TOLEDO, Ohio – Head coach Tod Kowalczyk announced Wednesday that 6-foot-10, 250-pound center Austin Parks (St. Marys, Ohio) will transfer to the University of Toledo to join the Rockets' men's basketball program next season. Parks has two years of eligibility remaining after playing the last two seasons at Ohio State.

"We're ecstatic to have Austin join our Rocket family," Kowalczyk said. "He is what we've been missing which is a true center with really good size. Austin was one of the Top 150 recruits in the country and all the Big Ten schools were recruiting him. He didn't get a whole lot of opportunity at Ohio State, but he's going to get a great opportunity here. I'm really looking forward to seeing his development over the next two years with us. We're adding another high character guy from a great family, and he's also from Northwest Ohio which is really good for our program."

Parks was an ESPN four-star prospect and ranked No. 5 in Ohio as well as one of the Top 10 centers nationally after setting 13 school records at St. Marys Memorial High School, including career points (1,528), career rebounds (645), points in a game (45) and career wins (71). He averaged 22.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 3.2 apg and 1.8 bpg as a senior en route to earning first-team all-state honors.

Parks shot 53.3% from the field and averaged 8.3 mpg in 15 games this past season at Ohio State and played a season-high 18 minutes at Maryland (Dec. 14).

A 2023 graduate of St. Marys Memorial High School, Parks was the All-Northwest Ohio DII player of the year and became only the second player in program history to play in the Ohio/Kentucky All-Star Game.