Latest / Coaches Corner / New FB Coach Jason Candle Intro Presser

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New FB Coach Jason Candle Intro Presser · Coaches Corner

0:01
Speaker 1: Thank you for all those kind words from everybody. Obviously,
0:05
Speaker 1: this is a humbling moment for me because I'm I'm
0:08
Speaker 1: really honored to be your next head football coach here.
0:12
Speaker 1: I think this is a tremendous opportunity a place that
0:14
Speaker 1: has so much to you know, it's accomplished so much
0:17
Speaker 1: in the last couple of years, but to a certain extent,
0:19
Speaker 1: to have the opportunity to maybe wake up the echoes
0:21
Speaker 1: of the past too and maybe what this looks like
0:23
Speaker 1: and take this into a different era of college football.
0:27
Speaker 1: I got a couple thank yous real quick too as well.
0:29
Speaker 1: You know, obviously, uh President Meerica. In the five minutes
0:33
Speaker 1: I've been here, I mean you've You've opened up my
0:36
Speaker 1: eyes to the possibilities of what alignment and partnership would
0:39
Speaker 1: look like. Anybody that can capture that four year old's attention,
0:42
Speaker 1: you deserve a medal of honor.
0:45
Speaker 2: So I appreciate you for that, uh Dan.
0:47
Speaker 1: The board of trustees and all the help and the
0:50
Speaker 1: recruiting process, and and really just from Afar, the ability
0:53
Speaker 1: that you've had to or the willingness and the ability
0:56
Speaker 1: to impact you know, your program and try to take
0:59
Speaker 1: this into the new age of college football. It's been
1:01
Speaker 1: it's been fun to watch from afar, and I'm looking
1:03
Speaker 1: forward to being a part of that. David Benedict and
1:06
Speaker 1: his wife Lisa for opening their doors to my family,
1:09
Speaker 1: you know, and the recruiting process to come see this
1:12
Speaker 1: fantastic place. I knew there was a you know, there
1:16
Speaker 1: was a reason before walking out into the twenty seven
1:18
Speaker 1: degree weather and Mount Pleasant, Michigan wide, I didn't have
1:22
Speaker 1: a hat and some gloves to wear to the game.
1:24
Speaker 1: I knew I wanted to show my toughness, but I
1:25
Speaker 1: didn't know that that was ultimately going to be a
1:27
Speaker 1: selling point to to be the head football coach of
1:30
Speaker 1: the Yukon Huskies. But I thank you for doing being
1:33
Speaker 1: really authentic and genuine in your process that goes.
1:35
Speaker 2: Along with way with me and my family.
1:37
Speaker 1: And you know, you talk about alignment and you speak
1:40
Speaker 1: to it speaks volumes, and what you've been able.
1:41
Speaker 2: To accomplish here is is incredible.
1:43
Speaker 1: And I'm looking looking forward to locking arms with you.
1:46
Speaker 1: You know, you have a lot of great coaches here
1:48
Speaker 1: and you know, you know Dan, you know they mentioned
1:51
Speaker 1: Geno and and Dan being able to you know, be
1:54
Speaker 1: part of the recruiting process and reaching out and helping me.
1:56
Speaker 1: And I think the success of those men and what
1:58
Speaker 1: they've been able to accomplish is not only a model
2:00
Speaker 1: for your university, but it's a pillar of you know,
2:02
Speaker 1: what success looks like across college athletics. And you know,
2:06
Speaker 1: it's not often you get a chance to go to
2:07
Speaker 1: work at a place where you know, you get stimulated
2:09
Speaker 1: and you get motivated by, you know the success of
2:12
Speaker 1: others around you. And look, We've been a part of
2:14
Speaker 1: a lot of championship teams where I've been able to
2:16
Speaker 1: be the coach. And I played at Mount Union College
2:18
Speaker 1: where we won fifty four games in a row and
2:20
Speaker 1: for some reason we figured out how to lose one
2:21
Speaker 1: and then we ran.
2:22
Speaker 2: Fifty five in a row back after that.
2:25
Speaker 1: That's the cut the cloth that I'm cut from, and
2:28
Speaker 1: I want to surround myself with winners, and I think
2:30
Speaker 1: I found a perfect place to do that. So I'm
2:32
Speaker 1: really excited to be a part of that special thanks
2:36
Speaker 1: to my wife and Nicole, you know, a rock star,
2:39
Speaker 1: a great teammate. You know, I think, along this journey
2:42
Speaker 1: eleven years ago, what are you signing up for? My gosh,
2:45
Speaker 1: she had no idea, but here we are. You know,
2:48
Speaker 1: I got beautiful children. You know, we got a great
2:50
Speaker 1: family and man or man. Uh, if that was only
2:54
Speaker 1: as cool as the as the husky mascot, where we'd
2:56
Speaker 1: be we'd be doing some good things. But we're excited,
2:59
Speaker 1: uh to grain ourselves in the community, looking forward to
3:03
Speaker 1: you know, uh, seeing which stores and seeing what the
3:05
Speaker 1: state of Connecticut you know, is all about.
3:07
Speaker 2: And you know this is going to be a great thing.
3:10
Speaker 1: I'd like to thank coach Mora, you know, and the
3:12
Speaker 1: coaches that are back working to get this team prepared
3:14
Speaker 1: for a bowl game.
3:15
Speaker 2: You know, you know, you.
3:16
Speaker 1: Oftentimes you get a chance to take over these opportunities,
3:19
Speaker 1: and you know, a lot of places there's coaches doing
3:22
Speaker 1: the same thing I'm doing today and the program that
3:23
Speaker 1: they're walking into is not very good.
3:26
Speaker 2: And this is not the case here.
3:27
Speaker 1: The team has done you know, wonders in the last
3:29
Speaker 1: twenty four months, and now it's the challenge of how
3:31
Speaker 1: you can take that and take it to the next step.
3:33
Speaker 1: And you know, something I'm looking forward to and putting
3:35
Speaker 1: the staff together that can be able to highlight and
3:38
Speaker 1: enhance what those men have been able to do. Those
3:40
Speaker 1: players have worked tirelessly and really done a great job
3:43
Speaker 1: to put themselves in participate in an opportunity to go
3:45
Speaker 1: play a bowl game here against a great opponent and
3:48
Speaker 1: win that game, and ten wins is a special thing.
3:51
Speaker 1: Not too many teams get to do that, and I'm
3:53
Speaker 1: looking forward to watching that journey for them. Lastly, you know,
3:58
Speaker 1: i'd like to thank the University of Toledo. You know,
4:01
Speaker 1: I've been through, you know, multiple presidents, multiple athletic directors,
4:04
Speaker 1: and a ton of great people along the way. And
4:06
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes you go, you go on the dance
4:09
Speaker 1: floor and you try to really pay attention to each
4:12
Speaker 1: step that you make, and you're not trying to go
4:14
Speaker 1: to a direct place. You're just trying to enjoy the
4:15
Speaker 1: step and enjoy the process. And man, oh man, I've
4:18
Speaker 1: enjoyed every step of that, every step of the way.
4:20
Speaker 1: We've been able to create at a great culture, some
4:23
Speaker 1: tremendous leaders, some tremendous players that have went on and
4:26
Speaker 1: done great things at the National Football League, and ultimately,
4:30
Speaker 1: you know, people that have went on to do great
4:31
Speaker 1: things in life. And I think that it's fair to
4:35
Speaker 1: judge coaches, not today, yes quite yet, but it's fair
4:39
Speaker 1: to judge coaches based on wins and losses. But I
4:41
Speaker 1: don't think it's fair to judge kids off wins and losses.
4:43
Speaker 1: I think we're ultimately going to be defined as young
4:45
Speaker 1: men and players of what we've become twenty years down
4:48
Speaker 1: the road.
4:48
Speaker 2: Would you know what an impact.
4:50
Speaker 1: To society we can make, you know, what a tremendous
4:53
Speaker 1: husband we can be, What a tremendous father we can be.
4:56
Speaker 1: And that's what we're going to build. That's what we
4:57
Speaker 1: were able to build, it to lead, and that's we're
4:58
Speaker 1: going to continue to build here going. You know, my
5:02
Speaker 1: the ad that hired me, Michael Brian, you know, told
5:04
Speaker 1: me right from the jump, right when I got hired,
5:06
Speaker 1: you know, ten years ago at Toledo that man, Jay,
5:10
Speaker 1: it's you're following a really good coach. But I really
5:12
Speaker 1: believe that you can go on and take you know,
5:14
Speaker 1: this thing to another level. And I feel the same
5:16
Speaker 1: way about that situation as I do now. So this
5:18
Speaker 1: is challenging, it's exciting. I'm looking forward to it. You know,
5:21
Speaker 1: I'm ultimately was, you know, really impressed when I got
5:24
Speaker 1: the call to be you know, just the interest you know,
5:27
Speaker 1: from your university to have a conversation with me, and
5:29
Speaker 1: then getting to know David and the other people throughout
5:31
Speaker 1: the process. Here this became a no brainer. You know,
5:35
Speaker 1: the alignment. I keep coming back to the alignment and
5:37
Speaker 1: the stability of what that looks like from the top
5:40
Speaker 1: down on how a football coach or any coach can
5:42
Speaker 1: really parlay that success into success on the field. You know,
5:45
Speaker 1: we're gonna put a lot of effort into three hundred
5:47
Speaker 1: and fifty three days out of the year that there's
5:48
Speaker 1: not a football game. I truly believe in holistically building
5:51
Speaker 1: the young man. These are people's sons, These are people's
5:55
Speaker 1: most prized possessions that they turn them over to you,
5:58
Speaker 1: and in four to five years they should understand, you know,
6:01
Speaker 1: when they walk across that stage and they grab you know,
6:03
Speaker 1: the President's hand and shake their hand and meeting and
6:06
Speaker 1: getting a meetingful degree that this was the coolest experience
6:08
Speaker 1: of their life. So I feel a tremendous amount of
6:10
Speaker 1: responsibility in that is we sit in the homes of
6:13
Speaker 1: young people and recruit them to this fine university. So
6:16
Speaker 1: we're going to do a really good job of those.
6:18
Speaker 1: Like I said, three hundred and fifty three days out
6:19
Speaker 1: of the year, we're gonna put a lot of energy
6:20
Speaker 1: in that.
6:21
Speaker 2: And continue to build really good people.
6:23
Speaker 1: And then those twelve days that there are six or
6:25
Speaker 1: seven that we're able to be out here in this
6:27
Speaker 1: great stadium, you're going to be proud of the product
6:29
Speaker 1: that we put on the field out there.
6:31
Speaker 2: You know.
6:32
Speaker 1: For me, you know, I'm really looking forward to just
6:34
Speaker 1: kind of hitting the ground running here, you know, trying
6:36
Speaker 1: to get started, getting to know the people, getting to
6:38
Speaker 1: know the players, getting to know all of you, trying
6:40
Speaker 1: to find the lay of the land, and trying to
6:42
Speaker 1: make not to make any rash decisions on what it
6:44
Speaker 1: looks like from a staffing standpoint or you know, in
6:46
Speaker 1: today's world, a players standpoint. So I'm looking forward to
6:49
Speaker 1: getting started, getting my feet on the ground and getting
6:51
Speaker 1: going and trying to make the best decisions so we
6:53
Speaker 1: can have a great season next year and build a
6:56
Speaker 1: program that's the built to last and what that looks
6:59
Speaker 1: like sometimes and today as college athletics, sometimes that's more
7:01
Speaker 1: of an art than a science. But our staff will
7:03
Speaker 1: work really tirelessly to do that and work really hard
7:06
Speaker 1: to make you proud and excited to get started. So finally,
7:11
Speaker 1: you know, I just say that we're grateful for this opportunity.
7:14
Speaker 3: UH.
7:15
Speaker 1: Success comes in multiple different ways. You know, we need
7:18
Speaker 1: everybody to lock arms and to buy in, you know,
7:20
Speaker 1: the you know, from the at the city level to
7:22
Speaker 1: the state level to alumni, you know, former Huskies, future Huskies,
7:26
Speaker 1: everybody that's ever touched our program, or anybody that's going
7:29
Speaker 1: to be bringing that we're going to bring into this thing.
7:32
Speaker 1: It's a proud day to be a Husky. I'm super
7:33
Speaker 1: excited to be your football coach. UH, And like I said,
7:36
Speaker 1: I can't wait to get this thing kicked off. So
7:38
Speaker 1: that being said, go Huskies.
7:54
Speaker 4: Over here, coach.
7:55
Speaker 5: Thank you. Joe's own Channel three of the CBS station
7:58
Speaker 5: in Connecticut. When you were and your wife were going
8:01
Speaker 5: over the reasons why we should take the job, maybe
8:05
Speaker 5: why you shouldn't take the job. What was the one
8:07
Speaker 5: thing that you said, we have to take this job
8:10
Speaker 5: the people. I think it always comes back to the people.
8:12
Speaker 5: I think it's always you know, look, winning's hard, recruiting's hard.
8:18
Speaker 1: Retention has become incredibly difficult if you don't have great
8:22
Speaker 1: people around you and you don't have the ability to
8:24
Speaker 1: have authentic relationships. This is a relationship based business. It
8:27
Speaker 1: always has been it always will be. It drives me
8:29
Speaker 1: crazy when I hear that, you know, man, kids are different,
8:32
Speaker 1: kids have changed.
8:33
Speaker 2: I don't believe that.
8:34
Speaker 1: I think that sometimes the people that are traditionalists or
8:38
Speaker 1: the adults, sometimes they've changed maybe a little bit.
8:40
Speaker 2: And I think at the end of the day.
8:41
Speaker 1: You know, kids want structure, they want support, they want
8:44
Speaker 1: a vision, they want to be able to stay connected
8:45
Speaker 1: to that vision. And if you don't have great people
8:47
Speaker 1: around you as the coach, you have no chance. So
8:50
Speaker 1: I think I would always go back to, you know,
8:52
Speaker 1: the people, and there's great facilities here, there's great things.
8:54
Speaker 1: Campus is awesome, campus is great, there's so many things
8:57
Speaker 1: that's but it's not about bricks and mortar. It's about
8:59
Speaker 1: relationships and that's about the people.
9:03
Speaker 6: Coach Joe Rude with the Hertford Current, just curious, what
9:06
Speaker 6: was it during this process that you maybe saw or
9:09
Speaker 6: heard that convinced you about the potential for this program.
9:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I'd take it back to you know,
9:16
Speaker 1: you look for these opportunities. You have different positions or
9:19
Speaker 1: different job opportunities that may pop up, and it's not
9:22
Speaker 1: often that you get an opportunity to be at one
9:24
Speaker 1: that had a winning season that has the foundation to grow,
9:28
Speaker 1: you know, and I think you always ask yourself can
9:31
Speaker 1: you make an impact? And can you can you enhance
9:33
Speaker 1: it and can you make it better? And you know,
9:35
Speaker 1: I think if the starting point is farther down the
9:38
Speaker 1: down the line, it makes for an easier transition.
9:40
Speaker 2: This is never going to be easy.
9:41
Speaker 1: I know, let's not get it confused, but I think
9:44
Speaker 1: a good foundation. You know what coach More and his
9:46
Speaker 1: staff were been able to do to this point time,
9:48
Speaker 1: the players in that locker room, and then obviously the
9:51
Speaker 1: alignment from the administration and how they see this thing going.
9:53
Speaker 1: I think it really aligned with how I see it,
9:55
Speaker 1: and you know what our goals would be.
10:06
Speaker 4: Welcome coach Roger Cleveland from Hurst Media, Connecticut. I'm just
10:10
Speaker 4: wondering you're you're thrown into it at a time when
10:14
Speaker 4: the sport is really kind of has a different atmosphere.
10:17
Speaker 4: What are your priorities for the next three weeks to
10:20
Speaker 4: kind of get a foundation under you?
10:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, great question.
10:25
Speaker 1: I think college athletics sometimes it's rocky waters right now.
10:27
Speaker 1: I mean the ship is moving all over the sea
10:29
Speaker 1: and you have to be able to grab the wheel
10:31
Speaker 1: and stabilize and steer it the right way.
10:35
Speaker 2: I think things that are.
10:36
Speaker 1: You know, you have to decide as the coach, what
10:38
Speaker 1: is a little bit of a burning match, so to speak,
10:41
Speaker 1: speak on the floor versus a burning home, and put
10:44
Speaker 1: energy in the right places because there's really not enough
10:46
Speaker 1: hours in the day to pay attention and move, you know,
10:49
Speaker 1: and and chase the you know, the wind, so to speak.
10:52
Speaker 1: So you know, obviously we've got to get the ground
10:55
Speaker 1: running here of hiring a coaching staff. We've got to
10:57
Speaker 1: be able to get some relationship for him with the
10:58
Speaker 1: current players. We got to be able to be ready
11:00
Speaker 1: to roll when the transfer portal opens up in January
11:02
Speaker 1: and get moving as it pertains to building next year's team,
11:06
Speaker 1: because you know, in the last ten years my tenure
11:08
Speaker 1: being the head coach, I've seen this thing change on
11:10
Speaker 1: how how rosters are built and how they're constructed, you know,
11:14
Speaker 1: almost every year.
11:15
Speaker 2: So you got to be able to adapt. You got
11:17
Speaker 2: to be able to overcome maybe the challenges.
11:19
Speaker 1: And then I think that's you know, what's staring us
11:21
Speaker 1: right in the face right.
11:22
Speaker 3: Now at Jason Domamory from the Hartfred Current. Do you
11:31
Speaker 3: construct rosters more with the portal or more with traditional
11:36
Speaker 3: high school recruiting. It seems like you do more of
11:38
Speaker 3: a balance maybe than they've seen here.
11:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think I'd take that up the
11:42
Speaker 1: same approach I would be to hiring a staff.
11:45
Speaker 2: You have to fit the institution.
11:46
Speaker 1: You have to understand the climate of the current environment
11:49
Speaker 1: that you're walking into. You know, I was at a
11:51
Speaker 1: place for ten straight years and we were able to
11:52
Speaker 1: be do an unbelievable job and as good as a
11:54
Speaker 1: job as anybody in.
11:55
Speaker 2: The country, and retaining our athletes.
11:56
Speaker 1: You know, We've had eleven draft picks there since I've
11:59
Speaker 1: been the head coach, and we'll probably have one or
12:01
Speaker 1: two more this year. Our guys don't leave, you know,
12:04
Speaker 1: when you have that luxury and you're able to retain them.
12:07
Speaker 1: That way, it's really easy to continue to cycle in
12:10
Speaker 1: high school player after high school player and really put
12:12
Speaker 1: you know, raw energy into development.
12:15
Speaker 2: We can't get that confused. It's still about development.
12:18
Speaker 1: It's still about providing a plan for a young person
12:20
Speaker 1: to stay connected to and allowing them to, you know,
12:22
Speaker 1: really feel that they if they do what they need
12:24
Speaker 1: to do, they can be the best version of themselves
12:26
Speaker 1: right here at Yukon. So I'd hate to sit here
12:29
Speaker 1: and not tell you the truth. The truth is is
12:32
Speaker 1: these rosters turn over a year and in year out,
12:34
Speaker 1: and we're into a new world that none of us
12:36
Speaker 1: are really totally familiar with. But the toothpaste is not
12:39
Speaker 1: going back in the tube. You know, this is where
12:41
Speaker 1: we're at and we're going at a at rapid speed.
12:43
Speaker 1: We have to be able to put a team on
12:46
Speaker 1: the field next year that's highly competitive, yet not sacrifice
12:48
Speaker 1: what growth and development looks like for a four or
12:50
Speaker 1: five year run of what this looks like for these
12:53
Speaker 1: student athletes.
12:57
Speaker 6: Coach Eric Joe Brats with the ABC station in New Haven,
13:00
Speaker 6: how important is it to you to build relationships with
13:02
Speaker 6: the high school coaches in the state and to keep
13:05
Speaker 6: the local talent here in Connecticut.
13:07
Speaker 1: It's a life blood of your program. You know, this
13:09
Speaker 1: thing has to be built inside out. It can't be
13:11
Speaker 1: built outside in. You know, I would go back to
13:14
Speaker 1: you know, I'd start right if I was the head
13:16
Speaker 1: coach of Toledo still and you asked me the same question,
13:18
Speaker 1: I'd say, we'd start in Lucas County. We'd start with
13:20
Speaker 1: the great high school coaches right there in our city.
13:22
Speaker 1: We have a great opportunity to do that and then
13:24
Speaker 1: from there you branch out. You know, you get a
13:26
Speaker 1: four or five hour radius of campus. So what you
13:28
Speaker 1: really try to you know, you try to hammer home
13:30
Speaker 1: and I think that that goes a long way. That puts,
13:32
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of creates a lot of buzz
13:34
Speaker 1: locally about your team. It puts people in the stands
13:37
Speaker 1: to watch their their favorite high school player from you know,
13:40
Speaker 1: their local cities. But if you can't find them, it's
13:42
Speaker 1: still my job to put the best product on the
13:44
Speaker 1: field on Saturday. Then from there you got to get
13:45
Speaker 1: on an airplane and go find them. But ultimately, you know,
13:49
Speaker 1: if you can get a car and drive five minutes
13:50
Speaker 1: on their own to find a great player rather than
13:51
Speaker 1: flying the Los Angeles to do it, I'd rather do that.
13:54
Speaker 1: But we gotta do what's best for the program. We
13:57
Speaker 1: want to you know, we want to bring in the
13:58
Speaker 1: high school coaches. We want to really support the state.
14:01
Speaker 1: We want I think there's underrated talent here. I think
14:03
Speaker 1: there's untapped potential. I think building relationships with the high
14:06
Speaker 1: school coaches is a critical piece to how.
14:08
Speaker 2: You build a program.
14:10
Speaker 1: And you know, we want to support them in anything
14:12
Speaker 1: that they do or any adventure that we could help,
14:15
Speaker 1: you know, learn from a professional development and we'll do
14:17
Speaker 1: lots of clinics, we're going to do lots of camps.
14:19
Speaker 1: We're going to really involve the youth in our community,
14:21
Speaker 1: and we're going to truly build community. And without being
14:23
Speaker 1: having those great relationship, I don't think you have an
14:25
Speaker 1: opportunity to do that.