Terps need not look far for coach

It may have taken forever for Maryland to get around to firing football coach DJ Durkin in the wake of Jordan McNair’s death, but it didn’t take long at all for speculation about his successor to begin.

The various lists were predictable — successful head coaches at either the FCS level (Mike Houston of James Madison) or the Group of Five level (Lance Leipold, Buffalo; Scott Satterfield, Appalachian State; Geoff Collins, Temple; Jason Candle, Toledo; and Neal Brown at Troy) and coordinators at power schools like Tony Elliott of Clemson and Ryan Day at Ohio State.

At least one website brought up the name of Mike Leach, who has built Washington State into a top 10 team since taking over there in 2012 and who would have taken the Maryland job in 2010. Leach would no more touch the Maryland job now than he would give up talking about pirates — his non-football obsession.

Mike Locksley, the co-offensive coordinator at Alabama and Maryland’s interim coach for six games in 2015 — he went 1-5 after Randy Edsall was fired — has also been mentioned because of his ties to the Washington area.

All have solid résumés, although Locksley failed miserably as a head coach at New Mexico State, and there wouldn’t necessarily be anything wrong with hiring any of them if they were willing to take on the dumpster fire that is Maryland football right now.

None, however, would be the right hire.

The right hire’s name has yet to be mentioned because he’s never been a head coach and he’s not at a Power Five school as a coordinator. But he’s more than ready to be a head coach and, just as important, he’d be willing to take the job.

The name: Ivin Jasper, Navy’s offensive coordinator.

Why Jasper hasn’t gotten the chance to be a head coach yet is a mystery. He was Navy’s quarterbacks coach under Paul Johnson and became the offensive coordinator when Ken Niumatalolo succeeded Johnson as Navy’s head coach in 2007.

Around Navy he’s known as the quarterback whisperer because he has always had an uncanny knack of finding his quarterback’s strengths and in calling plays that allow the Navy offense to be effective.

If you want to look at this year’s 2-7 record and scoff, go ahead. But, until last week, the Navy offense had moved the ball just about as well as in the past, even without consistent quarterback play.