Summer Q&A with Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk

Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk is one of five active NCAA Division I men's basketball head coaches to win four straight outright league titles.

Photo by: Daniel Miller/University of Toledo

7/16/2024 9:20:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Rockets' mentor looks back at program's incredible run and ahead to 2024-25 campaign

The Toledo men's basketball program will be looking to win its fifth-consecutive Mid-American Conference title in the upcoming 2024-25 campaign. Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk is one of five active NCAA Division I men's basketball head coaches in the nation to win four straight outright league titles joining Arkansas' John Calipari, Gonzaga's Mark Few, Kansas' Bill Self, and Vermont's John Becker. He sat down to provide his thoughts about his program's tremendous run of success and his outlook for the upcoming 2024-25 season.

The program is on an incredible run after winning four straight outright Mid-American Conference titles. What do you think are the common ingredients in winning the four championships?

KOWALCZYK: I think when you win four straight league titles, it's a sign of culture and high-character men that are playing together. We have played together and been able to fight through the adversity that a team encounters over the course of a season. The fact that we've done it with different stars is probably the thing that's the most impressive about winning four in a row.

Can you talk about the talent that has gone through the program who has played key roles in winning these championships and your expectations for this season?

KOWALCZYK: Every year we've had different players leading us. We lost Marreon Jackson and Spencer Littleson from our first championship team, but we came back and we were a better team. After our title in 2021-22, we lost Ryan Rollins to the NBA draft but were even better the next season. Then we lost three great ones in RayJ Dennis, JT Shumate, and Seth Millner. We took a little step back but still won a championship. This year's team could be as good as any of those and hopefully better. We're going to be a longer team that I think will shoot the ball better and be improved on the defensive end. Those weren't strengths of ours last season and will help us be a better team this year.

How much of a difference will it make to have only three freshmen on this year's roster compared to having five in your rotation for much of last season?

KOWALCZYK: We will have much more experience this season after having five freshmen on our roster last year. It was a challenge last season to bring five guys into our program and prepare them for a college basketball season. This year we only have Tyler Ode, Jaylan Ouwinga, and Ka'leel Stillman. We think Tyler and Jaylan can really help us this season and be part of our rotation. Ka'leel will be redshirting after coming off knee surgery and has a bright future as well.

Senior Andre Lorentsson and sophomore Javan Simmons both have been part of the last two championship teams. What impact will they have in showing the newcomers what your program's culture is all about?

KOWALCZYK: I've been very happy with Javan's and Dre's leadership this spring and summer. They have been vocal and have improved significantly this off-season. They both are entering their third year in our program and understand how we do things, how we're built, and why we've been successful.

Javan made a great impact last year as a redshirt freshman and was named MAC Freshman of the Year after averaging 12.0 ppg and 5.0 rpg. What areas is he looking to improve?

KOWALCZYK: He needs to be able to score off the dribble on the perimeter and needs to shoot a few more threes. We want to develop his perimeter skills as much as possible, but at the same time he's a guy that understands where his bread is buttered and that's in the paint.

Can you tell us about Dre and the confidence he gained last season?

KOWALCZYK: I thought Dre had a very good year for us. He kind of saved our season and it started with our game at Eastern Michigan when he won the game for us. I think he got a great deal of confidence from that game, and I think he will continue to grow as a player.

How has last year's freshman class grown since arriving on campus last summer?

KOWALCZYK: Our true freshmen last year were thrown into the fire. When RayJ left for Baylor, that opened the door for Sonny (Wilson) to be our starting point guard from day one. I thought he handled it very well. If you ask our staff who our best defensive player was last year, they would say it's Sonny. He was very efficient on the defensive end. He's working hard on becoming a better shooter. We think he's a guy who can take the next step and be another all-league player for us.

I thought Sam (Lewis) had a good freshman year. It took him a while to get adjusted to college basketball and he handled it well. For Bryce (Ford), it was an incomplete year because of a couple of injuries. It's not really fair to evaluate where he's at. Bryce is somebody that we're high on. He really started to come around, and then he got pneumonia. Then when he started to feel better and got back out on the court, he pulled a groin late in the season. That was a big setback for us and hurt our depth in the conference tournament.

Two guys that have bright futures in our program are Xavier Thomas and Grgur Brcic. Xavier could be a really good player for us, and I love his personality. He has great feel and can score the ball. Grgur is big, strong and physical. He's continuing to work on his skill level and his scoring ability in the low post.

What type of impact will transfers Isaiah Adams (Buffalo), Seth Hubbard (Western Michigan) and Colin O'Rourke (Wis.-Parkside) have on your program?

KOWALCZYK: I think the addition of our three transfers gives us a veteran team with five returning starters even though we obviously lost three starters to the transfer portal. When you have Javan and Sonny back and add experienced players like Isaiah, Seth and Colin that gives you a lot of experience. Our three transfers have all produced in college basketball and we know what we're getting from them. Isaiah and Seth are both talented players who play at a high level and know what it's like to play in the MAC. They can score, defend, and will really add to the length of our team. Colin was a very good player at the Division II level, and I'm really excited about adding all three of them.

With the new additions to your roster what type of changes do you expect for next season?

KOWALCZYK: I think we need to shoot more threes than last year. We were not good enough in that area even though we led the league in three-point shooting percentage. That shows you we took good shots. It wasn't a strength of ours. You look at how the game is being played and you at look at the Celtics who won an NBA championship. Their style of play is phenomenal, so I'd like to see us getting back to shooting more threes. At the same time, we need to play aggressive, get the ball inside to Javan, and drive to the basket so we can get to the free-throw line.