may get Fuente to give Maryland a second look.
Honorable mention goes to Bowling Green's Dino Babers. Maryland got a first hand look at what Babers can do as they were on the business end of Bowling Green's spread offense this season. Babers is on the older side at 54, but if all else fails it may not be a huge loss to take a flyer on an older guy who is a prodigy of Art Briles. And yes, if Chip Kelly can be got we should not blink at the opportunity to get him. But looking at the three candidates listed above, I think Rhule would be the number one option even over Chip Kelly. A seasoned veteran from Pennsylvania who is a players coach and has a passion to win and recruit. My vote is for Rhule if we can get him.
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