At last and on the morning of spring ball, Maryland football head coach Mike Locksley has announced the hire of Ted Monachino as the program’s new defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach.
Monachino, 58, joins the program and fills the departure of Brian Williams after six seasons, who was named the new defensive coordinator at Jacksonville State. Monachino joins the program most recently as the defensive line coach at North Carolina, while the longtime assistant spent all but one of his previous 16 seasons in the NFL with stints with the Jaguars, Ravens, Colts, Bears and Falcons.
“Monumental,” former Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs said about Monachino. "The keystone, if you ask me. He's revamped my career.”
While his hire has been expected for nearly two months, Monachino now leads a revamped defensive staff with James Thomas taking over the safeties room, Zac Spavital taking over the inside linebacker room and Corey Liuget promoted to defensive line coach. Aazaar Abdul-Rahim also returns in his second season with the program as co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach, while former UNC assistant Nick Newsome is working with the secondary as the Terps look to improve from a disastrous 2024 season.
Monachino has been with the program since the beginning of February where he’s taken over the defense’s installs as Maryland looks to turn the page with a more aggressive defense in 2025. Maryland finished 2024 ranked 105th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 30.4 points per game including 36.1 in Big Ten games as Maryland suffered through a 1-8 conference season in year six under Mike Locksley.
While new defensive line coach Corey Liuget inherits a defense replacing the overwhelming majority of its 2024, the defense returns linebackers Daniel Wingate and Caleb Wheatland while cornerbacks Dontay Joyner and Jamare Glasker will look to lead an improved unit in 2025 under co-defensive coordinator Aazaar Abdul-Rahim.
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