Jason Candle joins us on this episode of the UConn 360 podcast and was named the football coach last December after completing a very successful 11- year tenure as the head coach at Toledo. He led the Rockets to a school-record 81 wins over that time with nine bowl appearances and 12 NFL Draft picks. Jason also served as an assistant coach at Toledo for seven years before becoming head coach and started his coaching journey at Division III powerhouse Mount Union, his alma mater. As a player, he won national championship at Mount Union in his junior and senior seasons. He just wrapped up his spring practice here at UConn as he has rebuilt the Husky roster from as team that has made two-straight bowl appearances. We also salute and congratulate the UConn Class of 2026 as commencement takes place this weekend!
Listen to Episode 162 on Podbean
Mike: Hello everybody. Welcome to the UConn 360 podcast. It’s Mike Enright from University Communications, along with Izzy Harris from University Communications. It’s a busy week on campus, Izzy.
Izzy: I know.
Mike: It’s finals.
Izzy: It’s finals.
Mike: And then it’s commencement.
Izzy: Yes. I have both of those.
Mike: Well, you are one of 8,202 people that are going to receive UConn degrees this weekend.
Izzy: Is that undergraduate and graduate degrees?
Mike: That’s the total number. There’s 8,202 scheduled to receive degrees and 6,000 undergrads. Wow. And there are undergraduate and graduate ceremonies all weekend, and UConn Law on Monday. So, it’s a busy weekend.
Izzy: Well, I still have one more final to pass on Wednesday.
Mike: Well, good luck with that.
Izzy: Yeah, hopefully.
Mike: Well, our guest today is somebody that’s not leaving UConn. He actually just got here, which is good for us. He’s our new head football coach. He’s been on the job since December. He’s Jason Candle. He comes to UConn after completing a really successful 11-year tenure as the head coach at Toledo in the Mid-American Conference.
He had 81 wins with the Rockets over that time, with nine bowl appearances and 12 NFL draft picks. He was an assistant coach at Toledo for seven years before becoming the head coach. His alma mater, where he started coaching, is like the UConn women’s basketball of Division III football—Mount Union—where they just win national championships, and they never seem to lose a game there.
So, he can talk a little bit about that later. He won national championships as a player his junior and senior year. And he just wrapped up spring practice here at UConn, and he rebuilt the Husky roster that has made two straight bowl appearances. So, Jason, thanks for joining us today on the UConn 360 podcast, and belated welcome to UConn.
Jason: I appreciate you guys for having me. Good morning.
Mike: So, tell us, you had this great career at Toledo. You looked like you were very comfortable there. You had so much success close to where you grew up. What made you come to UConn?
Jason: Well, I think you want to always align yourself with people that believe in the things that you believe in, and you want to be around and surrounded by winners.
And I felt like that, you know, some of these opportunities that have popped up in years past, you start to dabble into maybe what that may look like to make a move. Seventeen years at one place is a long time, and ultimately, you’re very comfortable there, but I think sometimes that comfort can breed a little bit of complacency to a certain extent.
You know, the biggest thing about being here is, number one, being around winning people, a winning culture, a great athletic department, and a university that strives for excellence. And then ultimately taking on a new challenge, trying to catch a place that has had a couple good winning seasons here and is on an upward trajectory, and seeing if we can come in here and make it better.
Izzy: So, you’ve been here since December. You’ve had some time to feel everything out. What’s your impression of UConn as an institution and a school, with widespread success among so many teams?
Jason: Yeah, I think the number one thing—and I was exposed to this a little bit when I visited campus—
The number one takeaway I had was that there are a lot of highly intelligent people who are very passionate about their place. And I think that if those things are in line, you really have a great baseline and a great foundation.
You look around the athletic department, like I mentioned before, and the success of the basketball programs, the hockey programs, track and field, baseball—so many of these other sports are highly competitive in their conference races and even on the national stage.
So I think being here in the winter and being part of those seasons, and watching those teams go through what they went through, is a motivating factor for us to have a very successful year and for our players to continue to do the work necessary to make that happen.
Izzy: I’ve actually had several players from the football team in my MBA classes. Can you talk a little bit about the student-athlete side to this?
Jason: Well, ultimately, I think you go through the recruiting process with young people, and they want to talk about the NFL or the NBA or Major League Baseball—wherever they think they want to be and where they want to go.
And it’s great to have those goals, and it’s great to have those dreams. But in our sport, the cleats are going to come off at some point in time, and at the end of the day, you’re going to be left with some great memories, great friendships, and great camaraderie among your teammates.
But you’re ultimately going to be defined by who you are when those cleats do come off. And I do believe that this isn’t an either-or proposition. You can’t say, “Get a degree or go play in the NFL.” I think this is about doing both. How you do one thing is how you do everything.
So, you want to make sure that you do a really good job in your classes. You want to do a great job of being an elite person and ultimately play high-level football. And I think we strive to find that in the recruiting process.
If you say, “Hey coach, what are you really looking for in a player?”—a really good man who understands the value of a free education and has a passion and a love for the game of football.
And if you can harness those things, and it starts the right way, it usually ends well. I think we’ve had 13 guys drafted out of the University of Toledo from our teams, and among those 13, there are probably 17 or 18 degrees. So, you should be able to do this the right way.
You should be able to get in early in your career, take summer classes, and even work on a master’s degree while your eligibility is still going. And ultimately, when that moment comes—whether it’s the Green Bay Packers or whoever—that you get cut, it’s time to go to work and be productive.
Mike: Izzy, that was a good lead-in—speaking of academic success, this weekend among all those graduates, there are approximately 161 student-athletes earning degrees from UConn, and 29 football student-athletes receiving graduate or undergraduate degrees. So that’s good news.
Jason, you recently completed spring football practice. You rebuilt the roster from scratch, it looks like. What were your goals in your first spring at UConn, and how did it go?
Jason: Well, the landscape of college football right now is a very different time. There was one transfer portal window for the first time ever, and it happened to be in the winter months, when you’re trying to put together a staff and really get your feet on the ground in the job yourself.
So, that made for a very difficult time. A lot of hours spent, a lot of evaluations, a lot of time on task to get kids on campus, get them visited, and ultimately get them signed.
So yeah, we had to really do a whole roster overhaul. We had to rebuild the whole thing from scratch. I would say that there’s a good core group of kids that stayed here who were on this Connecticut team last year.
We were able to bring a lot of kids from Toledo, so they kind of knew the culture and knew what we were doing there. And I think that sets the table as an extension of the coaching staff.
And then from there, go into the transfer portal and be able to grab some guys that maybe we had previous relationships with. I think if you do a good job paying attention in recruiting and developing real relationships, if those guys have an opportunity to come back around to you, you know which ones you want in your program and which ones you don’t.
So, I think we’ve gotten off to a great start here. We’ve got a good cultural piece built, and then ultimately there’s a lot of work between now and that first game next year.
Izzy: You’ve been a winner in every part of college football. Can you tell us a little bit about your time at Mount Union? It sounds like you had such an amazing program there as well.
Jason: Yeah, very blessed to play for Coach Larry Kehres. To this day, still the sport’s all-time winningest coach by percentage. I was lucky enough to be part of a team that won 54 games in a row.
We had a tough day, we took a loss, and then we ran 55 in a row after that. So, we won 109 out of 110 games. And at that time, you’re just young enough and dumb enough to believe that’s all because of what you’re doing.
Now you look back at that 20-some years later, and you realize you were just fortunate and blessed to be in a position where you learned the game the right way. You’re around other Division III guys that are paying for school. They’re going to practice because they want to be there, not because they have to be there.
And it creates a really cool environment in a locker room and a really good foundation to continue your career in football after you’re done playing.
Very lucky to have some great teammates that I’m still very close with today. Matt Campbell is the head coach at Iowa State. Nick Sirianni was my roommate—he’s the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Alex Grinch is the defensive coordinator at UCF, was our starting free safety. Stan Watson is coaching defensive ends at Texas A&M. Bill Reichl is the head coach at St. Thomas University down in Miami, a Division II school.
So, a lot of us were able to get a start in coaching at a very young age when we were done playing, and many of those guys have had very successful careers. So, I credit a great foundation for all of us—and what a time to be part of an elite program like that.
Mike: So, Jason, you and your wife, Nicole, have three children—Avery, Cameron, and Colton. Tell us a little bit about family life. Have they moved yet to Connecticut, and how’s the adjustment for them? Because we know it’s tough for families to move, and in the college football landscape it seems to happen a lot, although you have not done it a lot.
Jason: Well, I think when you decide to make a move like this, ultimately, they’re the first variable, right? They have to be comfortable in what you’re doing and what you’re deciding to do.
Obviously, my wife has been a rockstar, being back in Toledo still with those three kids until the end of May here when they finish up school. And that was kind of always the plan.
We finally bought a house, which has been a struggle. I was told that the winters here in Connecticut don’t last very long, but apparently this year I was a little bit off.
Mike: You moved the wrong year to Connecticut, to be honest with you.
Jason: Now that the snow has lifted up, I think some houses were on the market that maybe took a little longer to move. So, we were able to secure something.
The move happens here at the end of May when the kids are done with school, and it should be a very smooth transition. But we’re excited to get them out here. They’ve been able to be out here for a few weekends—recruiting visits, the spring game, and whatnot.
I think it’s just an exciting time for everybody. The kids are fired up to get into youth sports this summer and get involved in the community. And my wife has been a superstar as it comes to dealing with all the change.
Izzy: I was just going to ask—what sports do your kids play?
Jason: Anything that they can get involved in and anything that my wife can put them in to get them off her plate for a little bit.
But no, I think the boys love football, they love basketball, they golf, they play baseball. My daughter is into dance, and she plays basketball and all the youth sports that the boys play at this age.
So, it’s a unique time, and we want to keep them involved in everything. And I think that goes to today’s problem in the world when it comes to the guys I deal with in recruiting.
Everybody has a quarterback coach. Everybody wants to be a specialized athlete. You can’t go to football practice, or you’ll never be a good basketball player. You can’t go to basketball practice or you’ll never be a good quarterback. And you’ve got to have a private pitching coach.
I think we just rob kids of the opportunity to compete at a young age, and it tends to lead to a very streamlined approach to one specific sport, which I think sometimes has an injury implication as well.
So, I think keeping young people involved in as many activities and as many sports as possible for as long as possible is the way to go—and that’s what we’re trying to do as a family.
Mike: When you’re recruiting student-athletes to UConn—and I’ve heard other football coaches say this—do you like it when a prospect has played basketball, played baseball, wrestled, done something else besides football?
Jason: Absolutely. You know, if your high school football season is 10 games or nine games and your team doesn’t make the playoffs, there are 365 days in a year that you’re doing this particular sport, and you only get to compete nine times.
Man, I’m just not wired that way, and I don’t really want to be around people that are wired that way, to be honest with you.
So, I want guys on our team that played multiple sports. I want guys that have run track and competed, that played basketball, that played baseball.
Even today, the big thing is everybody wants to enroll early and get to school early, take their last semester of high school, and get on campus. That’s always a family decision if they want to do that.
But if they’re a really good spring sport athlete—stay. Stay at home and compete. Be 17. You only get to be 17 one time.
I think we’re in such a hurry to grow up that sometimes we miss some of those moments that we’re going to cherish long after our sport is done.
Izzy: Yeah, that’s a whole other rabbit hole to go down—with multi-sport versus focusing on one. And you brought up the injury aspect. I remember when we interviewed Neil Glaviano—
Mike: Oh yes, yeah.
Izzy: And he talked a lot about the different types of injuries you get from focusing on one thing, and how it can actually make you a better athlete when you focus on different aspects of different sports.
But to shift away from sports for a second—I’m sure you don’t have a ton of free time—but when you do, what are some things you like to do that are not football-related?
Jason: Well, when you get into this, it becomes a passion. It doesn’t become a job. So, I spend a lot of time working on football.
I’ll get on the golf course once in a while. Haven’t had many opportunities up here yet, just due to time and a really long winter. But I do play a little bit and find ways to get out there and compete.
And then the big thing is just spending time with your family and your kids, because you don’t get a lot of time with them during the season. So, any moment you get, you try to take a little bit of time for yourself—but at the end of the day, it’s mostly family time.
Izzy: Any Connecticut bucket list items you’re hoping to check off? Have you had Dairy Bar yet?
Jason: I have.
Izzy: Okay, good.
Jason: Yeah, I went to the Dairy Bar with my five-year-old, who dropped his ice cream cone on the ground and had a complete meltdown—in front of about 60 or 70 students who were like, “Wow, that’s the new football coach.”
Izzy: You can’t blame him.
Jason: I mean, come on, it’s pretty disappointing. But yeah, we went back, got in line again, and waited another 15 minutes to get another one.
I think there are so many good things in the state. There are a lot of things in the summer to look forward to when you have a little time off—a weekend, those little family trips. We’re looking forward to getting into a lot of that.
Mike: Well, the season kicks off—it’ll be here before you know it—September 5th against Lafayette. It’s a daunting home schedule: Maryland, Syracuse, UMass, North Carolina. People might recognize the head coach on the other side of the field for that game. James Madison and Old Dominion as well.
So come on out, support Coach Candle and his student-athletes. Tickets at uconnhuskies.com.
And Jason, thanks so much for coming over today and joining us on the UConn 360 podcast. Again, welcome to UConn, and best of luck for many successful seasons.
Jason: Appreciate you guys having me on. Go Huskies.
Mike: Thank you all for joining us on the UConn 360 podcast today. Congratulations to Izzy on her degree.
Izzy: Thank you.
Mike: A little shout-out—my son, Matthew, is graduating undergraduate this weekend. So, congratulations to the entire Class of 2026.
Izzy: But especially Izzy and Matthew.
Mike: Especially Izzy and Matthew—good luck to all Huskies taking exams, and we’ll catch you next time on the podcast.