| Mike Locksley |
Mike Locksley (born December 25, 1969) is an American football coach. After serving as an assistant coach for several college football squads, he became the 29th head coach of the University of New Mexico Lobos football team.
Early life[]
Locksley grew up in inner-city Washington D.C., and attended Ballou High School.[1]
College playing career[]
Locksley played college football at Towson University. He redshirted his first year and then spent two seasons sharing time at safety and then cornerback, backing up Towson veteran Bryant Hall.[1] For the 1990 season he had 43 tackles and two interceptions at safety, after he filled in for the injured Aaron Bates.[2] He was named the Tigers' Defensive Player of the Year for his senior season.[3] He graduated in the spring of 1992 with a degree in marketing, but knew that he wanted to be a college coach.[1]
Coaching career[]
He served as defensive backs coach and special teams coach at Towson University for the 1992 season, then defensive coordinator at Naval Academy Preparatory School in 1993 (defensive backs) and 1994 (defensive line), was outside linebackers coach at the University of the Pacific for 1995, then spent the 1996 season coaching tight ends and split ends at Army Black Knights football.[4]
Locksley became the running backs coach for the University of Maryland Terrapins football under head coach Ron Vanderlinden in February 1997.[3] Ron Vanderlinden named Locksley to the additional post of recruiting coordinator, replacing Chris Cosh who left to take the defensive coordinator's job at Michigan State, in February 1998.[5] After Vanderlinden was fired, in 2000, and Ralph Friedgen was named head coach, Locksley and wide receivers coach James Franklin were the only two assistants to be retained by Maryland.[6]
In February 2003, after six years at Maryland, he was named as running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Florida under Ron Zook, replacing Tyke Tolbert, who left to be a coach with the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL.[7]
Locksley was named offensive coordinator at the University of Illinois Fighting Illini in January 2005, replacing Larry Fedora who went to Oklahoma State University, pairing Locksley again with head coach Ron Zook.[8] He is credited with luring at least nine players from the Washington D.C. area for Illinois from 2005 through 2008, including wide receiver Arrelious Benn, 2007 Big Ten Freshman of the Year.[9]
New Mexico[]
He was named head coach of the New Mexico Lobos on December 9, 2008. He signed a six-year contract worth $750,000 annually.[10]
In late May 2009, a former administrative assistant at New Mexico filed an age and sex discrimination complaint against Locksley with the Equal Opportunity Commission.[11] The complaint was filed by Locksley's former administrative assistant Sylvia Lopez. Lopez claimed to have been subjected to age and sexual discrimination before being transferred out of Locksley's office. The claims were later withdrawn.[12]
In late September 2009, Locksley was reprimanded for an altercation with an assistant coach, in which he hit the assistant. He was subsequently suspended without pay for ten days. He was not on the sideline for the game against UNLV on October 24, 2009.[13][14]
Locksley led his Lobos to 1–11 records his first and second seasons. Despite fan outcry to fire him,[15] he will return for his third season. The high buyout is a large reason UNM cannot fire him. UNM athletic director Paul Krebs, who made the decision to retain Locksley, expects improvement in the 2011 season.[16]
Personal life[]
Locksley along with his wife Kia have four children, three sons, Mike, Jr., Meiko, and Kai, and a daughter, Kori.[17][18]
Kia is a yoga instructor. She helped teach some members of the Fighting Illini football team yoga in the summer of 2008.[19]
Head coaching record[]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Mexico Lobos (Mountain West) (2009–present) | |||||||||
| 2009 | New Mexico | 1–11 | 1–7 | 8th | |||||
| 2010 | New Mexico | 1–11 | 1–7 | T–8th | |||||
| New Mexico: | 2–22 | 2–14 | |||||||
| Total: | 2–22 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title | |||||||||
| †Indicates BCS bowl, Bowl Alliance or Bowl Coalition game. #Rankings from final Coaches' Poll. | |||||||||
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Stewart, John W. - "Towson 's Locksley is no stranger to hard knocks". - The Baltimore Sun. - November 21, 1991.
- ↑ Stewart, John W. - "Towson 's fortunes rest on defensive shoulders". - The Baltimore Sun. - September 4, 1991.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 McMullen, Paul. - "Ex- Towson St. player Locksley joins UM staff". - The Baltimore Sun. - February 11, 1997.
- ↑ Nakamura, David. - "Assistants Come, Go for Terps". - Washington Post. - February 11, 1997.
- ↑ McMullen, Paul. - "For once, Terps get more wins than losses". - The Baltimore Sun. - February 5, 1998.
- ↑ Siegel, Jon. - "Assistant Locksley doubles up for Terps". - The Washington Times. - April 28, 2001.
- ↑ Jones, David. - "Florida hires recruiting coordinator". - Florida Today. - February 22, 2003.
- ↑ Supinie, John. - "Locksley hired as Illini offensive coordinator". - State Journal-Register. - January 13, 2005.
- ↑ Saslow, Eli. - "School Daze - An Early Graduate of Dunbar, Benn Adjusts to Hectic College Schedule" . - Washington Post. - January 26, 2007.
- ↑ "Mike Locksley - New Mexico's 29th Head Football Coach". - Lobos Football. - (c/o CBS Interactive). - December 9, 2008.
- ↑ Associated Press. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/custom/mma/sns-ap-fbc-new-mexico-locksley,0,5842404.story.
- ↑ Harris, Terrance. "EEOC Claims Against New Mexico's Mike Locksley Resolved". Fanhouse. http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/10/12/eeoc-claims-against-new-mexicos-mike-locksley-resolved/. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
- ↑ Associated Press. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4512399.
- ↑ "New Mexico coach Locksley to be suspended for UNLV game". Associated Press. The Sporting News. http://www.sportingnews.com/college-football/article/2009-10-13/new-mexico-coach-locksley-be-suspended-for-unlv-game. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
- ↑ http://www.krqe.com/dpp/sports/ncaa/Locksley-safe-amid-outcry-to-fire-him
- ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5875992
- ↑ Asmussen, Bob. - "New UI aide jumps at opportunity". - The News-Gazette. - January 13, 2005.
- ↑ Mike Locksley. - University of New Mexico. - Lobos football.
- ↑ It's not a stretch to say yoga will help the Illini". - The State Journal-Register. - July 29, 2008.
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