Here’s why UT’s Candle took a pay cut this season

Think back a minute to The Decision: Part II — the last time an Ohio man so wrestled with a job opportunity in Miami.

We knew Toledo football coach Jason Candle made a big bet on himself and his program when he stayed in the Glass City.

Until the other day, I just didn’t know how big.

Turns out, Candle did more than turn down a lucrative offer to become the offensive coordinator at Miami. He also voluntarily slashed his pay at Toledo.

According to Candle’s contract, he gave back $50,000 of his salary this year, with that money being redirected to help retain one of his top — and most in-demand — lieutenants: defensive coordinator Vince Kehres.

Yep, how about that?

A coach rejecting a pay raise to take a ... pay cut?

“We’ve got really good assistant coaches and really good people here,” Candle said. “We have a lot of momentum in our program, and I felt like we could have a good season this year, and I wanted to do everything we could to make sure we kept everybody we could.”

Now, lest the cynics among us get any ideas, I should note I’m not telling you this to drum up goodwill for the coach.

This story isn’t some public-relations plant.

We learned of the reworked deal only through a routine request for amendments to the contracts of Candle and Bowling Green’s Scot Loeffler. (For the record, Loeffler also sacrificed, setting aside $10,000 of his own money to “help support the salary of a football video coordinator.”)

Candle would just as soon have this column not be written and Kehres politely declined comment.

But, with due respect, we’re writing it anyway.

Why?

Because the gesture is a telling measure of Candle’s character and commitment, and another sign of just how much he believed in this year’s suddenly rolling Rockets team — even when few others did.

Flash back again to the winter, and the Miami offer — one north of $1.5 million per year that sources on both sides tell us was legit — looked like the perfect life raft.

Candle could head south for more money and less stress.

Or he could stay in Toledo, where he had only two seasons left on his deal and the biggest of his diminishing number of allies, then-athletic director Mike O’Brien, was on the way out.

The Kehres situation underscored the uncertainty surrounding Candle’s future.

Never mind that Kehres had been an invaluable addition since his heralded arrival in January 2020. When the former Mount Union coach began getting calls from bigger — and better-paying — schools last offseason, UT leaders declined to play ball.

And I get it.

With Candle’s seat hotter than the South Beach sand after four straight ordinary seasons and a new AD coming in, university president Gregory Postel no doubt wondered if further investments in the football program would be throwing good money after bad.

But, even against those headwinds, Candle doubled down on Toledo.

To paraphrase the slogan on the back of his players’ workout shirts, he didn’t get bitter. He vowed to get better.

And, to do so, he recognized the importance of keeping Kehres, even if it was him on the hook.

You can point out that Candle still makes $1.15 million per year, as long as you can also show me all the other coaches who took a $50,000 pay cut (non-pandemic related) for the good of their program.

Kehres, meanwhile, will now earn $230,000 each of the next two years — counting an annual $95,000 retention bonus — up from $180,000 last year.

“This just speaks to Jason’s loyalty,” O’Brien said.

Added Candle: “In a perfect world, you make 10 great coaching hires, and those 10 great hires stay with you forever.

“But that’s fantasyland. You put together your initial staff as a first-time head coach and some guys get picked away for bigger opportunities or financial gain, some guys ... it’s constantly a challenge to keep bringing the next coach along and trying to develop them. So when you have a great staff, you want to keep them together.”

Will his big gamble pay off?

So far, so good, at least the past couple weeks, as Toledo opened the conference season with big wins over Central Michigan and Northern Illinois.

But, no matter what, let us appreciate Candle’s resolve.

We should all be so lucky to have someone who believes in us as much as he believes in his players and coaches.

A lot of coaches talk about commitment.

Candle lives it.

When the going got tough, he didn’t walk away from the challenge of his career. He ran toward it.

And put his money where his mouth is.

Contact David Briggs at:

dbriggs@theblade.com, or

on Twitter @DBriggsBlade.