EAST HARTFORD — Jason Candle and Geno Auriemma, as far apart in age as a father and son, drawn together by their love of coaching college students, sat across the table last Thursday night to get the measure of each other. Candle, who’d coached football with consistent success at Toledo, had not yet found the job that would get him out of his native state.
Could this be the place? UConn pulled out the stops to convince him it was; AD David Benedict went to Toledo’s last game to see the coach he had atop his list when Jim Mora left for Colorado State on Nov. 26., to see him in person, in action. Then Candle came to Connecticut and got the tour from the AD.
The day wound down at Benedict’s home, where the prospective successor to Jim Mora sat down with school shakers and movers and, at UConn, an audience with Auriemma is the heaviest of artillery. “The ultimate closer,” Benedict said.
Takeaways from UConn football coach Jason Candle’s introductory press conference
So Candle and Auriemma broke bread and talked.
“It was mostly him talking about his philosophy and what his view of coaching is,” Auriemma said. “We talked about his background, the coaching tree he comes from, and how he views coaching and what it means to him and what he thinks his job is, dealing with young people today. We asked him a lot of questions about what he sees for his future.”
Candle seemed to know what UConn was about, Auriemma thought; knew he’d have the resources to succeed, and didn’t ask a lot of questions about those things.
“He talked about players he’s had who went on to be NFL players,” Auriemma said, “and how much they were offered to (transfer) somewhere else, but because he believes in relationships, he feels his relationships are what kept them at Toledo.”
Sooner or later, the “basketball school” subject was raised, as it so often does in football in Connecticut. Here was Auriemma, one of the icons that has made UConn’s world-wide reputation for basketball.
“And he actually did say, ‘Why is that a problem?’” Auriemmma said. “‘What does that have to do with me winning football games? Isn’t that a positive that all the other sports are winning, too?’ My comment was, ‘Jason, we were a basketball school the year we went to the Fiesta Bowl.’”
When Candle, 46, left, Auriemma had no idea whether he was going to take the job or not. Roughly 24 hours later, Candle agreed to a six-year contract to replace Mora. Introduced on Monday, Candle came off as an all-business coach, resolute in his beliefs, but not one who knows all the answers. This is what those who met him Thursday got, too, impressed with his knowledge that he could use mentorship and much as he could give it.
“People learn to say what people want to hear,” said Dan Toscano, chairman of UConn’s Board of Trustees, who was also at the dinner. “Some people do it very well, some people do it poorly. Other people, it comes from the heart, it’s genuine. It was abundantly clear to me it was not coach-speak, not higher-ed speak.”
Bad hires can often be made when there is too much focus on the resume, not enough on the person. When Mora was hired in 2021, he needed a chance to coach after four years out of the game and UConn needed a coach with gravitas to restore the program’s shattered image. Mora was uniquely fit for the task.
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Now, the task is different. UConn is not college football’s laughing stock, but is going to its second straight bowl game, to play Army at Fenway Park at the end of the month. Now, they need a coach to build on a foundation that has been laid, and a coach ready to drill down with what he has. Candle will have plenty that he did not have in the MAC, a Group of Five conference program where he was 81-44 across nine seasons and stacked recruiting classes considered among the best for that level.
Candle’s record of keeping players in his program and succeeding academically is admirable in the pay-for-play, transfer portal era.
“You’ve to be authentic, you’ve got to be real, you’ve got to be truthful with your players and create an environment that allows them to feel like home,” Candle said.
One thing UConn is uniquely equipped to offer is a college of successful coaching, success that has its root in relationships and people. “I can see Jason, Jim Penders and Mike Cavanaugh becoming the best of friends,” said Toscano, referring to the baseball and men’s hockey coaches who have overcome various obstacles to build NCAA Tournament-worthy programs.
Auriemma, with his 12 national titles and team again ranked No.1, is at the head of the table.
“I like to be around winners,” Candle said, “and nobody’s done it as good as he’s done it. I think coaches can have a closed-minded perspective on this, that it’s about their journey and nobody else’s journey. I see it as a learning opportunity for me, when I come into contact with people who have done it in any profession at the highest level, and the rate they’ve done it at, both of the coaches here, men’s and women’s basketball, are pictures of what success should look like. So I’m going to lean on them guys, going to try to be a fly on the wall as much as they’ll have me around to see what the secret sauce is to keep hanging banners on those arenas.”
Candle and Dan Hurley interacted briefly, and will likely meet Tuesday night when the UConn men play Florida at Madison Square Garden. No, he’s not in Toledo any more.
“I think he’s going to be awesome,” Hurley said. “I love his background, coming from a place that produces big time football people, the way he’s been able to identify and develop talent, NFL draft picks, it’s a serious ball coach. … You look at James Madison and Tulane in the playoffs, why can’t UConn become that in football.”
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Mora, 60 when he was hired, brought NFL cachet, UCLA pizzaz and polish to UConn football. He surmounted the obvious obstacles, the independent status, the stadium off-campus, the image as a basketball school, though he was not shy about reminding us they existed.
Candle, 46, straight-shooting Midwesterner with a young family, has a different vibe. Every coach “wins the press conference,” which is a phrase as vague and ultimately meaningless as “basketball school,” but it seems UConn found a football coach to fit in with its culture, and just maybe the right coach at the right time all over again.
“A basketball school, it gets presented sometimes as if, at halftime, the basketball team is going to come out on the field and play a game,” Candle said. “During our season, we’re going to put energy into our program and do a good job with that, then we’re going to go and support the other programs. They’ve paved the way, shown it can be done at a high level here.”