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University of Toledo DE Trent Voss and his teammates will face Temple in the Boca Raton Bowl.
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UT coaches attempt to keep routine

BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH

UT coaches attempt to keep routine

Candle to stay upstairs, not on sideline

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Loath to upset a routine that won nine games during the regular season, new University of Toledo football coach Jason Candle will not be on the Rockets’ sideline for the Boca Raton Bowl, his first game in charge.

When the Rockets play No. 24 Temple on Tuesday night at Florida Atlantic University Stadium, Candle will call the game from the press box as he normally did as Toledo’s offensive coordinator.

Since he took over as the Rockets’ offensive coordinator in 2012, Candle has spent game days calling the offense from the coaches’ box.

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With one game left this season, Candle didn’t want to drastically change the game-day flow of operations even with a shortfall in coaching personnel.

“I think these kids deserve that,” Candle said. “I don’t want to rock the boat too much with what they’re used to doing. I think it’s the best thing.”

Candle will radio the plays into quarterback Phillip Ely’s headset from high above the field. From an offensive standpoint, nothing will be different from previous 11 games for UT (9-2), which was the second-best scoring offensive in the Mid-American Conference this season.

“Our end of things has always involved him in the box, so it’s just what we’ve been used to all season,” Ely said. “That’s what we’ve been doing all season, why change now?”

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The Rockets arrived Friday in Boca Raton with only one in-game change in mind. Defensive coordinator Jon Heacock — who normally sits with Candle in the coaches’ box — will stand on the sideline for the first time in his two seasons on the Rockets’ full-time staff.

Four of Toledo’s former staff members who used to stand on the sideline departed to Iowa State: head coach Matt Campbell, tight ends coach Bryan Gasser, defensive backs coach D.K. McDonald, and linebackers coach Tyson Veidt.

Candle said that Heacock will call UT’s defense as usual, but Heacock will do so from a new vantage point to help compensate for some of the missing position coaches.

“That way, with a couple of the defensive coaches not being here, he’s going to be able to make the adjustments down there defensively,” Candle said. “We’ll be better served as a full unit that way.”

UT operated under the same set of guidelines during its previous coaching change in 2011. Campbell, then the offensive coordinator, took over when Tim Beckman left for Illinois before UT’s bowl game.

Instead of replacing Beckman on the sideline, Campbell opted to spend his first game as head coach in the press box. He called the offense from there as UT defeated Air Force 42-41 in the Military Bowl.

With no head coach on the field, Ely said the Rockets’ elder players are taking it upon themselves to assume more control of the sideline.

“It’s up to us leaders to step up and take control of this team like we should,” Ely said. “If things are going on on the field that need to be addressed, we’ll do it right then and there.

“We don’t need a head coach on the field to do so.”

The circumstances aren’t ideal for the Rockets, though Candle said this way is the easiest on the Toledo players. What’s easiest for them, Candle said, is best for this game.

“It ain’t about me,” Candle said. “It’s about these kids and this team, and I want to make sure that’s as consistent as it can [be], and they know what to expect on game day like they have the previous games.”

Contact Nicholas Piotrowicz at: npiotrowicz@theblade.com, 724-6110, or on Twitter @NickPiotrowicz

First Published December 19, 2015, 5:35 a.m.

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University of Toledo DE Trent Voss and his teammates will face Temple in the Boca Raton Bowl.  (BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH)
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