It wasn’t until we had been talking for 15 minutes that Jim Smith realized he was being interviewed by an alumnus.

The Terps athletic director has been pinballing across the University of Maryland campus to cheer on its teams and crisscrossing the country to solicit donations from a fan base that is going to need to spend. Several times during our interview, he mentioned he was a little tired — understandable, given that he had been up watching the nationally ranked men’s soccer team the night before.

But, when I mentioned I graduated in 2010, a light came on in Smith’s eyes. The fatigue evaporated. He sat up straighter.

“Oh,” he said brightly. “So you’re saying I work for you.”

College athletics is rife with money, but even more abundant are the people who seem to need more of it. Asking for more burns a lot of calories. Since Smith started at Maryland in July, I’ve heard tales — and seen scenes myself — of his tirelessness.

I’ve heard stories of ticket holders who have introduced themselves to him in blink-and-miss-it interactions, then later received handwritten notes from the athletic department expressing how wonderful it was to meet. I’ve seen him preach about taking athletics to the next level at a backyard soiree and afterward wondered with the attendees if he was preparing his oratory skills for a run at political office.

He has worked with people for a long time — as the CEO of Ohio State’s alumni group, as a big projects leader for the Atlanta Falcons and Braves, even with the MLS’ Columbus Crew and World Wrestling Entertainment.

“Now it’s just all on social media, too,” Smith said last week.

My curiosity about Smith is, in part, as a media member. But it is also as an alumnus who has seen about 20 years of a football program bereft of ambition and who keeps up text threads with old college buddies, wondering if anything is about to change. Although Maryland’s basketball programs have much richer history, it’s football that will determine the Terps’ revenue and very likely their fate in any future realignment shenanigans.

Smith talks a big game for a department that is lagging behind its Big Ten peers. CBS Sports reported recently that Maryland spent $37 million on football in 2024 (less than all but Purdue in the conference) and nearly $20 million behind the Big Ten average.

Smith’s vision, however, is within the next three years to do things Terps football has never done in the Big Ten, including beating ranked conference opponents and earning a College Football Playoff ranking. Maryland is one of just three Power 4 schools never to do so since the playoff began in 2014).

“It’s about how fast we can get there,” Smith said. “No one likes the word ‘patience,’ including myself. But plans have to be based in fact, in reality, in order to achieve them. Otherwise, they’re just dreams.”

A week after our conversation, I’m still sorting the “facts” from “dreams,” but the more interesting distinction is between the grand vision Smith is excited to talk about and the hard realities that are more difficult for him and his athletic department to acknowledge.

The most harrowing components of Maryland’s financial situation are the parts where Smith hints at its shortcomings but doesn’t want to delve into them. The biggest decisions — indeed, the ones that might make or break his big ambitions — are ones that he steps lightly around. They include the future of Mike Locksley, a football coach he didn’t hire but would have to buy out for $13 million if he wanted to move on.

Smith declined to answer direct questions about Locksley as a condition of our sit-down (he skirted a similar question from The Baltimore Sun earlier in the week), but only days later he made a definitive statement that the coach would return in 2026. It’s a bold declaration after the team lost its sixth straight game Saturday. The Terps are likely to go a second straight season without a bowl.

Because Maryland athletics declined an opportunity to follow up for more context about Smith’s decision on Locksley, it’s hard to say whether the decision is more reflective of Smith’s confidence in the coach with more funding in his arsenal — or doubt about whether the school can afford to pay his buyout and a new coach in a tough market.

But Locksley painted a rosy picture this week when asked about how the football program finally hopes to break its midtier ceiling.

“Very rarely do you see me stand up here in front of you guys and complain about whether the resources were enough or not enough, because I’m always going to make do with what I have,” he said. “We’ve given it our best, but to have two people [Smith and senior deputy AD Diana Sabau] now that are going to stand with me, hip to hip, give me the resources I need to build this program.”

Smith is bullish on Maryland’s potential to be a heavyweight. He laid out some of the department’s ambitions to expand its budget (Maryland spent $132 million in 2024, according to Knight Foundation data, compared to $295 million by Ohio State, where Smith used to work). Some of the space will be made up by corporate sponsors, and Smith is already trying to make up ground.

It’s clear Smith feels Maryland has been operating at a disadvantage, although he tries to talk around these shortcomings. “I always say, if Maryland was a stock, we’d be outperforming expectations. Because we’ve been outperforming the resources that have been available to a lot of the coaches. So it’s good to see people work really hard with with less and be successful.”

The track records of women’s basketball’s Brenda Frese, men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski and both lacrosse programs show Maryland can compete for titles in other sports at their current level. But, ultimately, its goal is not to do more with less. It’s to do more with more.

Smith said Maryland is in favor of a $2.4 billion Big Ten private capital deal, currently held up by reservations from Michigan and USC. This deal would create a new entity called Big Ten Enterprises, which would cover all of the media and rights deals and give an investment group (which has ties to the University of California pension fund) a 10% stake.

Maryland would be in line for a $110 million payout, much less than higher-profile schools in the conference but still a significant infusion. Although Smith said he could not discuss specifics on the record, he acknowledged that the board of regents discussed the deal last week and is in support of it. Smith said the conference is hopeful all members approve after doing their due diligence on the deal.

The athletic department has made significant headway in football attendance, announcing Maryland’s Oct. 4 game against Washington and Nov. 1 homecoming game against Indiana as sellouts and coming pretty close (by my eye test) to filling SECU Stadium. Smith attributed the free-to-attend Terpsville festivities in Jones-Hill House as a brainchild of administrator Carrie Blankenship, and deputy athletic director Joe LaBue has helped push the needle on chronically anemic crowds on Saturdays.

I would have had a hard time believing all this possible in such a short time — except Maryland is already gaining ground and winning over fans who appreciate the more vibrant and varied tailgating atmosphere.

“It’s like all new things — it has started with a good response and has grown every week, and you can tell it’s something our fans really like,” Smith said. “I love going in there because you see so many families, and families and the youth are your future customers. So, if we can create a bond early on between the families and the kids, it’ll be a very good, long-lasting relationship.”

This rah-rah energy is welcome. However, other things will require less enthusiasm and more hard choices.

Locksley is the first of these dominoes to fall, indicating that Smith believes the longtime football coach has untapped potential (a position I disagreed with in a column from before our sit-down).

Smith also praised the donor base — “I think, from a donor perspective, they’re very passionate and very involved and invested in Maryland” — but he trod lightly around my question if former basketball coach Kevin Willard had a legitimate gripe about Maryland’s lack of resources.

Smith’s response, in short: He doesn’t know what was happening at Maryland when Willard (and Smith’s predecessor, Damon Evans) was in College Park, and many of the staffers from that time are gone. But, in the new athletic department, his policy is generally to say yes to requests first, then figure out the justification and the means to provide.

As an example, Smith pointed to when the football program requested an infrared sauna to help with recovery. Smith did his own research from NFL contacts and got the sauna approved.

“A lot of people start at no, because it costs something,” he said. “I want to start with yes, with the idea, and then figure out a way to get it done.”

Smith also said this philosophy will start coming into play when Maryland uses its name, image and likeness funds to retain players for future seasons. Coaches are going to start hearing “yes” a lot, Smith said.

But all this costs a lot of money, and it’s not wholly clear how Smith plans on ratcheting up the budget. If industry trends are anything to go by, it will involve monetizing a lot of the fan experience — through season-ticket packages, through donor requirements, through streaming and TV access.

Smith also might not be going forward with everyone currently in the stable. Even with a letter of support going into 2026, Locksley will be on a tremendously hot seat next season. The Terps’ 2026 nonconference schedule will feature a head-to-head matchup with Virginia Tech’s James Franklin, the former coach-in-waiting in College Park who has gone on to be a notorious thorn in the school’s side in recruiting battles in addition to the games themselves.

Recruiting will also reflect on Smith’s strategy. On Wednesday, men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams scored his first in-state coup when five-star local recruit Baba Oladotun decided to stay home. Locksley must hang on to Zion Elee, a five-star recruit from Baltimore’s St. Frances. While none of these decisions is total make or break, the ambitious plan to climb the conference ladder involves winning a lot more of these battles than the Terps have in the past.

When I talk with Smith, I don’t think he’s spinning tales or spouting promises he can’t keep. Given his experience and energy, some of his big claims feel possible. But I’m not sure the transformation from Big Ten afterthought to power, especially in football, will be a purely joyful one.

I suspect the AD who loves saying yes and dreaming of a department with success across the board will eventually be forced to make hard choices (including dismissing hires he never made). It might also mean sacrificing feel-good local recruits if Locksley in particular isn’t the guy to make the climb.

The other trick he’ll have to pull off is convincing Maryland fans that this dream is worth emptying their wallets for, something that his predecessors struggled to do.

But something does feel different about Smith, and the change in tone invites a sense of possibility that’s hard not to entertain — at least a little.

The pace of change in college sports has given whiplash to even hardened hands in the industry. High-profile retirements — including Alabama football coach Nick Saban and Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett — have shown how challenging it is for even successful people to deal with change.

Instead of being repelled by the college landscape, Smith is attracted to it, even compelled by it. It’s another instance when I see Maryland’s athletic director, despite the weight of this institution on his shoulders, starting to stiffen his posture.

“You gotta be up for the challenge, and right now when everything is anything but certain, and every day brings a different situation to deal with,” he said. “I like a challenge.”