Jason Kalsow enters his eighth season as an assistant coach with the Toledo basketball program and his 10th year overall as a member of Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk’s staff.
In his seven seasons on the Toledo bench, Kalsow has helped UT implement a culture of discipline and accountability. All that hard work has resulted in the Rockets posting five straight winning records, including an impressive 81 victories over the last four years.
Highlighting Kalsow’s tenure was a 2013-14 campaign that saw Toledo win a school-record 27 games, a victory total that ranks fourth in Mid-American Conference history. UT also captured a share of its eighth league regular-season title that season and appeared in its eighth National Invitation Tournament in program history.
The Rockets followed that record-breaking season with another 20-win campaign in 2014-15 and a 17-15 win-loss ledger last year.
Kalsow has played a key role in the development of All-MAC honorees Nathan Boothe, Julius Brown, Justin Drummond, Rian Pearson, J.D. Weatherspoon and Jonathan Williams. Toledo has had at least two players earn all-league accolades in each of the last six years, including four first-team recipients.
Kalsow came to Toledo from Green Bay where he helped the Phoenix to a pair of 22-win campaigns. UWGB posted a 22-13 win-loss mark (11-7 Horizon League) and advanced to the second round of the College Basketball Invitational in 2009-10. In 2008-09, Green Bay notched a 22-11 ledger and finished second in the conference with a 13-5 record en route to hosting the first post-season game in school history.
A Huntley, IL native, Kalsow enjoyed a standout collegiate career at UW-Stevens Point before playing professionally for one year in Iceland, where he participated in the 2005 Euro Cup.
As a collegian, Kalsow helped the Pointers capture a pair of NCAA Division III titles (2004, 2005) and three conference titles while accumulating an outstanding 103-18 (.851) record during his playing career. He was named the NCAA Division III National Player of the Year in 2005 and was also the Final Four’s Most Valuable Player that season. A four-time all-league honoree and UWSP’s all-time scoring and rebounding leader, he earned first-team All-America accolades his senior season after picking up
second-team plaudits as a junior.
For his accomplishments on the court with the Pointers, Kalsow was inducted into UWSP’s Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2010.
Following his professional career, Kalsow served three years on UWSP’s coaching staff, one season as a volunteer coach and two as a graduate assistant. During that time, the Pointers posted a 66-20 record and appeared in a pair of NCAA Tournaments.
Kalsow graduated from UW-Stevens Point with a degree in social science in 2005. He earned his master’s degree in education-adult based learning in May 2008.
Kalsow and his wife Allie reside in Sylvania. A former Rocket women’s basketball player, Allie has spent the last five years as the sideline reporter for Cleveland Cavaliers’ television broadcasts.
