Q&A With Head Coach Jason Candle

The following is a transcript from a news conference on Sept. 28 with Toledo Head Coach Jason Candle.

Candle (opening statement) - First of all, thanks for being here. It's great seeing you guys. I didn't think this was ever going to happen again. Certainly, we're excited for the opportunity to get back out there on the football field and to get these young people the opportunity to do what they love to do. A lot of work goes into these decisions to get this ball rolling, to get us to this point of time. Lots of thank-you's to our conference, our administration, our athletic training staff, and to the people who have made this opportunity possible. It is one we don't take for granted. So, with that being said, the Rockets are looking forward to a great fall.

Q - What was the roller coaster like at the end of last week knowing there might be a fall football season after all?

Candle - It has been a real challenge since March, to sit back and to wake up every day, and try to have complete clarity about what was going on. That's been a struggle, and it really challenged our guys to think outside the box, to not live in that comfort zone, because this has been an up-and-down rollercoaster for anybody in each of our career fields. Certainly, it has been for these young people as they try to navigate school and football and all the challenges that come along with that. So we try not to focus on it, but that's really hard to do, as you know. Every time you pick up your phone somebody's mind has changed about something. We try to stay the course the best that we can. Just get our work in, and do what we do, and obviously hope that it worked out in our favor.

Q – What did the last few weeks look like training-wise? I know it's probably different than any fall that you have had in your life as a football coach. Was it difficult to try to stay focused on being competition-ready but also having that uncertainty?

Candle- Well, we are not competition-ready, I can tell you that. We are a long way away yet, but I give our kids a lot of credit because they did stay the course. They came here with a great attitude and gave great effort, whatever workout we put in front of them, whatever obstacles were in their path. They just try to keep the thing in front of them the main thing, and worry about what they had to do. That is their responsibility each and every day. I give them a lot of credit because that's really hard to do as a 40-year-old man let alone as an 18 to 22-year-old kid. I really trust the leadership of this football team. We have some solid Rockets and solid seniors who have been here and have been through it. They've seen average seasons and they have seen championship seasons and everything in between so it has been fun to watch them rally together and to stay the course. Everyone is excited now that we get a chance to play some football.

Q – How many weeks of contact practices do you think you need for these guys to be in game shape or competition shape?

Candle – That's a good question. We're probably a little farther away from a first-game schedule or a first-game competition date now then we would be in a normal camp setting. You're in the low 20s of practices leading into a normal camp or a normal season. I think we are 36 or 37 days away from what a potential game would be so I think we have plenty of time to get this right. Obviously, there is an invisible enemy out there we have to handle each and every day, and we still have to do a great job with that. To our kids' credit, they've done a great job with it. I think we are getting there; it will be a work in progress. We will get acclimated to what we're supposed to get acclimated to as we progress.

Q- Do you have any word on what day you are going to be able to start full contact practices?

Candle – We are able to start practice today. You still have your normal five-day window of getting to the point in time were you're allowed to have them (full contact practice). We're still in shorts, we're still running around there tagging everybody at the hip, playing touch football. Shoulder pads will come on soon, and it will progress to pads, and we will have some contact time then.

Q – Do you look at the season any differently in terms of the blueprint of going straight into cold-weather games? Do you view the season differently? Is there a different way to win going straight into those bad-weather games?

Candle – Well, I'm glad you have already made the prediction we are going to have bad weather. I'm in the school of thought that November is going to be great weather (laughs). Now you've got a point there, though. It is what it is its. It's Northwestern Ohio, it's a Midwestern, regionally located league that has to deal with the elements year-in and year-out. I've said it a long time, to play for championships you have to play great in November. When somebody says that, it means that you are going to deal with the elements. You are going to deal with cold weather games in particular, in cities that you are traveling to in the wee hours of the night, and then getting back home to turn around to do it again for next week. So I think it's something that we are used to, something that we know. There's going to be some specific thought put to that part of it, and then really the availability of what players you have. I think that's a wild card that four or five weeks out from game time, I don't think you can really predict right now.

Q – Is it hard to develop the passing game in November?

Candle – Yeah, I mean, we will see. We have to continue to mention the passing game. It's something I think we have been working hard on. I think our guys have had a productive off-season on their own, and we're trying to amp that up. Once Mitch (Guadagni) went down last year we couldn't supplement 50 or 60 yards of offense with his legs, so we didn't operate at a high enough level of efficiency on offense. That's been something that has been on our minds. We have to do a great job as a staff giving those guys a plan that will allow them to go play successful football in a rainstorm or if it's sunny and 80. That's something that is always an ongoing conversation.

Q- Going back to Friday when the vote (to play fall football) actually happened. First of all, how did you find out and what was your reaction knowing that the season was back on, and what was it like when you told the team?

Candle – We perhaps over overstepped our bounds, but we planned last week that we were going to be doing that this week. We kind of planted that seed into our kids' heads that this is what we expect. To be honest with you, it just kind of felt that it was trending that way, this was where the momentum was going once the Big 10 (made its announcement), and went back to as normal as we could get. I figured and hoped that we would be close behind them. I give everybody a lot credit getting this back on track and doing the right thing because I think our kids really deserve this opportunity. We planned to be back so we started that thought process, and boy it would have been a bad weekend if we didn't get it back, put it that way.

Q- When you only have six games and every one of these is going to be so crucial, how do you approach it from the perspective of knowing that every single game is going to mean that much?

Candle – Well, I think your preseason practices have to be like any other year. Your preseason camp is to develop depth on your roster and try to allow players to formulate their role within the program. And then it's to win your first game. From there, a lot of things happen in the first game -- good, bad, ugly -- that you have to go back and reevaluate. The old adage is that teams make their biggest jump from week 1 to week 2. I think there is a lot of truth to that because I think there is a lot of self-evaluation from players, coaches, and everybody on how you do things to try get it back on track, learning from maybe the mishaps you had on week one. It progressively builds from there. Each week it going to be critically important that you go out play really, really well. We play in a competitive league. This isn't something that we are not used to. You know each and any every week that if you don't bring your A game you're just going to get beat. That's just the way it is. We know they are all important games but we have to prepare to get right and try to win that first one before we worry about any of the other ones.

Q- Knowing that you still get to play Bowling Green, how important is that to you that you still get that little bit of normalcy? Why is it so important that you have that game on your schedule?

Candle – I think it is important to our community, I think it's important to Northwest Ohio, it's important to this city. I think it's important to their university; I know it's important to our university and to the players in our locker room. Obviously, there is a little bit of a sour taste in our mouth from last year. It's a game we are definitely looking forward to.

Q- Obviously it will be a very different season in every way because of everything the guys have been through and all the uncertainty. Would success in a season like this in someway be even more rewarding?

Candle – We know our program has been through some ups and downs in the just the last four months or so. We've had some tough things to deal with. We lost a player (Jahneil Douglas) on our team to a tragic situation. There are guys playing with a heavy heart, guys who are keeping that guy in their thoughts and in their prayers and in their minds each and every day. It's a big challenge, but it's still the same. It's trying to get 18 to 22 year old people to be who they said they were going to be each and every day. What is the driving factor for that? There is a little bit extra right now. I hope our guys continually understand that as we press forward. We are not trying to win the championship for anybody else but for the people in our locker room first and foremost.

Q- As the quarterbacks continue to battle it out, I wanted to ask about Bryant Koback and having a running back coming back with that many yards. How crucial is that as you guys try to break in a new starter in that quarterback position and try to develop that passing game more?

Candle – Like always, that running back room is a competitive room. You have Bryant Koback, you have Shakif Seymour, both who have proven themselves and have done a really good job. You also have Jacquez Stuart and Micah Kelly, both young athletes who are chomping at the bit for the opportunity. We're going to try and run the football to the best of our ability. We always have; that's what sets the table for everything else that you want to do offensively. This is not Hawaii or Southern California were you can throw it 55 times a game and be successful. We're going to rely on Bryant, we're going to rely on Shakif, we're going to rely on some of those other guys that I feel are very talented players in that room. Let them set the table and see what we can do from there on the passing game and take a little bit of pressure off these quarterbacks. I think at times last year in some of the games we played, it wasn't fair to Carter and Eli to go in there and throw it 30 times for the first half of the game and just say go win the football game for us. It all matters, and if your not great on first down it's going to be really hard to be great on third down. Obviously, a great running game adds to your first down efficiency.

Q- Going off that, you have always had a pretty good balance on offense. Do you expect to lean on the running game more than ever this year?

Candle – The term I would use is balance. That is who we want to be. We've always found success that way and in a perfect world that is where you want to end up. We've had games here where we've thrown for 400 yards and others where we've run for 400 yards. It's about what the defense gives us. It's about playing winning football from the quarterback and how he can get the other 10 guys around him into the best place. I think if you watch pro football, even the young quarterbacks in that league that are playing really well have the ability to get the offense in the best place possible, and they limit their mistakes because they do so. That's what we are searching for. That's what we are trying to get accomplished, and the running game will add a lot to that.

Q- You talked about watching pro football, but you were also at a pumpkin patch with your family recently, you got to do things in the fall that you haven't gotten to do in your life of football. How weird has that all been?

Candle – Not weird that I'm out at a pumpkin patch, but rewarding is what I would say. We may not ever go through a season like this ever again, and I hope we don't. I hope it's back to normal, and the plan you put in place doesn't get ripped up and thrown in the trash four times in four weeks. Having the opportunity to spend some time with your family, spend some time with your kids and go do things people get to do regularly, I think that's a really cool thing. We had a lot of fun. But from a coaching standpoint, or a players' standpoint, it's time to get back to work, and we are excited about it.

Players Mentioned

Jahneil Douglas

Micah Kelly

Bryant Koback

Shakif Seymour

Jacquez Stuart

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