While fans often hear from football coaches — especially in the South — that faith and religion can be fundamental parts of team success, few coaches visit a church on Sunday.
Even fewer strongly suggest that players attend a service at any time during the week.
Mike Locksley, who was fired last week as Maryland head coach, was different.
Almost half of his scholarship players regularly attended church near the Maryland campus and Locksley often had Black pastors on his team’s sideline or cheering on the Terrapins as part of the crowd.
From all accounts, Locksley was beloved by his players, respected in the community and a beacon of positivity.
But none of that matters if you do not win enough games. After blowing a 10-point lead and losing to lowly Rutgers on Oct. 17, Locksley and Maryland came to the “mutual decision” to part ways.
“To be honest I kind of knew it was coming, just didn’t know when,” Locksley told ESPN after his dismissal.
“I’m not mad about leaving. I’m not. I’m at peace with it because I know it’s better than what it was when I got here.”
He arrived in College Park, Maryland, in 2018 after serving as an assistant coach for Nick Saban at Alabama.
Tasked with rebuilding the football program, the Washington, D.C., native improved recruitment of local Black stars from the D.C. and Baltimore areas and won three consecutive bowl games from 2021 through 2023.
But since the start of the 2024 campaign, Maryland was 10-21 overall and had dropped 20 of 22 games against Big Ten opponents.
The Rutgers loss saddled Locksley with an overall 39-54 record and doomed his fate.
“It’s actually not hard to win at Maryland; it’s hard to win consistently at Maryland,” said Locksley.
Do you know what else is hard? Finding African American head coaches in the Power Four conferences.
Of the 67 football programs in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC, just four have permanent Black head coaches. Including Marcus Freeman at independent Notre Dame brings the total to five among 68 programs.
Joining him are Deion Sanders, Colorado; Fran Brown, Syracuse; Tony Elliott, Virginia; and James Franklin, Virginia Tech.
While Black players comprise almost 50% of the respective rosters of 138 teams in major college football, only 12 teams have a Black head coach.
With Locksley’s dismissal comes the sobering truth that the Big Ten and SEC do not have a permanent Black head coach in their respective ranks.
Aazaar Abdul-Rahim is serving as Maryland’s interim head coach for the rest of the 2026 season, but it is highly unlikely that he will land the job. I doubt he will receive a chance to interview for the position.
After battling and winning over bladder cancer, Sanders is still in charge at Colorado — for now.
The Buffaloes were blasted 57-24 by Oklahoma State last Saturday and fell to 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the Big 12. During his fourth season at Colorado, Sanders is 18-26 and has just one winning season.
Sanders’ seat is now warm enough to melt the winter snow in the Rockies.
Should he decide to move on — or be told to do so — college football could lose another Black coach. It’s obvious that a lack of African American head football coaches is not a concern of the NCAA or athletic directors at respective universities.
That is a loss for Black America and for the game of football.
The Reid Roundup
Jaylen Brown of the Philadelphia 76ers said there is “no beef” between him and former teammate Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics. While Tatum used profanity to say the same in an Instagram post, Brown was witty, saying no beef, “But it might be a little lamb chops and some gravy.” Sorry, guys, it’s not only a beef, it is a porterhouse steak…St. Louis native Jameson Williams caught five passes for 91 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Detroit’s 20-17 win over Green Bay. Williams now has back-to-back two-touchdown games and topped 90 receiving yards in two of his last three games… Another STL-born star, Chicago Bears receiver Luther Burden III, had a big game last Thursday. He caught four passes for 130 yards and a touchdown in a win over the New England Patriots.