The New York Jets may be leaving no stone unturned in their head coaching search, but this time, it looks like they went a bridge too far.
The Jets announced on X that they completed an interview with Mike Locksley for their head coaching position. Locksley has been the head coach at the University of Maryland since 2019. He had previous stints as an offensive coordinator and in other roles at Maryland and Alabama.
However, it’s not his time at either of those universities that makes Locksley highly controversial. Rather, it was his stint with the New Mexico Lobos from 2009-11 that will draw extreme scrutiny.
In September 2009, Locksley allegedly choked and punched an assistant coach during a film meeting. ESPN uncovered evidence to support the coach’s claim even as the university denied it. Locksley was ultimately suspended without pay for 10 days. He remained New Mexico’s head coach until September 2011, when he was fired after an 0-4 start.
For a team seeking leadership and a reset toward winning ways, this is an extremely strange choice of interview. Choking and punching an assistant is antithetical to strong leadership. Furthermore, Locksley has a career 35-67 record as a head coach, which means he has no track record of winning. Maryland went 4-8 in 2024, including 1-8 in the conference.
No leadership and no winning. So why would the Jets have interviewed him? Neither Mike Tannenbaum nor Rick Spielman appears to have overlapped with Locksley at any point in their careers.
While some may denigrate the Jets for the number of interviews they have conducted, the volume is not a problem in and of itself. However, Locksley’s interview raises the first serious red flags about the interview process.
There have been other less-than-ideal candidates (Rex Ryan, Ron Rivera, Matt Nagy, Arthur Smith), but bringing them in is understandable. Locksley’s candidacy defies reason.
Still, the chances that the Jets will actually hire him seem slim to none. The only theoretical criteria he meets in the search is that he is experienced on the offensive side of the football, and he has head coaching experience (although not in the NFL).
Interviewing Locksley may not cause as much chaos as with Ryan, but it’s still an eyebrow-raiser.
