Maryland football has been in disarray for some time now. The team is currently 1-5 in Big Ten play and has just three wins overall so far this season. The school decided to move on from head coach Michael Locksley and name defensive backs coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim the interim coach.
There is a big question looming around College Park about what Maryland must do to become a consistent competitor in the Big Ten. Former college football head coach and current Big Ten Network analyst Gerry DiNardo joined Glenn Clark Radio Nov. 3 to discuss what it will take for the Terps to have success on the gridiron.
Indiana, which won the national championship last season, transformed its football fortunes by increasing the program’s budget from $24 million in 2021 to about $62 million by 2024, thus building the proper financial infrastructure for current head coach Curt Cignetti. This is in stark contrast with the Terps, who spent about $36 million on football in 2025.
DiNardo was asked about this and how a similar transformation can be made at Maryland. He credited both Indiana University president Pamela Whitten and athletic director Scott Dolson for making a commitment to take football seriously.
“If there are institutional issues that have to be solved before getting the right coach who would turn it around, I don’t know,” DiNardo said. “But that’s where I would start.”
Asked how attractive the Maryland head coaching position would be to potential candidates, DiNardo explained that coaches are often looking for opportunities to advance their careers and compete for championships.
“The coaching pool are coaches, like everything else in the world, that are upward mobile,” DiNardo said. “When you say what list of candidates it could be, it’s going to be someone that doesn’t have a Big Ten job or is an assistant coach or is a head coach at a non-Big Ten school.”
DiNardo added that there is risk for a coach trusting a university’s financial promises.
“Because if they don’t follow through with their commitments and you left the job that wasn’t as good as Maryland, but you were having success, then you had the one opportunity to move upward,” DiNardo said.
DiNardo highlighted that the transfer portal has changed the rebuilding process of college football, meaning new coaches don’t necessarily have to undergo a deep rebuild.
“Given the right money, you can turn a roster around a lot faster,” DiNardo said.
Player compensation plays a critical role in college sports today. Maryland reportedly spent about $20 million on this year’s football roster, a figure that puts the Terps 10th out of 18 Big Ten teams. DiNardo said the investment must match the school’s expectations.
“If they bumped [the payroll] to the lower range of the Big Ten, then why fire a coach that is coaching at the lower range of the Big Ten?” DiNardo asked.
DiNardo painted the issues at Maryland — not enough wins, money or fans in the stands — as broader college football issues that many programs are facing.
“I think the Maryland program in the discussion of college football is right where you and I are talking,” DiNardo said. “More than half the teams are in Maryland’s situation. If you’re in the Big Ten and there are 18 schools, someone is 10 to 18.”
For more from DiNardo, listen to the full interview here:
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