Maryland football coach Michael Locksley took a different approach than men’s basketball coach Kevin Willard during his news conference Tuesday.

While the latter spent the past week publicly calling for more resources for his program amid the NCAA Tournament, Locksley reassured fans that his program has the support it needs.

Locksley strayed from bold statements at Maryland football’s spring media day. If anything, it seems as if Locksley would have preferred that those discussions remained private.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve gotten the resources that I’ve needed to build a foundation,” Locksley said. “Every family has its issues and dirty little secrets, but I believe those should be handled individually — behind closed doors, within the family.”

Locksley credited former athletic director Damon Evans, who left for the same position at Southern Methodist University on Friday, for providing the resources needed to build his football program.

Instead, Locksley shifted the conversation to his focus on developing a professional model for his team.

Maryland’s coach acknowledged that that the days of players spending three or four years developing within the same program are dwindling. Instead, many who enter the transfer portal want to be molded into professionals.

It is reflected in his coaching staff additions. Maryland’s new offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton and defensive coordinator Ted Monachino bring a combined 31 years of NFL experience — something Locksley believes will attract top talent.

“As you go into the transfer portal, everybody’s going to have the same money,” Locksley said. “It’s now about how can you get me to the next level.”

Locksley himself explored the NFL this past offseason, interviewing with the New York Jets in January. While the chance to interview for one of the league’s 32 head coaching jobs was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up, he also saw it as a chance to gain insight into the model he aims to implement — one where he acts as the general manager of a college team, evaluating and assigning value to players.

Last season, Locksley noticed his players taking note of their teammates’ earnings. Veteran players watched as younger arrivals secured larger deals upon entering campus, fueling comparisons within the team. He’s worked to end that dynamic, he said.

“For my first time as a coach, I lost my locker room,” Locksley said. “What I’ve done is gone about fixing the locker room and making sure I’ve got the right pieces … whether it’s the staff, whether it’s myself [and] how I approach things.”

Inexperienced quarterback room and Hamilton’s homecoming: Hamilton’s first Maryland quarterback room features only one college start collectively, and that comes from UCLA transfer Justyn Martin in 2024.

Martin’s five appearances with the Bruins make him the most experienced among a seven-player group that includes four freshmen, highlighted by four-star prospect Malik Washington.

While neither Locksley nor Hamilton named a starter for Maryland’s season opener against Florida Atlantic, Hamilton emphasized that Martin has the most “field credibility” — a factor in understanding the speed of Big Ten football.

Locksley is no stranger to starting a true freshman like Washington. While at Alabama, Jalen Hurts started in his first year. Tua Tagovailoa led a comeback in the second half of the 2018 national championship game as a true freshman. During Locksley’s second stint with the Terps in 2012, freshman Perry Hills also earned the starting job.

“[Washington’s] a great combination of size and speed … Nothing is too big for him from a conceptual standpoint,” Hamilton said. “I think that all matters when you talk about a talented [arm] that has a chance to compete and play in the Big Ten early in his college career.”

The staff says that it’s as a competition with the whole room, not just Martin and Washington.

Martin transferred to Maryland the past December. Locksley approached the former Bruin with an opportunity to compete for a starting role following the transfers of Billy Edwards (Wisconsin) and MJ Morris (Coastal Carolina).

“That’s all I wanted. That’s all I asked for,” the redshirt junior said.

For Hamilton, his new role with the Terps’ is somewhat of a homecoming after starting his coaching career at nearby Howard University in 1997. The 50-year-old first met Locksley at a Maryland football camp in the summer of 1997. He will have the opportunity to coach his son, freshman quarterback Jackson Hamilton. The elder Hamilton believes there’s a good chance that Jackson will follow in his footsteps and become a coach himself.

“Looking back at all the time that I missed as [a coach], that we missed being around our kids, this is really the first time I’ve had an opportunity to be around my son, Jackson, in a football space,” Hamilton said. “I want him to learn a family business from my perspective.”

Monachino takes helm of struggling defense: Monachino takes over a Terps defense that allowed the second-most points per game and the third-most yards per game last season.

To avoid repeating last season’s miscues, Monachino said the defensive staff has designed a simple system to help players execute more effectively.

“We didn’t work hard enough last year. We have to put in way more work than we did last year,” senior defensive back Jalen Huskey said. “[Monachino’s] philosophy is to play hard, play fast. I think he’ll have us doing that.”

Locksley noted the addition of redshirt freshmen Braydon Lee and Lloyd Irvin III — who were both injured in 2024 — should provide a boost to the secondary. The Terps also return an experienced linebacker trio of junior Daniel Wingate and seniors Caleb Wheatland and Kellan Wyatt.

Even after bringing in nine transfers during the initial portal period in December, Locksley expects Maryland to be aggressive in the spring transfer portal window. He acknowledged that Maryland won’t have its full roster built until May or June.

The Terps will be without defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, who is entering the NFL draft, as well as safety Dante Trader Jr. and linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II, who have graduated.

“We’re going to do everything we can to play really sound defense across the board,” Monachino said. “The best way for us to make sure we don’t have those errors and have those big plays is to make sure we’re doing the right things.”