Ex-Lobo coach’s son shot to death
No suspects, motive identified in killing
Meiko Locksley, the son of former University of New Mexico coach Mike Locksley and a former La Cueva High School and UNM football player, was shot and killed in Columbia, Md. He was 25 years old. According to media reports, Locksley was shot outside his home at around 10:20 p.m. Sunday and died overnight at University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
Police said multiple people called 911 Sunday night to report hearing a single gunshot. No suspects or motivation for the shooting have been identified.
Mike Locksley coached at UNM from 2009-2011. After three years as a Maryland assistant and interim head coach, he is in his second year on the staff of
Alabama coach Nick Saban.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mike, his wife (Kia) and the entire Locksley family over this tragedy,” Saban said. “We’ll do everything we can to support Mike and his family in this time of tragedy.”
Meiko Locksley was a star quarterback at Centennial High School in Champaign, Ill., where his father was the offensive coordinator at the University of Illinois, before the family moved to Albuquerque.
He played football at La Cueva, then enrolled at Youngstown State in Ohio before returning to Albuquerque and joining the Lobos as a walk-on defensive back.
After his father was fired four games into the 2011 season, he chose to remain on the team.
“(Quitting is) not something I was raised to do,” he told the Journal that October. “That’s one thing my father instilled in me as a young kid; never quit.”
The following year, Locksley played defensive back at Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pa. It appears his college athletic career ended there.
Meiko Locksley is survived by his parents, two brothers, Mike Jr., and Kai, and a sister, Kori.
Kai Locksley, a highly recruited high school quarterback, is at Iowa Western Community College this season after transferring from Texas.
Mike Locksley joined the Alabama staff as an offensive analyst in 2016. He then was promoted to co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach.