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University of Maryland makes history at the FBS level
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The University of Maryland made history this week, when new school president Darryll Pines, Ph.D stepped into his role on Wednesday.
Maryland now is the first university at the FBS level to have an African-American school president, athletic director (Damon Evans) and head football coach (Mike Locksley). Yahoo Sports reported on this first in major college athletics.
“We all know the responsibility that we carry as Black men in these leadership positions,” Evans told Yahoo Sports. “Not only the responsibility to the institution as a whole in carrying out our jobs and the responsibility to our communities, but we also have a responsibility to help to grow the pool of minority candidates and to help others rise through the ranks to be able to achieve what we’ve been able to.”
Evans has been with Maryland since 2014, when he started out as the senior associate athletic director. In 2017 and 2018 he served as the interim athletic director before being named the permanent AD later in 2018.
Locksley took over as the head coach at Maryland following the 2018 college football season. He completed his first year as the leader of the Terrapins last fall. According to the data provided by Yahoo Sports, Locksley was one of just 14 African-American head coaches at the FBS level in 2019.
Dr. Pines took over in his new role as the university’s president after 25 years of service at Maryland. He had most recently served as the dean of the A. James Clark School of Engineering.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB