Aazaar Abdul-Rahim came home to Maryland. Now he has a bridge to build

It’s 10 miles from Northeast Washington, D.C., to Maryland‘s campus.

For Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, it took a lifetime to cross that bridge.

“Some people,” Abdul-Rahim told USA TODAY Sports, “call that on the opposite side of the bridge. That’s east of the river.”

One of seven brothers raised in D.C., Abdul-Rahim grew up around Anacostia and the bridges that connect the city to everything beyond it.

Now Maryland has asked him to build one of his own.

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The Terps’ interim coach must carry a struggling football program from the end of the Mike Locksley era toward an uncertain future. And Maryland has entrusted that job to someone who understands the place, its players and its pride as intimately as anyone.

“A tremendous amount of pride, because I think this area is a unique area,” Abdul-Rahim said. “I’ve been all over the place, but this area is a unique area and a very prideful area. We march to our own beat here. We’re a little bit different than New York, and we’re a lot different than North Carolina.

“We’re our own kind of separate entity, and I take pride in that.”

Maryland football is a bit of a disjointed entity in an increasingly disjointed conference, where expansion has mandated 5,500-mile round trips to Big Ten “rival” Washington, along with similar treks to Oregon, UCLA and USC.

Never the most-resourced program in the ultra-wealthy Big Ten, Maryland has nosedived to a 10-22 record since the start of the 2024 season.

Little of that, though, traces to Abdul-Rahim’s impact.

He arrived from a top defensive assistant role at Boston College and quickly helped the Terps lead the Big Ten in interceptions. His debut as interim head coach saw Maryland and favored Illinois combine for nearly 130 plays on SECU Stadium’s synthetic grass.

The Terps lost on the very last one.

They committed just one penalty and one turnover. They possessed the ball longer than Illinois.

Most importantly, they looked like … well, a united football team.

“I’ve been across the country and I had a certain type of shoe on, and they knew I was from this area,” said Abdul-Rahim, also a former understudy to Nick Saban at Alabama. “So, I love that about it. I love that we always have a chip on our shoulder.

“And we always want to prove people wrong. I definitely want to instill that in our program. And I think coach Locksley was the same way, and he did that same thing. But we’re very prideful. This football landscape is a little new. This area became a hotbed probably about 15 years ago, something like that, because before that, it always was a basketball power, right?

“You got bigger athletes, and that’s why you get so many guys from this area that look like a little smaller power forwards. The defensive ends, the Zion Elees (current Maryland freshman), the Dylan Stewarts, who goes to South Carolina but is from here, those type of elite pass rushers and those type of guys. They used to be basketball players, but again, really excited about this area in the future you have with University Maryland.”

His own experiences are Abdul-Rahim’s foundation, but so is Maryland’s past. One of his brothers was a Terps walk-on wide receiver. Abdul-Rahim rattles off program-great quarterbacks Boomer Esiason, Neil O’Donnell and Scott Milanovich among his childhood idols.

He knows the coaches, too, from the relatively obscure Mark Duffner to the instantly recognizable Bobby Ross.

And he’s humble enough to make the necessary calls to those who have worn the interim head coach tag before him.

Terry Smith, Penn State’s emergency choice a year ago, takes a call from Abdul-Rahim. So does Elijah Robinson, the former Texas A&M interim coach. Abdul-Rahim talks with Jeff Hafley, now in his first year atop the Miami Dolphins.

Then, down the hallway inside Maryland’s football offices, Abdul-Rahim seeks out Damian Wroblewski, who once served as James Madison’s interim coach.

There’s a lot to learn in a short amount of time. And there’s still an emotional reality behind why Abdul-Rahim has the job in the first place.

“I really felt bad about (Locksley) being relieved of his duties, because I’m a very loyal person,” Abdul-Rahim emphasized. “I was asked to come back to Maryland. I came back for (Locksley) because I believed in him, and I believed in the University of Maryland football.”

Now the DMV kid who came home has been asked to guide Maryland through what comes next.

Frankly, it was an easy bridge to cross.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aazaar Abdul-Rahim came home to Maryland. Now he has a bridge to build