Mike Locksley is interviewing for the New York Jets head coaching position, according to an NFL insider. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network shared the news Friday morning. The Locksley news is sure to turn some heads around college football and the NFL.

Locksley, who turned 55 on Christmas, does not have NFL experience. He played defensive back at Towson State from 1988-91 and got into coaching in 1992.

In addition to Maryland, Locksley’s coaching stops have included Florida, Illinois and Alabama as an assistant. He was a head coach at New Mexico from 2009-11, Maryland’s interim head coach in 2015 and then got the Maryland full-time job in 2019 after a successful stint working under Nick Saban at Alabama.

Locksley has a 35-67 record as a head coach. He was 2-26 before being fired early into his 3rd season at New Mexico. In 2015, he managed a 1-5 record as Maryland’s interim head coach.

As the full-time Maryland head coach, he has logged a 33-41 record over 6 seasons. The Terrapins enjoyed a stretch of 3 consecutive bowl wins from 2021-23 as Locksley’s squad posted a 23-16 record over that stretch. This past season, however, Maryland went 4-8 overall and 1-8 in Big Ten play, finishing 17th in the conference standings.

It’s notable that Rapoport mentioned Locksley being a former Alabama offensive coordinator before calling him the Maryland head coach. Locksley had a highly successful stint in Tuscaloosa from 2016-18, working with current NFL starting quarterbacks Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa. A highly regarded offensive mind, Locksley won the Broyles Award for the nation’s top assistant coach in 2018.

The Jets have cast a wide net in their search. We’ll see what comes of Locksley interviewing.