And now the 419 with Gretchen DeBacker Matt Killam And Kevin Mullin, Welcome in to the 419 powered by WGTE, presented by Whetro Wealth Management.

I'm Kevin Mullin, alongside Gretchen Debacker.

Matt Killam!

It is our surprise guest Friday edition of the 419, and it is my guest today.

Which I'm super excited about.

You know, we talk about, here in the studio.

You know, how do we sneak the guest in so nobody can see them?

And this is a rare guest where I think they could actually be sitting on the set.

And I don't think that at least one of you would know.

Is that a clue who they are?

Well, I said before, we get very nervous with your guests because we don't have any idea who they are.

Yeah.

I this is I've done this to you guys before.

Where I've brought on a surprise guest that I have not met yet.

Yes.

That was a good plan.

Yeah.

This is another one of those examples that I. I have met this individual.

Just someone from the building that was here.

That's right.

But you also bring on people that are too smart for us and then we don't.

That's not his bet.

Will likely be the case again today.

That's everyone's case every okay.

Yeah.

That's fair.

Yeah.

Hey, I talked yesterday about my wife's grandparents.

Yes, and I have to correct something.

First of all, thank you.

They've been married 68 years.

Not 70.

Yeah.

We haven't.

We have a standard here.

Yeah, journalism.

That's right.

I want to make sure I get that right.

Also, I mentioned that, grandma moose and Poppy are the kindest human beings in the world.

That is fact.

Sure.

So I want to make sure we don't try this case back.

In fact, so much so that they got gifts for you guys.

Oh my gosh.

And so I know for our, for our radio listeners, we're going to.

Yeah, yeah, we're going to have to, you'll have to describe what you're, what you're opening, but I, I, I'm delivering gifts to both of you from Poppy.

Oh, my goodness, that's so nice.

It's a print out.

Eight and a half by 11 photo.

I think this is our first show.

That's right.

So this is, you know, that says I'll see you in hell.

Yeah.

But.

Yeah.

So.

So, Gretchen, you got a photo?

I got a photo of our for the first show.

Nice.

And that's a good outfit I had on that day.

Yeah.

Great.

That's it.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

What?

Matt and I have a picture of an eagle.

He took that photo.

Oh, you're kidding me.

Yeah.

That's, took that photo at Farnsworth.

Oh, wonderful.

Yeah.

So, yeah, but one of my top three parks.

So those talons.

Yeah.

Yeah, he was an incredible on the eagle, too.

Photographer.

This is an amazing shot.

Please thank them.

Well, they're watching, they're watching.

Thank you very, very much.

Yeah.

This is so kind.

And then, to if you had any doubts that my daughter comes from my wife's side of the family.

My daughter also made a gift for the show business.

And so she painted, symbols of each of us.

Yeah.

This is perfect.

It was surprisingly difficult.

Yeah.

So.

So she got the bow tie for me?

Yep.

She got the Metroparks hat for math.

And then she was like, what do I do for Gretchen?

I was like, I don't know.

How about how about a necklace?

Necklace?

Okay, good.

Yeah.

So it says 419 with 419, I love it.

And then she signed the back Juliet Mullen and put the date.

So cute.

Perfect.

We're going to put this.

Does she know we're gonna put this on the bookshelf.

She wants it on the bookshelf.

Yeah, I bet she does.

Yep I love it.

Well-deserved.

Yes.

Yeah.

So thanks, Juliet.

I love, the excitement that, you know, certainly we talked about our families and kind of excitement for the new show.

And so when, when she started working on that, I was like, oh, this is our families are much more subdued.

Yeah.

In their enthusiasm to the point of that is non-existent.

Okay.

Well, my family's great.

Yeah.

So.

All right.

So we're gonna take a break here.

When we come back on the other side, we have my first of two surprise guests today.

There is a theme.

There is a connection between the two individuals.

But the first one, I will just leave you with.

I met them briefly at sip Coffee.

Okay.

We're ready.

We'll be back with my surprise guest here on a Friday edition of the 419.

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Advisory services are offered through capital investment advisory services LLC, securities offered through Capital Investment Group member Finra, SIPC.

More information at whetroadvisors.com The 419, powered by WGTE is made possible in part by supporters like you.

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The Local Thread brings you stories and conversations that connect our community.

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Welcome back into the 419.

It's our Friday Mystery guest edition where one of us invites on somebody that the other to, don't know who it is yet.

And this is my week, to to bring on the guest.

This is one of those rare moments where I actually also don't know, this individual, very well.

Okay.

I've certainly read quite a bit about them.

All right.

I saw them at CYP, a couple of weeks ago.

Well, at least we know they like a couple.

They've got.

They've got good taste in coffee.

And so made a point of stopping over to say hello.

Introduce myself.

They are originally from mommy.

Played football at Ohio State.

Okay.

Joined the coaching ranks.

And was recently brought back home.

Named as the new head coach.

Oh, right.

At the University of Toledo.

Wow.

Please welcome head football coach Mike Jacobs.

Good morning.

Morning.

How are y'all?

How are you?

Good to see you.

All right.

Good to see you for being here.

Thanks for having me.

Gretchen usually has a mental breakdown of when people have to get on to this chair, but I was warned to tread lightly.

I don't know if it was because of my size or because of the chair.

No, it's the chair in.

It's.

How are y'all this morning?

Man, this is exciting.

Yeah.

So I'm happy to be here.

Yeah.

It's great to be here.

It's a chance to come back home obviously.

So let's let's talk about kind of childhood.

Grew up in Miami.

Absolutely.

Right.

Right there over by the original four Miami elementary school and just down from, like, Indian Hills.

There used to be, like a coral hamburger on the corner there, but.

Yeah, that's that's right where I grew up in Miami.

We my dad was a college coach for about 40 years, and, about halfway through, he spent 15 seasons under Don Nealon at West Virginia.

Okay.

Halfway through that time, my folks split up and my mother's from the area, so, we moved back in from second grade on, in Miami public school.

How about, so I imagine grew up going to Toledo football games, and we did.

Yeah.

I mean, really all of it.

And just being on campus and around and had a number of friends that went to the medical college and all that kind of stuff.

So who are some of the early coaches that that influenced you and, and your playing style, coaching style?

Because obviously, I mean, you had a successful you don't you don't go to Ohio State without being a standout athlete.

Sure.

I mean, it starts it.

I mean, it all starts with my dad.

I mean, I have a passion for sports, a passion for football because of the way I watched his players interact with him and how they built him up and how they looked at him and or at least how I perceived that to be.

Yeah.

And he, he worked for, you know, Dan Mullen was a legendary coach, Coach Neal, and always made me feel a certain type of way.

When I was a coach's kid in the building, we were always welcome.

And so, you know, really those two to start and then, you know, I played for Alla Fontaine in Miami and, he was a tremendous coach and a great leader.

And, you know, from there just rolled it right into college in order to have that sort of career.

Everyone talks about it now, I think, certainly aggression does because she's a big football fan.

But attention to detail separates, professionalism.

I'm always curious, what was your house like because everything in its place.

Was your dad meticulous?

My dad was meticulous.

You know, it just everything.

Everything needed to have a spot.

I'm very much that way.

Very A-type.

Sure.

Things are very orderly.

If they're not, I get a little sideways.

But, you have to.

Especially now.

There's so much more that goes into I can't imagine.

Yeah.

And so it's, It's it's good to be organized.

I spent part of my coaching journey.

I spent as as doing some football operations work, as well as under the categories other duties as assigned.

When you work at the lower levels.

And I think that really that that piece of it really set me up for what we're dealing with now with the portal and rupture and all those things.

I mean, there's so many translations to football and, you know, corporate life and structure.

Right?

I mean, you're certainly now you're the CEO of, of this business, you know.

But I tell you, I tell young people when they're looking at taking a job or an internship and they're like, do I want to go to a big company or a small company?

And the answer is yes.

Because you get different experiences, right?

So, you know, the big company, you see different things.

You're at the small company, you know, you talk about being in smaller programs.

You get a chance to do a little bit of everything we did.

And that it's really what helped me be well-rounded.

You know, I think if you would ask the 22 year old version of myself that it just got done playing and new, I want to go into college football.

Got an opportunity to be a graduate assistant at Eastern Michigan.

That was actually my first job, shortly after I got done playing, which they're hard to get right.

At the time, there was only one on each side of the ball.

There's only 100 and whatever 17 teams at the time.

So, you know, there's one offensive guy and I happened to get it at Eastern Michigan.

I'm forever grateful.

But, I would have thought I would have always been in Division One in my my journey.

Took a route and took a path.

After a while, I spent some time in a Division three school.

I spent, a number of years then in the Division two landscape.

And to that point, just, there's not much I haven't done as part of the program, whether it's laundry, whether it's, you know, vacuuming, putting table skirts on for recruiting visits, shoveling snow and salting, I mean, going to pick up the, the power of of generator power.

And I mean, we've we've kind of done it all as we've built it out.

And, I think there's no task that I'm not, you know, I haven't done.

Yeah, I'm willing to do whatever.

And what did you study at Ohio State?

So your backup plan.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm curious.

I didn't have a great backup plan.

It was.

I had a sport.

Leisure studies was a major with an emphasis in coaching.

It's a bachelor of science in education, I think.

Had I not gone, the coaching route still would have ended up most likely in education or sales.

A number of my friends ended up in, in, the kind of the cardinal health space for sure.

And device sales.

Yeah.

So do you remember let's go back to your obviously recruiting for college has changed today and certainly when you were recruited.

But I'm I'm always fascinated by that process.

If you remember what that was like as a, as a high school student, starting to have college coaches show up in Miami and and show interest in in you what that was like.

We had had a run of some some really fantastic football players, guys that were a few years ahead of me.

Matt LaVar, was a linebacker that ended up going on to Ohio State.

And then Jim Harding, who's you know, was an All-American at Toledo, is now the offensive line coach of Michigan, was just a year older than me.

So there have been people through the building.

I'd obviously grown up around it, but, mine was different.

I'm not the tallest guy.

Right?

I'm an offensive lineman.

My dad taught me early on known that he was five eight, and my mom was about five four, that I needed to have a basketball.

Oh, yeah, I need, I needed, so I technique.

Yeah.

He told me I had a long snap and that was kind of my bus ticket.

So I had some some much bigger opportunities, you know, Big Ten type opportunities to to just go long snap.

I looked at a Gretchen Long snapper, I think just a little bit about their when you snap for a really long time.

Yeah.

It's elongated.

Yes.

That's right.

That's a, that's a mean snap.

Yeah.

Yeah that's that's right.

Yeah.

It's a musical theater really.

Yeah.

Really capable of what you're trying to do when you're doing a dance move.

Yeah yeah yeah.

Real rhythm.

So it won't.

Yeah, yeah.

But continued.

Yeah.

So I, he told me how to long snap.

So so it was different right.

Like there was a number of Mac opportunities.

But I looked at a number of the Division three schools.

Both my parents were Wittenberg graduate.

Sure.

And so, yeah, you know, kind of looked at all that.

The great thing about the state of Ohio is what there's eight Division one programs.

There's I think nine Division two programs.

There's a plethora of Division three.

So there's really all levels.

And, you know, we weren't, afraid to look at all of them and just try to find the right fit.

Ultimately, walking on an Ohio State, having an opportunity to play for my dad, who had transitioned on the John Cooper staff, was something that I thought was really important and was just special.

And had it not worked out well, heck, I could transfer down and go to Montana Union or Baldwin Wallace or something along those lines.

And, but it did work out and, had a great experience at Ohio State.

And I think it set me up to, to get it in the coaching world.

So I, I hobbies other than football.

Did you fish?

Do you know, listen, I love the water.

Actually, one of my stops was the North Rhine, which is, Division two program in Hickory, North Carolina.

Right.

The the foot of the Blue Hills or Blue Ridge Mountains.

And, we lived on the lake there.

So I'm a leisure boater right now, but, I enjoy the water.

Yeah.

Education.

Yeah.

That's right.

It's a leisure.

It's, But I like the boat.

I love the water.

Really just spending time with my family.

We do enjoy golf.

Yeah.

And really just.

We get so little time.

It's.

It's row with them two young boys.

All of the boys.

The boys are not in six.

Okay?

Those are great ages.

Oh.

It's awesome.

It's a lot of fun right now.

What about your nuclear family?

Do you have any other siblings that are in?

Yeah.

No one.

No one that's, really in athletics for what's crazy is.

So I have one brother.

My brother Cody, actually is in Iowa, and, he would school at Columbia in Chicago.

He's a cinematographer, so.

Oh, Does lighting and films for shoots for TVs and movies and all that kind of thing.

Is he able to propel anything from long distances between his legs?

Yeah, he is not in high school.

Football is nothing.

Yeah.

That's right, that's right.

Yeah.

So but yeah, he got into it.

So he's kind of an equally crazy business just in different ways.

But yeah.

So he's in LA and then my mother still here.

She just recently retired.

She used to work for the county, for Lucas County, and.

Yeah.

And she retired this year.

How many years since she had, like 34.

How about that?

So finally it's 70.

I won't mention her age.

That's right.

Well, I did it.

Yeah.

That's right.

No problem.

There's so many pieces of this journey back to Toledo that that I want to dive into.

So I'm curious that that first phone call from, I'm assuming Brian Blair, kind of saying, hey, are you interested in coming home?

Talk to me through that kind of how that that process played out?

Sure is.

It is it started to look like, Jason may take or have other opportunities as he's had as the winningest coach in Toledo history.

You know, this is kind of something I've had my eye on.

It was kind of when right, where a lot of people known, like, I think he's interviewed for a few things over the years.

And, once he kind of got over that hump and was the all time women's coach, I thought this may be the season that it would roll.

And, you know, Brian reached out and certainly mutual mutual, interest on both sides, I think.

And for me, I mean, just, you know, I hold Toledo on a pedestal.

I understand what this program is.

I understand what the city is.

I understand the importance of Toledo football to the city of Toledo and, to to have just even the consideration for the opportunity to be the head coach was something that was really special for me.

I'm interested in how that just sort of all works.

Like how do you I'm assuming you have an agent.

They sort of put feelers out to, to figure out each season as coaches and other staff are moving around.

They do.

And a lot of these things run through, there's a handful of really large search firms that handle a lot of these weather and sports specific to, to, you know, head coaching searches or athletic director search the agent doesn't do that.

So, but but they handle that.

And so they'll, you know, they'll prospect some folks, they'll present them to the athletic directors who are who are in search and then they also are tasked then with get in contact with our agents, our people.

And we set up, you know, meetings in and around, you know, kind of what we're doing.

The last thing I ever want to do is disturb what I'm doing, where I'm at.

Yeah.

Right.

Right.

I, I'm somewhat familiar with this, which is probably generous, but you, you have an inventory of people that, are all of your contacts, right.

And you must have my guess is thousands of people in your phone.

At the risk of putting you on the spot, do you have, you're a mentor?

Do you have the five people in your contact list that you win or loss that you connect with or get advice from?

If you know my.

Yeah.

No, that's all right.

I wrote, so my dad's passed away.

I'm sorry.

No, that's all right.

It's been 16 years now, but, Bill Legg is a gentleman that was an All-American for my dad at West Virginia.

He got into coaching world, spent the last few years at Minnesota, but he actually, I, I spent some time on Joe Tiller stuff.

Joe Tiller's in Toledo.

Got lot love.

People don't realize that.

And so, Billy was how I got hired under Joe Tiller.

But he's a guy I speak to, you know, somebody that's in the business.

Somebody that's been through some things.

Yeah.

I still talk to John Lockhart, who's, College Football Hall of Famer.

John was the head coach at California University of Pennsylvania when I was an assistant there.

Okay.

And then I still hear from Coach Tressel.

I mean, I, I get a text usually either Thursday or Friday from Coach Tressel and then usually Saturday afterwards.

And, it's it's crazy, you know, his connection.

I don't think I could ever be a quarter of as good as he is with people.

And but like, I got a package in the mail and my wife is like, what is all this?

And I start opening it up and it was my it was a legal sheet.

And how my goals for my senior year at Ohio State in 2008 sent them to me.

So like, wow, just the depth of which he has.

And I mean, you know, here we have how it's done.

Okay.

Well, you've been a college coach.

I checked a fair amount off.

Just checking yourself a little bit about a boy, but, you know, I'll just make some adjustments to this guy pretty good.

I'm not going to lie to you.

If that.

If that goal sheet, like, everything was off, right?

Yeah.

That's that's a real that's a real jerk move.

You probably would have sent up if I sent him, if that was okay.

I just want you to know, you didn't get anything, right.

Yeah, sure I couldn't.

I've told you so.

But that's how I was parenting.

Yeah, but but those are the.

Those are the people bill League.

Really?

And again, I hear from Tyrus and then certainly my family like, I think the big thing in this business is, is we are people win, lose or draw like we're always unfortunately tied to the outcome more often than the process, unfortunately.

And you know, I it's important for me to just go home and decompress with my family.

You'll see, you'll, you'll hear me talking about and see me on social media with the burros on the bus, like my boys will ride the bus home with me for most of the games.

Yeah.

That's just some time that I get to stay with them.

They do?

Yeah.

Right.

And you got to do that to some degree.

A little bit, yeah.

And just travel it trips because my, you know, my dad was a little bit higher level than, you know, I had been open to that point.

And so but yeah that, that coaches unit that coaches family, I mean I still talk to a lot of the kids that were a part of that West Virginia staff for so long.

Sure.

I get a very different degree, right, but I get a little bit of that with Toledo being the PA announcer for football and basketball, and my kids love hanging out.

My, my son, just this year, sat next to me during a women's basketball game while I was announcing.

Yeah.

And, he just he just asked me.

He was like, hey, can I can I do that again?

Yeah.

And I was like, well, we get we'll we'll talk about it.

That's what I like.

My, my girls get to play on playgrounds that millions of people get to play that.

So it's very similar but the different special access.

That's right.

Yeah.

It's a really exclusive access.

The difference is, you know, the person who built it.

That's right, that's right, that's right, that's difference.

I, I want to go to break.

We're going to come back and talk a little bit about, the current team, sort of what your goals for the university are.

And kind of look ahead to, the season that's, that's coming up here in the fall.

But I want to talk we talked about family, and I just want to give you a minute to talk about.

You talked about your boys, the video of you guys walking out the tunnel on the field.

The first time.

Talk to me about kind of what?

What was going through your mind and family?

I mean, just, again, it's it's.

I sit in that office and it's surreal, right?

Like, the fact that it's not just about the football and the players, you look at the coaching lineage here and and what has transpired.

Absolutely.

And, you know, Dan Symon was once a head coach here, and semi was a family friend because when he left Toledo, he went to West Virginia, was on the staff there.

So like he would come home to Toledo to see his family and then I would ride back to Morgantown with them.

So like just the depth of the connections for me and to sit in that office and look out over the glass for to walk out that day with my boys, and kind of have that moment is, it'll be forever ingrained.

Yeah.

We're talking with Mike Jacobs, the brand new head coach at the University of Toledo.

When we come back, we'll start talking about this upcoming season and, see if we can update that goal sheet a little bit.

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Welcome back into the 419.

That's our Friday mystery guest edition.

And now we're joined by my mystery guest, the head coach of the University of Toledo football, Mike Jacobs.

Coach, we talked about the comparisons between football in kind of corporate business life.

Right.

You the the CEO of this business?

At least in my experience, when you interview for a job.

Right.

You want to know, you know, do I do I like the work?

Do I like the boss?

Do I like my coworkers?

This is unique in that in the world of college athletics today, it doesn't matter how much you like your coworkers, that can really change in an instant.

And I think as it relates to both coaching staff and even players, you've really had to sort of start from a relatively blank canvas.

We have.

Yeah.

And I mean, for for all the success that Toledo has had over the last, you know, couple of decades, right.

And certainly under Matt Campbell and Jason, you know, it's it's really the first full building reset in a while.

And so, although it can be nerve wracking, I think the benefit that you get is that, you know, we can I kind of uniquely know Toledo and in a good way.

And then there's a number of my staff that have come with me.

I think rod, seven of the gentlemen that were with me at Mercer, as well as our strength and conditioning coach, and then we've added some really talented coaches, left sitting head coaching positions, and those are almost impossible to get.

So, you know, for guys like Chris Riser, who's our offensive coordinator, he'd been the head coach at Tiffin, down the road and had gone on to Gardner-Webb.

And then, Corey Allen was the head coach at Findlay most recently.

And so to to kind of blend our two staffs and, and to get guys to leave those type of positions, I think it speaks volumes to, what we know Toledo football can be what is after deciding to take the call or take the position.

What is the first box that needs to be checked?

Take the personal and family part of a side.

Was there one who is your first call when you're assembling your empire?

Yeah, please.

We haven't done anything yet.

Although I suppose we're still undefeated.

You're on this show, coach.

Yeah.

I love your career.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah.

Listen, it's, it it starts internally, right?

Like, I have a leadership group within my team that have been with me.

And I think it speaks volumes because they're talented coaches, but they've I've somehow managed to have pretty strong staff continuity.

And so, Jamal Brown's my defense coordinator.

He's going into I think his ninth season with me Sean Chafe.

He's our linebacker coach.

He's nine seasons in you know it's it's like a lifetime achievement award to put up with me for that long.

But but there's a number.

And so it starts with that leadership group and some of the coordinators.

And then, you know, as you watch guys and they develop on your staff and you can see that they can handle it in different regions of the country.

And we've done it all over.

Right.

It's start.

I started off as a head coach at Notre Dame College in Cleveland, which is now closed, and it was an all girls school.

So that path was unique to Lenoir Ryan that had been playing football for over 100 years, to Mercer, that, had had a pause in the program for 75 years and only been back for 13 years.

When I took it.

I didn't know that.

And so, you know, we've we've gotten these things and in most instances, I took over a pretty solid situation and we're able to kind of go from good to great.

And that's really what I feel like is happening.

And what our goal is here with Toledo.

Well, and you've had tremendous success as a as a head coach.

I was looking at some of the stats and you know, the reality is numbers are numbers and it doesn't matter what your your background has been, I assure you, Toledo football fans will judge you week to week.

And last week will not matter at all.

If, if history is any indication.

But in interesting statistics prior to Monday, prior to Monday's national championship game, you were statistically ranked ahead of Kurt Nati, in all time, wins at, I think eight.

Oh three.

His, that's the percentage I got.

And then I think he's now at like 805 or something like that with the, with the win on Monday.

But you've had tremendous success everywhere you've been.

We were going to have him on next.

And when he took over that, we canceled him.

I, I appreciate that.

Yeah.

I threw that guy that's right.

You're our guy.

That's right.

Yeah, but we, we've again, it just it goes back to I believe we have a process.

I believe the process works.

It starts with getting the right kids in the building.

Starts with, doing a really, fantastic job at evaluating talent and projecting kids and then developing them once they're there for however long they're there.

Now is the reality of how much have you had to adjust your your thinking and planning and recruiting based on all the initial stuff and is the is the funds that are available at UT part of the consideration for taking a this job?

It's so much a part of your job.

Yeah, absolutely.

I, I think I'm uniquely qualified.

I think what a lot of folks don't understand is, is really, when the House settlement came into play a year ago and teams could either opt in or out doubt once you opted in, we went from a one for one where there was 85 scholarships and it was all or nothing.

You were on a full ride or nothing at all to equivalencies, which is what some of the smaller sports have been on.

Right?

We've been doing that at the lower level for that's that's what we've done.

And really what it was, was you had, you had to look at your roster.

You had evaluator recruit, you had to place a dollar amount on them.

I was just using scholarship dollars as opposed to share and and really manage almost like a salary cap.

And so I, I find myself to be uniquely prepared for the future world because it's really what we've been doing.

And it very much mimics the NFL.

Right?

Like you have to have a quarterback.

They got to be really well paid.

And then for me, it starts at the line of scrimmage and we build things inside out.

Similar to home.

The foundation has got to be the line of scrimmage, the offensive and defensive line.

And really right up the middle of those groups.

And then you got to find some playmakers.

What are you looking forward to working with or, looking forward to your relationship with, the athletic director, Brian Blair?

Yeah, I think Brian and I, I thought it was a, you know, the the alignment of the administration is such an important piece.

You ask how big did Rev share play?

It's a massive piece.

If you don't have it, you won't have an opportunity to get the right guys.

And now you still got a coach and you still got to develop them.

But you you also need enough to get them in the door.

And, Toledo's been really well situated, and that's because Brian and our administration have done a great job.

Thinking ahead of the game and trying to be proactive in what we're doing.

And they've situated us to a to a point where, I believe we're we're at the top of the Mac in that situation.

So we've talked about rebuilding the coaching staff, obviously rebuilding a roster as well because of transfer portal.

And I will, talk to us about kind of what what your team looks like where we sit today, knowing that, you know, the reality is, I think every 24 hours, that's going to change a little bit as you continue to sign more players.

It does.

Yeah.

And so the more eligibility left we will come on out.

We're not quite there.

We're we're having walk on tryouts.

We're in good.

We're in good shape.

Yeah.

So really what have we met as a college athlete?

That guy I'd recommend you talk to him.

That's, I had to be helped into this chair, though, this morning, so I don't know.

And retired college?

Yes, sir.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, I mean, really where we're at, right.

We were going to have some attrition anyway because we had over 20 seniors.

So there, there was going to be natural attrition at Toledo, especially on the defensive side of the football.

So that side's been a little bit bigger of, of a rebuild.

You know, and then offensively and just like anywhere, people are tied to the people that recruit them.

And they had one.

And Jason had done a great job.

So, you know, we had about 30 plus kids go into the portal, which you know, and it wasn't our plan to come here and bring a bunch of Mercer guys.

Our plan was to try to retain as much of the really talented roster we have and then fill spots and, you know, it's turned.

You just look at any of these jobs that have rolled.

They've all had pretty massive roster attrition.

And so, you know, really what I want to focus on, in this because this is the first year where it's one portal window.

Right.

And so it's one portal window.

It's kind of at a weird time.

We started school in the middle of it.

Right.

So, you know, the really the ad drop date for Toledo is kind of our last chance at the early window, and then there'll be some chance for kids in spring.

The graduate.

And, you know, they weren't ready to leave their current institution because they were they were finishing where they're at.

But, you know, we've built it out with, with I put an emphasis and a priority on people who had played a bunch of football.

We had a very, you know, think about high school recruiting you.

You evaluate a kid in his situation and who he is as a person for two plus years.

Well, the portal is a little more.

Shoot the name.

Right.

And so things happen much faster.

And so I really placed a high emphasis on young men who had played a lot at the school that they were coming from, regardless of level, that were all conference, that were captains, that were high academic, and try to build it out that way with talented people and players.

And, and that's what we've done in the portal, you know, coach, I mean, obviously you are one of a rare breed.

I mean, they're not very people who do this on the planet, but you are a human being on a molecular level.

And I this potentially is an unfair question, but, you know, this is such a business and so aggressive, how do you not get wrapped up?

I mean, there's disappointment, but there are feelings here.

You've been recruiting people for two plus years.

Sometimes more people come and go.

How on earth do you manage this on a human being?

It does hurt.

Yeah, it hurts a little bit less now.

You become a little more callous.

But I mean, I got into this for the relationships and stuff.

I think if you ever lose sight of that, then it doesn't matter where the money's at.

And rev share, if you lose sight of the fact that it's still a person industry, then you're going to be in bad shape.

But, you know, it's still this way.

Listen, we've, we've been very fortunate.

We signed Andrew Zach, who is a player for us.

He was an All-American at Mercer.

He was the national player of the year at the FCS level.

He won what they called the Buck Buchanan Award.

And, you know, he took Toledo, he took Colorado to Wayne North.

I mean, there was power force in play.

And at the end of the day, we were able to and I believe in our instance, the relationship won.

And, you know, first, people were FaceTiming is with my boys because he's like, they're like his big brother.

Right.

And so it's there's still that element.

And as long as you don't lose it.

But yeah, you definitely become a little more calloused.

It's got some do some.

Don't move on.

You gotta go.

Yeah.

What what do you hope people kind of see and experience when they come out, whether it's, you know, a spring game or showcase or actually come out in the fall and, and cheer on the rockets, what do you what what are people going to see?

Yeah.

We want to have an identity.

I think to win the Mac, I think you have to run the football and stop the run.

I think to win any conference, you have to do that.

And so we're going to be an outfit that's going to be highly disciplined.

We're going to be one of the least penalized teams in the country.

That's an area that's needed cleaned up.

And if you kind of look at my track record, you know, that's what we've done.

But we're going to be about the basics.

I believe in the fundamentals.

I believe you give time to the fundamentals.

You know, a lot of people think that are John Madden because they play the video game and they want to call plays and, you know, run a million.

Like you still have to run, block and tackle.

And you got to do that better than other people.

And you got to do with the mindset, of a physicality and the demeanor of such.

And I think that, you know, if people come out, we're going to play extremely hard.

We're going to be highly disciplined, and we should be competitive in every single game we play, win or lose.

Very exciting.

All right.

We are now going to play a little game with you here on the 419.

It's Gretchen's wacky quiz okay.

She doesn't like that name but I know I don't just rolls off the top.

Dumber to be now with the look with the real yes I know.

Yeah.

It's really, All right, so I'm going to ask you for rapid fire questions.

Gretchen's going to ask you for your favorite thing in the region, which, you know, as a newly returned person, I'm curious to that answer.

And then Matt will have you describe Toledo in nine words.

No pressure.

All right, here we go.

Rapid fire question.

If you could buy any type of food right now, what would you buy?

Mexican.

I mean, what's the worst gift you've ever received?

Underwear.

Good and bad.

That's at both ends of this.

I said.

I said I was sorry, coach.

Both ends of the spectrum.

You could have just gotten more impressive the older I've got.

Yeah.

If you were arrested, what would it be for?

Oh, geez.

I don't know.

Paul is having a heart attack beating me.

All right.

Okay.

What makes you feel nostalgic?

Being home and reconnecting with with some of my dearest friends that, unfortunate.

The unfortunate side effect of my job is that we don't get to get back as often as I would have liked, and to be home and be around those people is really special.

What's your number one?

Favorite?

Or you consider the best thing about the Toledo or the region?

The people, I mean, honestly, like I it's it's been a lot of fun to, you know, kind of always peripherally watch it.

But to see how much it's grown and the revitalization of downtown and just the, the, the amount of things that are happening in the city right now, you're in first, the park system.

Thanks, coach.

All right.

Nine things.

Rapid fire.

Sorry, nine things.

World nine.

We've been people.

I'll give you people.

You've got people.

Yep.

All right.

I gotta give you my favorite pizza spots.

Village idiot.

All right.

It love it.

Okay, mommy.

High school mommy, I love it.

Penguin Palace done right by my house.

Penguin house.

This reads like a food list.

That's right.

Your list.

You know, I think, I don't even know where.

Mine.

We have five.

You guys doing great?

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You got your back with your friends?

Yeah, just.

Just friends and family.

I think getting reengaged in the community.

Yeah, just the community nature of the job.

Two more.

You're almost, speeding on.

I know I've gone very slow.

Appropriate speed limits.

We'll give you that.

Appropriate.

And then the last one, just the fans, that.

I'm excited.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Coach.

He's head coach Mike Jacobs with the University of Toledo.

Coach, thank you so much.

Yeah, this is awesome I appreciate you guys.

Great.

You know we'll see you around.

The best coffee shop.

Absolutely.

Ohio.

Thank you.

Yeah, that was a good find for me early in my in my journey here.

That's right.

If you're going to get anything right, you got to get the coffee, right.

Coach, thank you so much for the time when we come back.

I said, I've got two guests and they are connected.

We've talked to head coach Mike Jacobs coming up on the other side of the break.

We'll talk to his new boss, the athletic director at Toledo, Brian Blair.

We'll be right back here on the 419.

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Welcome back into the 419.

It's a Friday mystery guest edition.

We just wrapped up a conversation with new UT football coach Mike Jacobs that we're joined now by my second mystery guest, his new boss, athletic director Brian Blair.

Brian, I was just have a guess as to who it is.

This is one of those rare moments where you've got it all figured out.

Yeah, and you're also Kevin's boss.

So how bad of an employee in terms of your staff?

Is he the worst?

We're all teammates.

We're all teammates.

And all my teammates are incredibly talented.

They make dreamwork.

So now I know why I like this.

Absolutely.

That's what I believe that I hate the term boss.

I honestly do.

Yeah Jenny Vargas does it all to the head boss.

How you doing.

And like, I cringe every time.

I just kind of like her thing.

Well, she's so unpleasant.

Yeah.

You can't be mad at her job.

That's anything to me.

Yeah.

No.

It's like.

Yeah, that seems about right.

Yeah.

So I'm not sure what you said.

Did you say athletic director?

I did okay, I was, I was I have dialed she is into the show.

No, listen, she was just so focused on trying to get you to say something bad about me.

She's a person who knows me.

Yeah, yeah.

That's fair.

So.

All right, just folks that aren't, I haven't had a chance to meet you yet.

I mean, you've been in Toledo for four.

You're kidding me.

Really?

Yeah.

How wonderful.

Yeah, it was about this time four years ago.

I got the call, from our president at the time saying, hey, do you want to come B rocket?

And I was in Pullman, Washington, sitting in my living room, a wife staring at me as I'm on the phone trying to listen in, and we cried and we hugged, and then we packed and we moved in.

It's been hot and heavy since then.

I yeah.

So I we're going to I want to talk about kind of all of the, the whole of the athletic department.

But we just wrapped up a conversation with coach Mike Jacobs.

What was that first that first phone call, that first conversation with coach that that had you go, and this is the guy that had your guy.

Yeah.

Because I mean, that's it.

I mean, that's a hard I mean, you had, you know, Jason Kendall was here, incredibly successful, great coach, great human being, great family.

And then obviously he had an opportunity to leave and took it, as a, as a boss, you know, you've you got to have this kind of mixed emotion of I'm excited for him, but, you know, what do I do now?

And so what was that kind of moment for you to realize, like, oh, we got our guy.

Yeah.

Well, well, super quick part for Jay.

I mean, we were texting this weekend, and talking about Miami and being in the championship and, like.

And he seems to be doing well.

I'm happy for him.

Nicole.

The kids, I mean, that was a great opportunity is a great person.

And I think what benefited us in this process was he had an open enough relationship where he was able to say, hey, I think this might turn into something.

Lewis, keep you posted.

And obviously gave me a heads up.

Hey, this is real because every year he's had, different, groups flirt with him a little bit, but but this one felt different.

And so Mike has been on my list for, for over a year now.

And I told him we joked a little bit about it, like, he stopped him.

It's amazing what you can find on YouTube and sharing it now to get a sense of who somebody is.

And, listen to him.

I'm sure somebody will do this about this one day.

Yeah.

You know, I mean, you just got you, you know, I mean, we got huge digital footprints, right?

Yeah.

And so certainly reached out with the text and introduced myself and then a follow up conversation and we went from there.

But there was this moment I was we had our first zoom conversation, and the next morning it's on the treadmill and watching videos and just thinking about, hey, we got to talk to these other can is we got to do all this at a certain point.

It's like, why are you messing around with this?

Like, if, you know, you've got the guy and you feel that convicted in it and your gut don't screw around with all this other and risk messing that opportunity up.

And so I remember I called our president at that time and said, hey, we're going to sit down with this individual.

I know we could talk to a laundry list of others in this process, and we did talk to others during this process.

But if we feel strongly and you strongly and your feelings match mine, let let's not mess around with this.

And I told my crew before we walked into that room, we really flipped almost into recruit mode versus the interview.

Right?

Like, you step in these interviews and you've got 3050 questions you want to get through and find out every nuance.

But there's a lot of it is I wanted to show my who Toledo is and who we will be into the future and really turn into, I know you're from from here, you know, this place.

But here's some things that have changed.

And here's what we're working to take this department to.

And the last thing I'd say is, I told Mike, like, be honest, I could care less if you're from Toledo, Ohio or not.

This is not about you being from here.

That's the cherry on top.

But you're damn good football coach.

I mean, you've won a lot of places.

I think this is the fourth different opportunities had as a head coach.

And so you have somebody with that experience level and just his personality and why he does what he does.

Coach's kid and seeing and being around programs for a really long time.

Midwest roots like check every single box down the list.

And so when we got to the point of, hey, you're from me.

Again, cherry on top, but not the reason I, I've had the great fortune of being able to be around you on in a number of different ways.

And I know you're humble, so I, I, I hope that you don't answer this.

I, I think you're going to answer it.

What makes you uniquely good at this?

Yeah.

Well, yeah, you're right, because I don't think I'm very good.

No surveys telling you you're good.

I mean, yeah, and there's enough, accolades and awards and evidence just to say otherwise.

I mean, I have an ass.

You don't have to say it.

I've an answer for this of just being around you a little bit, but I'm.

I'm interested in, you know, there are not very many of us in the country, so it's a unique role.

It's an overwhelmingly challenging role.

And evolving to make it even more my words, more challenging.

So, what makes you wired to be this way, enable to execute this multilayered, business the way that you do?

Let's say my parents, my mom was a middle school principal.

She is the hardest working person I've ever been around my entire life.

Every Sunday we'd go to church in the morning and the black church in the South.

You spend three, 4 or 5 hours in church, right?

It was a warm in a warm up to it during the week.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

There's multiple events leading up to this.

So I spent a lot of time in the church, which is good for me.

The community raised me.

We'd go to lunch Sunday lunch, we'd go out dressed up and find a different restaurant, and then we go home, change clothes, and we immediately go to her school.

And that's been 4 or 5 hours in the afternoon while she worked in her office every week, trying to get ahead.

The week before, I'd been with her in the office that we play basketball.

My brother now, but I watched her grow.

That, well, that now you're getting a competitor.

He's.

He knows the ins.

Okay.

Yeah, it's a wicked movie.

I, but, watch her work really, really hard.

And my dad worked in the school system as well, but then was an entrepreneur in a number of different industries.

Right.

And so I watched him manage the business side.

And then that creativity.

So that blend of education and hard work with the business aspects and what we were becoming, and then probably my background as a student athlete and then going to law school, I think he put all that together, and it gives me a diverse enough perspective to, to maybe handle all the things coming at us.

Yeah.

We talked a little.

I, I made reference to the awards, but, you know, University of Toledo, athletic department the late in, in your, time at the helm has won, I think, every award available.

Right.

Cartwright award.

I'm going to blank on the other reason.

Jacoby.

Yes.

Thank you.

Recognizing, success not just of the football program or not just of the basketball program that get the the media coverage and the spotlights, but the whole department.

Yeah.

What what what leads to that?

I mean, I know you're not going to say it's you, right?

But but you've got a good team.

What what do you think makes that system work?

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I think there's so many pieces of the puzzle.

It it's certainly not me.

I think it's a team operating together.

And when you say team from my seat.

Right.

It's not just the football team, the basketball team, the tennis team.

Everybody combined pulling in the same direction.

It's our support staff of all of our units.

Is our entire campus, right?

I mean, Mike's talk about bringing in 30 to 50 guys.

I mean, that didn't happen within athletics.

That's admissions.

That's meant that that's far I mean, the faculty athletics rep, that's the deans.

It's everybody pulling the same direction.

And why I came to Toledo is because there was already existing alignment.

And belief in this place can be successful.

There's different types of jobs, and jobs come open for different reasons.

But when you come to a place like Toledo that's had success historically, that shows you there's things in the fiber of that community and the fiber that university that are willing to do what it takes to win.

Winning is not about one person.

These are what makes everything well-rounded.

Kids, you know, they're student athletes.

Emphasis on student.

I know you're proud of the high GPAs that your teams have across the athletic department.

What is your commitment to them as students?

What are you doing to help support them in that way?

I would argue we do a better job of that.

You make the country.

That's what I'll take the whole hat off.

I I've been at multiple stops.

I've been around this country.

The combination of high academic achievement in a major of your choosing, not the department's choosing.

Right.

We don't have a whole bunch of undecideds that are just floating around.

I mean, we've got engineers, we've got business, we've got kids teaching the MBAs all those things.

And there went into a lot of places you'll win and say, hey, don't look at our grad rates or you don't win.

And say, hey, look at our grades.

We don't really get a classroom.

They're really good.

We get a chance to do both here.

And I think we do that better than anybody in the country.

I get that question a lot from presidents of.

Well, how do you do that?

What does that look like?

And I tell them it's the coaches, right.

That's the one thing is really hard to replicate on the college campus outside of athletics, when you've got two coaches sat in your living room or you spent so much time within, they control playing time, right?

That coach says this is important.

They pay attention to it and hold you accountable to that.

Then I think that leads to what you see.

So when you see our coaches sit down with our academic advisors and get those regular reports and hold student athletes accountable and say, hey, you're not playing unless you get this piece of it done.

So let's talk about why this is important.

I think it doubles down on the importance in the student athletes.

No walking in.

Hey, this is important.

And every coach we've hired at some point throughout the interview, we've talked about like this is a non-negotiable for us.

Like, this is something we do at Toledo and all the other stuff can be all other stuff.

But this piece has to remain.

We ask coach the same question.

I mean, it is lonely at the top sometimes, right?

Those are my words and certainly not yours.

But these your networks are vast.

Are there a list?

And at the risk of putting a little bit on the spot, but do you have a go to contact?

Who do you check in with?

Win lose?

Who who who do you bounce things off of nationally if you don't mind sharing that?

Yeah.

Well, I will agree with you.

These are lonely jobs at the top, and I don't think I was number two at Washington State.

I was the chief suggestion officer.

Right.

I just made suggestions.

I go home, sleep just fine.

Well, those were the best of times.

Oh my God.

Yeah, the full head of hair.

There's days like, yeah, I go back there, that's what.

Yeah.

And so when you get in this seat, you realize the pressure of each moment, each decision.

Imagine just letting go and letting people do their jobs and just trust and believe in and hoping that they're doing it and doing it the right way with integrity.

That's a big piece of this job.

And so you talk about who keeps who's in my circle.

I think one starts with my wife.

She keeps me incredibly grounded.

She has some notes.

Yeah, I'm sure she's in there.

And just a couple things for me.

All the things it needs to work.

Yeah, yeah.

But she definitely keeps me grounded and continues to keep me focused on being a great husband.

But even more importantly, being a great dad.

I think they can get lost in this world that we live in.

And so having somebody say, hey, put you by the Colorado breeze, get gymnastics day, get your tail here.

How do you meet her?

We were in Columbia, South Carolina.

I was working for the Gamecocks.

She was a travel nurse at the time.

Okay, and we actually met on the dating app, that I had never used before.

And she was the first match, and we went out to the parking lot, and she had a kayak in the back of her truck.

I had a kayak in back of my truck, and was like, oh, we got a lot of things in common.

Sure.

I and I almost grew to about 20 minutes late to a first date.

Okay.

So I completely almost blundered that one by, but luckily I recovered fast.

I figured it out.

It fascinates me to hear that you were late.

Yeah, because that is not the Brian Blaire that I know.

So I told her, like, Columbia's got a lot of trains, and I got caught behind a tree.

That was partially true.

The other ten minutes from me buying a kayak to to impress her, a state of.

I stayed at work too late.

It was a Friday afternoon.

I was just trying to get stuff done.

Like I'm a wrap up, a wrap up, wrap up.

Sure, I looked up.

Oh, I got to get back here.

Yeah, but she won't ever let me live that down.

But but she's still around, so we figured it out.

How long has it been?

So we got married in 2016.

Yeah, we met in 2013.

I do love scene and I obviously I can see you more at a basketball game than I can where I sit in a football game, but seeing you in the stands, with your family.

Yeah.

Having those moments you mentioned before you came on, you got a chance to go to the national championship game.

In kind of a rare moment of you, you know, sort of, you know, treating yourself right and spoiling yourself.

What what is what do you do outside of work?

To decompress, to be human, to, to relax, to take care of yourself?

That's pretty much in the park system.

Yeah, well, the park system is a big reason I'm in Toledo.

When you go online and you look at the the digital footprint, of different places, it's the shining star of Toledo, the metro park system.

And as somebody that loves outdoors, that was the one thing we loved out west.

Going hiking and getting outdoors all the time.

Yeah.

I mean, the amount of times I take my kids, fishing when the metro parks on a regular basis.

And so, yeah, you can pay me after for this.

Yes.

Was it all worth it?

I love barbecue.

I grew up in South Carolina.

I spent seven and a half years in Texas.

So my my my gift to myself for getting this job was I bought a custom smoker made out in Georgia.

Wow.

It's got three eight inch steel, doors.

It's a wood burners.

Like, I chop the logs, feed the firewood.

We haven't been invited over.

Yeah, it's weird, but this is legit.

Well, not this time of year, but we'll we'll pass the summer.

But that is it.

Because you can't really think about anything else when you're playing with fire, right?

Like you got to get the focus or.

Yeah, burn the house down.

And so that's my meantime.

I had a mindfulness moment of just watching the fire, looking at the airflow, those type of things.

Tell me what the biggest success is with the smoker.

Is there something that you made that was the number one?

Yeah, I've gotten better at brisket.

I think brisket can be incredibly challenging because each piece of meat is different and you can't really time.

And my wife, is it.

When's it going to be done?

I was like, when it's done right.

You get to she loves that answer, right.

You know what I mean?

I've gotten to pull that smoker to one game a year last two years, and we've done, for 19 to win three society or leadership.

Given society, we do a cookout for them.

We're actually cook for them, out at that tailgate.

And that's one of my favorite games of the year, just because I get to combine two things that I love, that's really cool, right?

We're running out of time here.

But I do want if if folks are, you know, they've been to a football game, they've been to a basketball game.

But that is just two of the many sports that are offered at the university.

What, what what's the next, level?

What's something they should they should go check out?

Or kind of what's something they need to know about the rest?

Just the future.

Yeah.

I mean, we've got a ton of amazing student athletes, amazing coaches, amazing staff members that pour their all.

They usually work six, seven days a week, year round.

People say, well, when's your down?

Down.

We don't have it.

Saturday, Sunday we're working.

And then you show up on Monday.

It's not like you show up late.

You show up at eight, 830, new grind till it's done.

So there's a lot of people behind the scenes that pour in a lot of work to make what you see on game days possible.

Given your piece of that, I'd say come out, support all athletes regardless is what we got.

Tennis.

Against Oakland on Thursday afternoon.

Come out, support those young ladies.

We've got the top ranked team in the conference.

Right.

Tracy has done a tremendous job recruiting.

She's got a great team.

But I tell people this as well, we've only scratched the surface of what Toledo athletics can be.

We can be a national story where people look up and say, Holy cow, did you see what Toledo did?

Right?

We've got amazing coaches, amazing student athletes.

But even more than that, this community is our superpower.

We've got such amazing community members, businesses, environment, delight, fan attendance.

We can take this thing to a whole new level.

And so if you're somebody that says, well, I just think we're good enough, we need to stay where we're at, like hop off the train because these trains move in and we're going places that we've never gone before, and we're going to shock the world with what we accomplished.

But we got to do it together.

So to me, that's what gets me fired up each morning to go to work.

I want to go to work.

Let's do it.

Fired up.

He's vice president and director of athletics Brian Blair.

Brian, thank you so much for joining us.

When we come back, we'll wrap up this Friday edition of the 419.

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Welcome back into the 419.

Our mystery guest Friday edition.

Great guests.

Great.

Get in.

Yeah, I you know, I really enjoyed getting to know it's.

We talk about all the time when we have guests on that, we know we get a chance to know them at a different level than we do seeing them in the community and working alongside them.

But when you have somebody on like Mike Jacobs that I legitimately didn't know.

I enjoyed kind of hearing some of his, his stories kind of growing up and you know, being a coach's kid.

And so those things it's it's kind of neat.

So I'm excited about what, what he's going to do for the program and excited about him being a part of, Toledo football.

And also, Brian Blair is exceptional.

Again, I love getting the opportunity to, meet with him on a couple occasions.

We were able to work together from the parks perspective, bringing in a women's crew team, to the shores of the mommy.

First time University of history.

Brian is also exceptional.

So, the fact he's able to bring in talent and able to juggle what has to be one of the most challenging jobs, in the United States.

Right.

He he's just he's the whole crew there is exceptional when, And I have no idea what he's doing in his office, but I can tell you that when Jason Kendall took the job at, Yukon, we had a basketball game.

Gosh, this basketball game that that day or the next day.

And it was a Saturday, and Brian's office light was on.

Cheer, right?

And I think, you know, it was just like you could tell he was in there working and grinding and cares a lot about it and wants to make sure that they get it right.

But there's that that idea of like, there is no off time.

Yeah.

And so I appreciate the I love that he he went to the national championship game, took a chance to, left his kids.

There was was on the air.

But he did make mention the fact that it was the first time, I think he said in seven years that they had left their children with the grandparents, to go.

So all these things do come at a cost.

So we're glad he's here.

Glad he took that opportunity with his wife.

Yeah.

Well, an incredible program.

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Oh.