Q&A With Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk

Men's Basketball Records 3.093 Team GPA

Wednesday, May 13

Angel Montas Jr. with Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk

Angel Montas Jr. Transferring to Toledo from UMass-Lowell

Monday, April 27

Rich Barron Transferring to Toledo from Providence

Sunday, April 26

Manny Johnson drives the line for Central Catholic - OHSAA Division III Regional Final

Toledo's Manny Johnson Joining Rockets in 2026-27 Season

Thursday, April 23

Sonny Wilson

/ Men's Basketball

Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk led the Rockets to the MAC Championship Game in 2026.

5/29/2026 10:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Rockets returning several key members of rotation and adding three veteran transfers and four freshmen for 2026-27 season

The Toledo men's basketball program appeared in the MAC Championship Game last year and returns several key members of its rotation for the 2026-27 season. The Rockets are also adding three veteran transfers and four freshmen to their program. Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk sat down to provide his thoughts on his 2026-27 roster as he prepares to welcome his team back to campus this summer.

How beneficial is it to have the majority of your rotation coming back this year compared to last year when you only had all-conference guard Sonny Wilson returning?

COACH KOWALCZYK: We have six returning guys, and in this day and age, that's a lot. We have some experienced guys. Jaylan Ouwinga has been here for two years, and Austin Parks started every game last year. Mynor Strong and Will James Jr. each saw meaningful minutes and played in some big games too. We're also excited about Chris Riddle. He's a guy that obviously had some injury issues this year. We're excited to get him at full strength and have him play with a lot of confidence and aggressiveness.

Can you talk about how much Chris was missed last year and what he will add to this year's team?

COACH KOWALCZYK: We missed Chris a lot, and he would have played a huge role for us. He's a physical wing player that can play multiple positions. He can really shoot it, and he's a high major athlete. He's somebody that has a really big upside and just needs game time and experience on the court.

Austin Parks' addition last year provided you a center that you didn't have the previous few seasons. Can you talk about the progress he made last year?

COACH KOWALCZYK: I thought Austin got significantly better as the season progressed. He was a little bit better than I anticipated. We knew about his size and what he could bring us in the post, but he's got good hands and good feet. It took him some time, but I think he gained confidence after he didn't come here in very good shape. He's really been working on his conditioning this offseason and is somebody that I think had a very underrated season for us. He's a big body that can move some people. He can really score in the post. He creates a lot of double teams. We adjusted to that and got much better handling those double teams both individually and as a team.

Jaylan Ouwinga also gave you size and skill in the post. How has he developed since coming to the program two years ago?

COACH KOWALCZYK: Jaylan is an ultra-talented guy that really started to buy into working harder. When guys are in their freshman year, they don't understand that this level of competition is hard and don't know how hard you need to work. When he figured that out a little bit this year, he became much more aggressive and much more assertive. When he started doing that, he played better. Now it's time for Jaylan to take another step forward and to do it consistently. He is 6-foot-9, he's long, he's skilled and he possesses the ability to be one of the best post players in our league.

Talk about Mynor Strong and the improvement he made throughout the season and becoming such an important part of your success late in the year.

COACH KOWALCZYK: Mynor had a great summer last year followed by a great preseason. Then he started out a little bit slow once our season started and lost some confidence before coming back strong. I thought when we put him in the starting lineup at the end of January, it changed our season and the whole makeup of our team. We got tougher. We got better defensively. We became, in my opinion, one of the best teams in this league in the last month of the season. The big difference was obviously his defense, but it was his improved offensive game and how hard he played that consistently helped us.

Will James Jr. also really developed as a freshman. Talk about his progress and your vision for him in the upcoming season.

COACH KOWALCZYK: Will really wants to be coached, and he wants to be really good. It's easy to say that, but he puts in the work to do it. That's why he started to contribute more in the second half of last season. He is super talented and can develop into an all-conference type player. He just needs to play with a little bit more discipline both defensively and offensively. When that happens, I think you're going to see a guy that could take a big jump like Sam Lewis did from his freshman to sophomore year. I think if anybody can do that, it's Will.

In addition to your key returnees, you are also adding three veteran transfers with Angel Montas Jr., Rich Barron and Sean Jones. Can you talk about how their experience will help the program?

COACH KOWALCZYK: I thought last year's team was probably too young. Looking back at our roster makeup, we didn't know that revenue sharing was going to be part of the landscape until after we signed the five freshmen that we did. If we had known that, we probably wouldn't have brought in that many freshmen. This year, we tried to get a little bit older so we would have more experience. Angel, Rich and Sean are each in their fourth or fifth year of college, and they each have two years of eligibility left. That's a big plus for us and something we're really excited about.

How significant was it to be able to add Sean as your first signee from the transfer portal after he was at Marquette for the last four years?

COACH KOWALCZYK: It was very important. Sean has been given the keys to this team as our starting point guard and is going to run our team. I believe in him and think he's very talented. He wants to be a college coach. He's tough, he's knowledgeable and he's got complete ownership of our program. When our fans see how hard Sean plays and how athletic and tough he is, they're really going to like him.

Another transfer from a Big East school is Rich Barron, who comes to Toledo from Providence. What will he add to the program?

COACH KOWALCZYK: We thought we were going to sign Rich out of high school before he ended up going to George Mason. Then his coach, Kim English, was hired at Providence. He's a skilled guy who can really shoot the basketball and he made the Big East All-Freshman Team. He has a very physical frame and is another veteran guy that can probably play three different positions. He has a huge upside, and I'm looking forward to coaching him now after we missed getting him out of high school.

The final transfer you added was Angel Montas Jr. from UMass Lowell. He averaged 22.9 ppg in his final nine games last year and was one of the best players in the America East Conference. What type of impact do you think he can make?

COACH KOWALCZYK: I think if you look at Angel, he's just a really good player. He can play four different positions if we need him to. He can shoot it. He can put it on the floor. He's tough. He rebounds it. He's a first-team all-league guy who averaged 20 points in conference play. He's got a great personality, and it was refreshing to see that when we were recruiting him. He said, 'Coach, I just want to help you guys win. How can we get this done?' Everything was about winning and not about position, minutes or shots. It was 100 percent on winning.

Can you talk about what the four freshmen – Jaylohn Allen, Manny Johnson, Marco Mattucci, and Rashaun Porter – will bring to the program?

COACH KOWALCZYK: We're expecting big things from right away from Rashaun. He's a first-team all-state player from Illinois and a three-time state champion. He's a physical post player who plays hard, and I think our fans will love him. We also brought in three guards. Manny is more of a point guard, Jaylohn is more of a combo guard, and Marco is an athletic guard that can play multiple positions. Manny had a great senior year at Central Catholic and led them to their best season in school history. Jaylohn came in second for the player of the year in the state of Michigan, and he's a tough player who can score and make plays. I really like Marco's length and his defensive toughness. He understands how to play and he's a smart player. It's going to take some time for some of them to develop, but I'm very happy with all four of them.

Toledo Men's Basketball vs Akron Post Game Press Conference

Sunday, March 15

Toledo Men's Basketball vs UMass Post Game Press Conference

Friday, March 13

Toledo Men's Basketball vs BGSU Post Game Press Conference

Thursday, March 12

Toledo Men's Basketball vs Buffalo Post Game Press Conference

Friday, March 06

Players Mentioned

Jaylohn Allen

Rich Barron

Will James Jr.

Manny Johnson

Sean Jones

Sam Lewis

Marco Mattucci

Angel Montas Jr.

Jaylan Ouwinga

Austin Parks

Rashaun Porter

Chris Riddle

Mynor Strong

Sonny Wilson