After a 10-year run which saw the Toledo Rockets win three MAC West Division titles and two MAC championships (2017, 2022), Jason Candle is set to begin the newest chapter of his coaching career in Storrs,
Connecticut with the UConn Huskies.
Dave Briggs of the Toledo Blade was first to report on Saturday afternoon. Candle is set to replace Jim Mora Jr., who left in late November to take the Colorado State job. Mora was 27-23 with the Huskies in three seasons, with two bowl game appearances.
Candle finishes his tenure in Toledo, which started in 2015, as the school’s all-time winningest coach with an 81-44 overall record, including a 53-25 record in conference play and a 3-5 mark in the postseason. Under his guidance, the Rockets have stretched their streak of bowl-eligible seasons to 15-straight (excluding 2020) and firmly established themselves as the MAC’s best recruiting outfit.
2025 was perhaps Toledo’s best year under Candle by the numbers. Toledo finished the regular season atop the MAC in scoring defense (12.2 points), total defense (247.8 yards allowed per game), rushing defense (89.3 yards per game), passing defense (158.4 yards per game), scoring offense (31.6 points per game) and total offense (421.8 yards per game) while also having 15 players named to the all-MAC postseason teams— including seven first-teamers.
Candle, a graduate of Division III football powerhouse Mount Union, coached at his alma mater for five seasons after his graduation, eventually latching on at Toledo in 2009 as an offensive assistant coach under Tim Beckman.
Upon Matt Campbell’s promotion to head coach in 2012, Candle was named offensive coordinator. Candle quickly developed a reputation as an offensive guru in his three seasons at the position, aiding in the development of several NFL prospects, including Greg Mancz, Storm Norton and Kareem Hunt. His offenses were consistently amongst the top in the Mid-American Conference, with his 2014 unit not only leading the conference in scoring offense (36.6 points per game), total offense (490.5 total yards per game) and rushing offense (256.4 rushing yards per game), but also earning six all-MAC honorees, including the MAC’s Player of the Year in Mancz— who also earned second-team All-American honors.
Candle took the head job in the 2015 postseason and immediately ran with it, upsetting #24 Temple in the Boca Raton Bowl, then finishing the 2016 season with a 9-4 mark and an appearance in the Camellia Bowl. The 2016 Rockets had 12 all-MAC selections, including future NFL’ers Logan Woodside, Cody Thompson, Michael Roberts and Treyvon Hester.
Perhaps the most unique part about Candle’s tenure is the team’s evolution from a high-powered offensive juggernaut to a gritty, shutdown defensive unit over time. Since 2020, Toledo has been near the top of the MAC in most relevant defensive statistics, and have graduated several defenders to the pros, including Dallas Gant, Maxen Hook, Darius Alexander and first-round pick Quinyon Mitchell, who won a Super Bowl ring as a rookie with the Philadelphia Eagles.
In all, Toledo has seen 10 players selected in the NFL Draft, including Diontae Johnson, Tycen Anderson, Ka’Darr Hollman and Samuel Womack, with more making rosters as undrafted free agents.
UConn will be securing a certified talent developer with great connections and an eye for finding under-recruited prospects, who also happens to have shepherded strong, balanced rosters to sustained success in his time as a FBS head coach.
“We are grateful for Jason’s leadership, his dedication to our student-athletes and the many achievements he helped deliver during his tenure at Toledo,” Bryan B. Blair, UT’s athletic director said Saturday via press release. “We thank Jason, Nicole and their family and wish them the very best in their next chapter.”
Toledo’s national search for a replacement is “already underway,” with an interim coach set to be named shortly.
This is a developing story and will be updated as such.
