Jason Candle on the Red Sox, Geno, pizza and the state of UConn football

STORRS, Conn. -- Jason Candle spent the past 17 years at Toledo, starting out as an assistant, moving up to coordinator and working the final 10 as the school's head coach. In MAC life spans, that's inches short of an eternity. Candle made one of the offseason's more underrated moves, jumping from Toledo to UConn. He'd won two MAC titles at Toledo, passed Gary Pinkel as the winningest coach in school history and developed 13 NFL draft picks, including Kareem Hunt, Quinyon Mitchell and Logan Woodside. He takes over a UConn team that's surged back to respectability, as the Huskies registered back-to-back 9-win seasons under Jim Mora. With Mora off to Colorado State, Candle has brought in a host of new players for he and his staff's debut season. ESPN sat down with Candle in his office recently, as he raved about the local pizza, broke down his first pitch at Fenway Park and talked about the quick rapport he's built with one of UConn's Hall of Fame coaches. Q. So 17 years in one place is an unbelievable amount of time in modern college football. What's it been like to not be at Toledo? Has it been energizing to be somewhere new? A. Yeah, it really has. I mean, I think that you hit it. I mean, energized is the word and really eager for a new challenge and a new opportunity and to do it with other people that are really interested in the same things I'm interested in. So Toledo was great. What a great opportunity and a great place to get us started as a head coach of a program that has been good for decades. So many successful coaches walked those halls before I did. Tons of history and tons of great football players walked through that building. And man, oh man, what a great city to start and raise a family too. So change is hard. But I'm excited for change. (Laughs). And here's me saying I've been at one place for 17 years and I like change, right? Probably a little contradictory, but it does excite me in the sense of it stimulates growth. Q. You've been on the ground for seven months now, and you have a feel for the place. We got one full recruiting offseason in. Just what do you feel like this place can be now that you've been here? A. I think we have a great foundation of what it takes to be successful. We've got great facilities. We've got a great administration. We got a lot of alignment here pointing in the right direction. A lot of people are serious about the success of the football program and the athletic department. We got to do our part to continue to raise the bar and recruit really good, solid student athletes that come in here and understand what UConn is really all about and want to play winning championship football. So our staff's worked really hard at that. And I think that in this day and age of college football where there's tons of movement and some days that when you wake up, they don't look like what they're supposed to look like. Our players and our staff have done a great job of adapting to the times and really embracing change. Q. I remember when UConn AD David Benedict was going through the process of hiring Jim Mora, UConn football had been in a funk. And he said like, 'We do everything well basically, but football here.' There aren't any underachieving programs at UConn. Now that you've been here, I'm just curious what the culture of that is like and how you've seen that vision come together in that pull. A. Let's state the obvious -- basketball is a monster here. And I think you have a choice to either lean into that or run from that. I think a lot of the other successful coaches in the department have really leaned into those two programs and really what they've been -- a picture of success and consistency. So I think when I sit in head coaches meetings and I'm around and meeting the other staffs within the department, I think it's really impressive. I mean, there's a lot of really highly educated and passionate people that are really proud to be at UConn and really lead their programs in a positive direction. And I think that's a reflection of David Benedict and his leadership and who he wants to surround himself with. And I think for me, that was what was really attractive about the job. And you want to be around people that want to be the best version of themselves and want to take it to another level. Q. You've mentioned that women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma has taken a strong interest in you guys and you've developed a quick friendship. What's it been like to be able to pick his brain and just kind of be around someone who's won a lot of championships? A. Yeah. I mean, I think that if you look back at how his program really caught fire and where it is today, I mean, it's light years from when he arrived here on campus. And there's, I think, a lot of similarities of when you take over a place, you're new to the place. I mean, change can be ultimately very intimidating if you allow it to be, but you really want to find the resources that can parallel with what you're going through. He's been a great asset. He's been a great person to look to for advice and really he's been a great listener when I have questions or issues that may come up. So I think that anytime you have him, you have a Dan Hurley (men's basketball), you have some of the other successful Jim Penders (baseball), you have some of Mike Cavanaugh (hockey), you have some of these other coaches in the department that are ultra successful at what they do. I mean, I think you're a fool if you don't lean into that and you don't try to seek information on things that maybe aren't clear cut and right in your face at the moment. Q. I would imagine your off football field professional highlight was throwing the first pitch at Fenway Park before a Red Sox game. A.Yes. Q. As a lifelong Red Sox fan, what was it like to do that? You've been to Fenway Park dozens of times as a fan, I know your wife, Nicole, has run the Boston Marathon. Just what was that day like? A. I haven't been nervous many times in sports. I can promise you that. But walking out there was a surreal feeling. I think that the coolest moment is watching my five-year-old (Colton) sign the wall inside of Fenway Park. I mean, he's signing the wall next to, my gosh, a billion signatures. In my head, he's signing the wall next to Manny Ramirez. So cool. Such a good opportunity and very thankful that they let me do that. And to do that at that time where they're right in the midst of that (winning) streak. So your thought process going to the mound is don't bounce this because if you do and they lose tonight, this is all your fault. You know what this is. This is a setup. Don't fall into this trap. Q. Favorite all-time Red Sox? A. Trot Nixon. Yep. Gritty, tough. Count on him every day, play. Pine tar everywhere, dirty jersey. Love that guy. Q.What have you learned about Red Sox-Yankee fandom and where you live in Connecticut and how it kind of divides? A. I haven't learned much and I don't care. I'm not going to go searching for where the Yankees fans are because I don't care. Coach Hurley's a Yankees fan from what I'm told. It'd be good to sit down and have that conversation at some point. Q. Back to what this place can become. You have 23 commitments as of right now from high school. Coach Mora built through the portal and did it well. Have you been pleasantly surprised at what you can do in high school recruiting. A. I think I'm still naive enough to believe that relationships matter. And maybe in today's day and age, naive turns to dumb. And you could say you're dumb enough to believe that. But I just came from Toledo where we've had 13 guys drafted in my time as the head coach, and in a modern day where a lot of those kids can be bought and moved from year to year. You got first round draft pick, second round draft pick, third round draft pick, and they all choose to stay and play their last year for you there. I think relationships matter. I think that growth and development matters. You can't retain at a really, really high level if you're just talking about the money aspect of it and what the monetary benefits are for a young person, because you can't keep up. Q. You had an anomalous amount of players drafted for a MAC school. Many of those guys had opportunities to go elsewhere, stayed. Why? A. I think recruiting gets so much attention, but I don't think development and retention gets the spotlight that it really deserves. I think the top hundred players in the country are pretty easy to identify. You know what I mean? And after that, it's a crapshoot. So you turn on the draft, I hear guys drafted from schools. Some of the schools I've never heard of. And I played Division III football and coached Division I football. So the NFL finds talent and it comes in all different shapes and sizes. So the key thing is can you be a five star when you're 22 years old, rather than when you're 17? And I think young people to get to be a five star when you're 22 has to hook themselves to other people that believe the right things and they're aligned on it and can really get the most out of people. Q. Give me some color of something you and your family's life has been like in Connecticut, like something local that as you've been here, I don't know if it's a restaurant, if it's a farm, if it's a zoo, whatever. A. We've settled into a great neighborhood. The food here is incredible. Everybody raves about the pizza, which is as good as advertised. Q. Conviction on a pizza place? A. Man, I'm not falling into that trap. But yeah, I mean, it's as good as advertised. And like I said, I think that there's people that are really passionate about the state of Connecticut. And no matter what they do, whether they're working on this campus or they're working at a pizza shop or any local business or small business, it's just been a good community to get adapted to and obviously looking forward to getting ingrained even deeper.