Toledo Coaching Search: 7 Potential Candidates For The Rockets’ Head Coaching Vacancy

Jason Candle led Toledo to MAC Championships as the Rockets head coach. He went 81-44 during his tenure.

And now he’s on the way out.

Candle has decided to leave Toledo after more than a decade there as the head coach and an assistant to become the head coach at UConn. And now the Rockets need to find a new coach to lead the program.

Here are a few they could consider:

Toledo Co-Offensive Coordinator Robert Weiner

It’s not yet clear if Weiner will be following Candle or going to another coaching staff, but I could see him being considered here – especially with defensive coordinator Vince Kehres taking the same position at Syracuse.

Weiner doesn’t have an expansive FBS coaching resume, but he’s been a successful assistant with the Rockets. For example, Toledo led the MAC in total offense (421.8 yards per game) and scoring offense (31.6 points per game) at the conclusion of the 2025 regular season.

As Toledo’s quarterbacks coach, he’s helped Dequan Finn and Tucker Gleason become standout passers in the MAC. Weiner, who coached at the high school level at Plant High School in Tampa, Florida before going to Toledo, is also well respected as a recruiter.

Missouri State Head Coach Ryan Beard

Beard, who’s been an assistant in the MAC, has been recognized as one of the up-and-coming head coaches in the FBS.

And that’s for good reason. In their first season in the FBS, the Bears are 7-5 at the conclusion of the regular season and will be playing in a bowl game.

Beard was the youngest person to become Missouri State’s head coach when he was promoted at 34 years old in December 2022.

Previously, Beard was Missouri State’s defensive coordinator for three seasons. During that span, he coached a defense that earned 18 all-conference nods and four All-American accolades while three players from that time had opportunities to play professionally. Missouri State was among the best in the country in several statistical categories on defense when Beard was the DC.

Before going to Missouri State, Beard was a special teams and safeties coach at Central Michigan in 2019. He was a quality control coach at Louisville, where he was from 2017-18, before becoming the team’s linebackers coach and co-special teams coordinator. He was also a defensive quality control coach there from 2014-15.

He coached defensive backs in 2016 at Western Kentucky, where he was a two-time All-Sun Belt defensive back himself, and was a graduate assistant at WKU in 2012-13.

Louisville Executive Director Of Player Personnel & Recruiting Vince Marrow

Marrow is a former assistant at Toledo who knows how to manage an FBS roster and recruit in the region. 

He was a tight ends coach at Toledo in 2008 and was a second-team all-MAC player for the Rockets in 1991 before he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 1992.

Marrow is the general manager at Louisville and was an assistant at Kentucky as an associate head coach, tight ends coach, and recruiting coordinator before that. 

He was also a graduate assistant and tight ends coach at Nebraska (2011-12) and coached in the UFL, at the high school level, and in NFL Europe previously.

Marrow is a former NFL player who played at Buffalo, Carolina, Chicago, San Francisco, and for the New York Jets. He also played for NFL Europe’s Frankfurt Galaxy and the XFL’s Orlando Rage.

Because of all of his experience, including at Toledo, he could be considered.

Notre Dame Offensive Coordinator Mike Denbrock

Denbrock is another top-notch coordinator who could be in the mix for head coaching opportunities.

He’s certainly led the Fighting Irish to success. After they made a run to the national championship in 2024, they were fifth in the country in scoring offense (42 PPG) at the end of the 2025 regular season.

Denbrock has worked with offensive linemen, tight ends, and wide receivers over the years at Notre Dame, but he’s also coached at a variety of other schools as well. He was LSU’s OC and tight ends coach before this from 2022-23 and was an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Cincinnati from 2017-21.

Denbrock hasn’t been a head coach at the collegiate level, but he has been an associate head coach, including at Notre Dame from 2015-16 and at Indiana State in 2009.

Indiana Defensive Coordinator Bryant Haines

Haines followed Curt Cignetti from James Madison to Indiana, and he has been stellar as the Hoosiers’ DC thus far.

At the end of the regular season, Indiana was second in the country in scoring defense with 10.9 points per game allowed and was fifth in total defense with 251.8 yards per game allowed. Last year, the Hoosiers were second with 256.3 YPG allowed and sixth with 15.6 PPG allowed.

Before his current job, he was instrumental in JMU’s transition to the Sun Belt. He was promoted to DC and linebackers coach after three years as a co-defensive coordinator.

In just their first season as an FBS program, the Dukes allowed the eighth-fewest yards per game in the country with 290.2 while allowing just 20.9 points per game. They were also top 10 in rushing defense, tackles for loss per game, first downs allowed, sacks per game, third-down defense, and fumble recoveries.

In 2023, JMU was in the top 20 in the FBS with 19.5 points per game allowed and the top 30 in the country with 333.8 yards per game allowed.

Indiana Offensive Coordinator Mike Shanahan

As Indiana’s OC, Shanahan has helped the Hoosiers build one of the best offenses in the country. They were second in the FBS with 44.3 PPG and fifth with 483.8 YPG at the end of the regular season.

Shanahan was JMU’s offensive coordinator from 2021-23, and the team’s offense flourished considering the program was new to the FBS ranks. In 2022 and 2023, the Dukes were top 30 in the country in total offense.

Shanahan was JMU’s wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator from 2019-20. He also coached with Cignetti at Elon (2017-18) and at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (2016) after being a graduate assistant at Pitt.

Illinois Defensive Backs Coach Corey Parker

Parker is a Power Four assistant with knowledge of Toledo, the MAC, and the region.

Parker is in his second season coaching defensive backs at Illinois. Before this, he was a cornerbacks coach at Toledo from 2022-23. And his most notable accomplishment there was coaching Quinyon Mitchell, who was drafted in the first round by the Philadelphia Eagles and is now a top-notch cornerback in the NFL.

Parker was also a high school head coach in the state of Michigan at River Rouge High School. The team was 113-34 and won a state title during Parker’s tenure.

Parker would make sense for Toledo for several reasons.