Police called on two Maryland student reporters covering Mike Locksley's firing outside football complex
Police called on two Maryland student reporters covering Mike Locksley's firing outside football complex
After losing five consecutive games, the Maryland athletic department announced Wednesday that it was moving on from head football coach . The school described the decision as a " mutual" agreement between both parties.
When the Terrapins called a team meeting for Wednesday morning, the news had already been broken by multiple outlets that included OutKick, players were seen arriving to the football facility for an explanation from those in charge of moving the program forward.
Unfortunately, news like this rarely stays quiet until a team can gather privately. Reporters typically wait outside football facilities to speak with players and gauge their reactions after a head coach is fired.
Defensive coordinator Aazaar Abdul-Rahim will be the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
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That was the case Wednesday, when two University of Maryland student reporters stood outside the athletic complex hoping to speak with players leaving the facility after learning about Locksleys dismissal.
According to one of the student reporters, SB Nations Testudo Times journalist Nolan Rogalski, he and Jude Wilkenfeld believed they were permitted to stand outside the football complex because Maryland is a public university.
However, a Maryland staff member reportedly called police on the two student journalists for "suspicious activity." Two officers then arrived at the scene and questioned the reporters about what they were doing outside the facility.
"For @testudotimes , @JudeWilkenfeld and I were outside Jones-Hill House trying to get players to comment," Rogalski mentioned on social media. "An athletics staffer took pictures of us, and a police dispatch was called for suspicious activity; a cop and 2 cop cars pulled up, and officers IDd us and asked us to leave."
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The students appeared to be doing nothing out of line. They were simply covering a major story unfolding on their campus and attempting to speak with players affected by the coaching change.
This time last season, there had already been seven head coaches fired in college football, and every single one of them led to reporters in some capacity trying to gather quotes from athletes who were affected by the news.
Somewhere, there was a breakdown in communication on Wednesday following the firing of Locksley.
Whether the school acted out of spite or genuinely did not know what the two students were doing outside the football complex is up for debate.
The University of Maryland Police Department recorded the names of Rogalski and Wilkenfeld but said no report was filed regarding the incident. The school and UMPD released a joint statement Wednesday evening emphasizing that they respect the First Amendment rights of journalists.
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