Pep Hamilton lost Maryland football’s OC job. He’s still getting paid like he has it.

The new structure comes after Maryland’s second straight 4-8 season, one defined by offensive imbalance and inconsistency during quarterback Malik Washington’s first year as the starter.

The Terps could not run the ball. They ranked second-to-last in the Big Ten in rushing yards per game, scored 23.5 points per game and often left Washington to carry the offense through the air. His conference-high passing attempts said as much about Maryland’s limitations as they did about his workload.

So Maryland made a change.

But instead of moving on from Hamilton entirely, the Terps kept him on staff and hired Trickett to take over the offense. That leaves Maryland paying $1.25 million to the former play-caller and $450,000 to the new one.

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The arrangement comes as the university tightens spending elsewhere, with a hiring freeze, limited travel, paused long-term projects and plans to eliminate at least 150 positions amid a 10% reduction in state funding, according to an email sent to the campus community last week. Athletics spending has drawn added scrutiny, too.

In fiscal 2025, Maryland paid $439,271 to move on from former defensive coordinator Brian Williams, more than half of the $661,024 in severance paid to departing coaches across all sports. Locksley was Maryland’s highest-paid state employee in 2025 despite a 37-49 record with the Terps. Men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams and women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese followed as the next-highest earners.

For Locksley, entering the penultimate season of a contract worth more than $6 million annually, the move carries the feel of urgency. Trickett is Maryland’s fifth offensive coordinator in eight seasons. No play-caller has lasted more than two years during Locksley’s tenure — Dan Enos held the job from 2021 to 2022, Josh Gattis and Kevin Sumlin shared the role after that, and Hamilton lasted one season before being moved into a different role.

That makes Trickett less of a routine staff addition and more of the latest attempt to solve a problem Maryland has not been able to stabilize.

“This is [Locksley’s] offense, his show, it’s my job to come in and add some different variants to what he’s already done,” Trickett said at media day. “Tempo is going to be the biggest difference we’ll utilize. We want to get as many snaps as we can.”

His first task is obvious: restore balance.

At Jacksonville State in 2025, Trickett coordinated an offense that averaged more than 408 yards per game, second in Conference USA, and leaned heavily on one of the nation’s most productive rushing attacks at more than 240 yards per game.

For Maryland, that resume matters. After a season spent asking Washington to throw again and again, the Terps are paying their new coordinator far less than the man he replaced to fix the part of the offense that never gave its quarterback much help.

“College football — it’s win now. I mean, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing for, who your coach is for,” Trickett said. “It is always win now, and that’s what I’ve learned in this thing.”

Washington, for his part, said the transition has been manageable. He said Locksley first introduced him to Trickett before the new coordinator came to campus, and his early impression was positive.

“He’s a great person, and I’m looking forward to really working with him,” Washington said.

Learning another playbook after one season as Maryland’s starter will take time, Washington said, but he credited Trickett’s approach for making the process easier.

Hamilton’s contract does not appear to include a pay-reduction clause tied to a change in title or play-calling responsibilities, allowing Maryland to shift him into a special assistant role while keeping his compensation intact.

A similar pay inversion has surfaced elsewhere. At Nebraska, Marcus Satterfield remained on staff as tight ends coach after being demoted from offensive coordinator during the 2024 season, while Dana Holgorsen took over as offensive coordinator. Satterfield was still set to make about $1.4 million in 2025, more than Holgorsen’s $1.2 million annual salary.

With Maryland, Trickett gets the fix-it job. The bigger payday still belongs to Hamilton.

Have a news tip? Contact Michael Howes at mhowes@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/Mikephowes.