Playoff expansion seen as ‘inevitable’
Locksley to earn $2.5M plus incentives in 2019 at Maryland
FORT WORTH — Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby hasn’t been a fan of expanding the playoffs.
As recently as the Big 12 championship game earlier this month, Bowlsby said: “You have to be slow to move away from something that’s been that successful.
“Will it ever happen? I don’t know. I would never say never. But we haven’t had any legitimate conversations about it to this point in time.”
At the conference championship game, Bowlsby cited the College Football Playoff receiving an approval rating in the 80s by fans. But that was a day before blue-blood programs such as Ohio State and Georgia were left out of the CFP mix despite having résumés that some argued warranted entry.
Bowlsby has apparently softened his stance on the idea of expansion.
“It’s an appropriate thing to begin thinking about,” Bowlsby told The Athletic earlier this week.
That’s a change in stance. Along with his statements at the Big 12 title game, Bowlsby said earlier this year that a change wouldn’t be coming soon.
“The fact is at a purely practical level ESPN loves having five autonomy conferences chasing after four seats, and I think the drama of having somebody like a Central Florida that goes through the season last year undefeated and vies for a spot in the playoff is really good,” Bowlsby said in September.
“I wouldn’t say we’ll never go to it, but I’d be very surprised if we gave it any serious consideration until very close to the end of this current 12-year contract (that expires in 2026). We haven’t had any conversations about expanding the field so far. This is a terrific enterprise and I just think we need to be really careful before we tamper with it.”
Now, tampering with it seems likely.
Former CFP member and current Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said that “everyone” has the same feeling that expansion is “inevitable.”
MARYLAND: Mike Locksley will make $2.5 million in his first year as the Terrapins’, plus up to $775,000 in performance incentives, according to the memorandum of understanding offer obtained by The Washington Post through an open records request.
Locksley, former coach at the University of New Mexico (2009 through the first four games of 2011), will receive compensation including an annual base salary of $500,000 and annual supplemental income of $2 million. The annual supplemental income will increase by $100,000 each year.
He has a five-year deal that will be extended by a year if he is still the head coach on the day after the 2019 regular season. If that’s the case, it will run through Dec. 31, 2024.
If Maryland terminates the agreement without cause, the school will owe Locksley 65 percent of his guaranteed compensation, which amounts to approximately $1.6 million per year.
Locksley, who was introduced last week by Maryland, will also serve in his previous role as offensive coordinator at Alabama until its season is finished.
ALABAMA: Former Maryland coach DJ Durkin could become the latest former Football Bowl Subdivision coach to rebuild his career under Nick Saban at Alabama.
According to a report published Thursday on AL.com, Durkin has been working with the Crimson Tide football program in a “consultant-like capacity” for the past week.
Durkin, 40, was fired Oct. 31, one day after being reinstated by the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents following nearly three months on paid administrative leave.
Durkin lost his job in the aftermath of offensive lineman Jordan McNair’s death in mid-June and allegations of a “toxic” culture in the way he ran the football program.
APPALACHIAN STATE: Appalachian State has hired North Carolina State offensive coordinator Eliah Drinkwitz as its head coach. His five-year deal was approved Thursday.
UAB: Bill Clark won the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award. Clark has led the Blazers to their first C-USA championship with a programrecord 10 wins.
TEXAS TECH: New coach Matt Wells has a six-year, $18.8 million contract, with Utah State getting an $800,000 buyout, the school announced.