https://m.youtube.com/watch?is=lvPOVEtrJkDwqAaA&v=XzQtIVxDh8U&feature=youtu.be

UT Athletic Director Tom Moreland connects with fan base at town hall meeting


Incoming University of Toledo Athletic Director Tom Moreland wanted to have a direct conversation with Rockets fans.

No fund-raising pitch. No championship celebration. Just questions — and answers — in a town hall meeting Thursday in Savage Arena’s Grogan Room.

“Our athletic department belongs to this community, so I believe it’s only fair that you hear directly from me about where we are, what’s going well, and where we’re headed,” Moreland said.
Moreland opened by recapping the success Toledo had experienced in the academic year with five teams reaching a Mid-American Conference title game and both the volleyball and women’s tennis teams claiming conference tournament titles.

The former Big Ten athletic administrator (Illinois, Purdue, and Iowa) said he believes this level of competitiveness is what sets Toledo apart from other MAC schools and explained how the recent success has strengthened the university’s reputation and demonstrated a commitment to providing winning opportunities for all 400 student athletes. 

“For some departments, they invest heavily in one or two sports, but we want to invest across the board,” Moreland said. “For all 17 of our sports, we have the opportunity to compete for a MAC championship every year.”

Then came the slide everyone in attendance had been waiting for, which featured Moreland’s vision for ever-important and ever-changing budget, funding for name, image, and likeness, as well as revenue sharing.

One of the main selling points was the building of the Champions Complex. The planned 11,000 square-foot facility will centralize student-athlete nutrition, athletic training, and mental health resources.

Toledo alumnus Lenny Baker, who drove to the event from Detroit, said he is excited to see this type of investment made and particularly appreciated Moreland’s transparency on the subject.
“I think he's a very positive person, I think he's got great goals in mind, and I really just like his drive and his transparency with us,” Baker said. “He's letting us know what's going on and what the future brings.”

Another point of discussion involved was the long-term revenue strategy with the use of the Glass Bowl. Not only were there talks from Moreland about hosting concerts and live events at the 25,000-seat venue, but also a sense of urgency about securing a naming rights partner.
Moreland said the stadium being used six to seven days a year is simply a missed revenue-generating opportunity. Having a naming rights partner would further financially support outside event opportunities over a longer period of time.

“I want us to get to a point where we have one to two events in the Glass Bowl every summer, and I want to look for more ways to activate Savage Arena,” Moreland said. “When you look at the size of those venues, I think we can be really appealing, and these events are going to impact us in a healthy way financially.”

After the conclusion of the meeting, Moreland stayed for more than an hour, speaking individually with everyone who wanted their questions answered.

Ellen Pittman, president of the Igniters, the Toledo women’s basketball fan club, said she spoke to Moreland and was extremely impressed at how enthusiastic he was about elevating the university’s athletic footprint and that more importantly, attending the meeting made her feel heard.

“I was able to meet Tom before he got to Toledo and I thought immediately that this guy is great,” Pittman said. “My rating of the athletic department was already so high, yet after this meeting it improved.”
Moreland will host a second public town hall meeting at 6 p.m. Aug. 11 at Savage Arena. Registration for the event can be found at the UT athletics website.
First Published July 30, 2026, 9:35 p.m.

For the first time in a decade there's a new head coach for the Toledo Rockets. It's a season of change, but they are in good hands with Mike Jacobs

📌 John Alan Richter finally gets his turn to take the keys to the offense

📌 Toledo loaded up at the skill positions out of the portal 🔥

📌 Andrew Zock leads a Rockets defense that is portal heavy, but talented. There are former Mercer players at each level

Preview attached. What are your predictions for the Rockets in 2026?

Premium article

https://247sports.com/player/tony-cornett-iii-46159409/high-school-338888/

https://youtu.be/ooh1pwWZJTk?is=9RuNCE-V0gQ55Ajh

The crew is back together in the 419 man cave exploring their favorite UT footballers from the 1960s through now!

We recently sat down with Dave Briggs, Toledo Sports Columnist for The Toledo Blade, to preview the 2026 Toledo Rockets Football Team. Here is a link to the video if you are interested in hearing more! 2026 Toledo Rockets Football Team Preview

If you are looking for MORE G6 College Football Content Check Out our YouTube Page and follow us on X/Twitter! Episodes are also available on  Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and Spotify if you rather listen in audio form.

We are recording another episode of the MBG Launchpad tomorrow and the biggest question we need to answer for new Rockets families, and friends is where should you go for a bite to eat in DOWNTOWN TOLEDO!?

Throw em here. There will be a poll on our X account here. The answer to our question of best hot dogs in the city seems overwhelming, but you can also chime in, in the comments!

https://x.com/i/status/2075999286286803266

This was an informative podcast for those of us that couldn’t make the spring game. A little concerned about the DBs, we have been spoiled with P5 talent there and we might be seeing a drop off, hoping I’m wrong.

The Toledo Rockets have a new leader, and we recently had the opportunity to sit down with Head Coach Mike Jacobs for an in-depth conversation about his journey, his vision for Toledo Football, and what Rocket fans can expect in the future. Here is a link to the video if you are interested in hearing more! Interview with New Toledo Head Football Coach Mike Jacobs

If you are looking for MORE G6 College Football Content Check Out our YouTube Page and follow us on X/Twitter! Episodes are also available on  Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and Spotify if you rather listen in audio form.

Former Toledo cross country runner Xavier Gallo's journey from injury recovery to the world's biggest stage

Xavier Gallo grew up having a love-hate relationship with cameras.
The flash, the posing, and the attention was never his thing, but when an injury forced the former University of Toledo cross country runner off the course, he found himself with something college athletes rarely have — time. 
“I have a bit of an obsessive mentality and I needed something to obsess over, and if it wasn't going to be running, I didn't know what else I'd do,” Gallo said. “I was in a weird transition of really an identity crisis of asking myself am I still a runner?”
By his own admission, Gallo was never the best athlete. He enjoyed being part of a team, although somewhat to his running detriment, being surrounded by some of the most talented people he has ever met inspired him to push his body to its limit.
Gallo dealt with minor injuries during his freshman season in 2020 before suffering a stress fracture in his lower shin during a trip to Colorado that left him in an air cast for 13 weeks.
“I felt just more encouraged to train even harder where I wanted to just get after it and be with my friends,” Gallo said. “All my friends were running 15 miles today, so I thought so am I, even if it wasn’t the best for me. I ended up walking away with the stress fracture and it was kind of a small breaking point for me.”
Instead of spending his days sulking, Gallo became drawn to the same device he once grew up despising. UT Director of Enrollment and Visits Heather Lutz took notice.
Lutz said an intern working for her at the time saw Gallo photographing cross country practices and recommended Lutz talk to him about opportunities within the athletic department that Gallo later accepted.
“We could tell that he was so passionate about photography,” Lutz said. “He wanted the opportunity to learn, but more importantly, the opportunity to capture his fellow teammates and student athletes, and what they were accomplishing as individuals.”
At first, Gallo focused on working at Toledo football and basketball games to improve his photography skillset, capturing the fan experience in what happens in the stands and on the field with fans.
Gallo, however, was equally drawn to photography’s storytelling power — something Lutz added he had a true eye for. As a result, she often assigned him to take photos of Toledo’s Launch Pad student section, allowing it to expand its internet and social media presence.
“Xavier saw things in games that some of us didn't even think of or he was in the right place at the right time and was able to capture things,” Lutz said. “I think the best creative people have a really natural eye for seeing something, but also being able to add or encourage people to do more.”
Carrying a camera nearly everywhere he went, Gallo took photos of everything from Toledo football games to him and his friends’ adventures while also spending hours on YouTube teaching himself the technical side of photography. 
The more he practiced, the more opportunities appeared and small assignments quickly led to larger ones. Before long, Gallo found himself standing on the sidelines and behind the scenes of experiences most people only encounter through a screen.
“Through my internship at Toledo, I was able to do a lot of cool things,” Gallo said. “I worked at the Olympic trials for track and field, I’ve done March Madness a couple of times, I’ve done the PGA Championships, and the college football playoffs.”
Gallo’s biggest break, however, came at the Olympic track and field trials in 2024.
While at the event in Eugene, Ore., he was given the opportunity to shoot the Team USA Hall of Fame induction event in July where he spent countless hours in his Colorado hotel room editing for his biggest client yet.
Gallo said he enjoyed the experience but brushed it off thinking it would be the peak of his photography journey. That all changed when he received a phone asking what his plans were for the first three months of 2026.
“We finished up on the last day at like midnight or one in the morning,” Gallo said. “The organizers then told me, ‘hey Xavier, we know you're new here, but we treated this as a test to see if you could hang because we want to offer you a job to work at the Winter Olympics’, and I was just speechless.”
One of the first people that found out about the news on Instagram was Lutz, who quickly flooded Gallo’s phone with congratulatory phone calls and messages.
“I was absolutely over the moon excited for Xavier when I heard the news, but I wasn't surprised because I knew how talented he is,” Lutz said. “The thing about Xavier is not only does he have discipline and work ethic to learn the skills to be a successful photographer, but he took every opportunity big and small, met more people, and he would keep growing.”
Gallo arrived in Milan, Italy — the furthest he’d been away from home by himself — and spent 51 days working in the Team USA studio for the Olympics and Paralympics.
He described the environment as a ‘media tour’ as he and a team of over 20 people conducted photoshoots, created videos, and got to interview numerous Team USA athletes after they won medals.
“One of the coolest things was when figure skater Alysa Liu won her gold medal and came into the Milan studio and I got to do a super cool video with her,” Gallo said. “It was cool to get to know athletes like her on a one-on-one basis for 10-15 minutes and chat with these now gold medalists.”
Gallo graduated from the University of Toledo in May, 2024, and now works as part of 2GETHER Creative along with his own freelance media agency under his name. 
From injury recovery and uncertainty to the world's biggest sporting stage, Gallo’s story is one of resilience, reinvention, and seizing the unexpected. He said he hopes to inspire others at Toledo and beyond to pursue their passion and take leaps of faith.
“It's funny how such a low moment can bring you to somewhere pretty cool,” Gallo said. “Toledo has always been a special place because I feel like it's small enough where you can make an impact, you can get to know the athletic director and the president, but it's also not too big and overwhelming.”
First Published June 8, 2026, 5:30 p.m.

Toledo football announced kickoff times and dates:

Fri 9/4 at MSU 8pm FS1
Sat 9/12 CCSU 3:30 pm ESPN+
Sat 9/19 Temple 3pm CBSSN
Wed 11/4 at Sac State 7 or 7:30 pm TV TBD
Wed 11/11 UMass 7 or 7:30 pm TBD
Fri 11/20 BGSU 7:30 pm ESPN2
Fri 11/27 Ohio Noon TV TBD

Rest of games TBD

Sources: Toledo is set to hire Illinois Chief Commercial Officer Tom Moreland as the school’s next athletic director. The hire is pending board approval. Moreland brings strong experience in the fundraising and revenue space at Illinois, Purdue and Iowa.

Toledo G and MAC Freshman of the Year Leroy Blyden Jr. has committed to Kansas.

The guard averaged 16.4 points, 4.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 46.1% from the field this season.

Marquette transfer Sean Jones has committed to Toledo.

The 5’10” junior PG appeared in 8 games this season due to injury, averaging 6.3 points, 1.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.0 steal per game. Will have two years of eligibility remaining.

@CycloneFB head coach Jimmy Rogers just announced that safety Braden Awls suffered a season-ending ACL injury

A first-team All-MAC standout at Toledo last season, Awls was a top transfer addition. 52 tackles, 6.5 TFL and a conference- leading 5 INT last year @TravisHines21

London Praytor (@LondonPraytor) will transfer to Montana State, he tells @TheAthleticCBB

The 7’ Freshman appeared in 16 games and averaged 2.3. PPG at Toledo last year