And now the 490 with Gretchen de Becker, Matt Killam and Kevin Mullin all.

Welcome into the 419.

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I'm Kevin Mullin, Gretchen de Becker, Matt Killam it was another ground I like to do.

Tony the Tiger just like to surprise you.

Yeah, I love it.

We got mystery guest edition of the 419.

Who is it?

That's not how we play this game.

It is my mystery guest.

Okay, so I think that's an important clarification that I. On these days, I have to remind Matt that it's not his responsibility.

You can relax.

I'm immediately relieved.

Yes, exactly.

So, my mystery guest.

You want.

You want clues.

Now we want clues.

Okay.

They are a vice president.

Boy, why does he bring such heavy hitters in here?

They are a director, okay?

They are a heavy hitter.

That is.

I think that's a that's a fair term for this person.

They are boxer.

No no, no.

They they played.

They played college baseball.

Okay.

At the D1 level, they have a 1000 batting average.

The perfect.

Is that good?

Yeah, it's as good as it gets.

Okay.

They're not from Toledo.

They are originally from Shorewood, Wisconsin.

Oh, well, now I know who it is.

I don't I was like, I'm just going to wait for this, but yeah.

So I this is again someone we know this person you do not.

You're sure of that?

Does Matt know them?

I don't think so.

I don't think so either.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think I spend a lot of time in Sherwood, Wisconsin.

Yeah, right.

I mean, I recognize the face.

Yeah, right.

This person has not been in Wisconsin for a while, but they have been quite a few different styles.

What are they, the VP of?

Just give us a clue there.

That's too much.

That would.

I mean, if I give you the title, that'll give it away.

What is your favorite?

Sherwood, Wisconsin.

Ice cream cheese curd flavor.

But you took it.

Landed.

Yeah, sure.

A crash landing is still technically a big day count down here.

Yeah.

Me too.

Yeah, I think I think I told you guys my college roommate was a pilot, and he said that there's like.

No, he did it, but he's random.

You know, he was in college.

Okay.

That's fair.

Yeah, but he said there's three different kinds of landings.

Okay, there's a bad landing.

We know what that is.

Yeah, there's a good landing and a great landing.

Oh, and the difference between good and great, right?

A good landing.

How many people did I ever see survives a great landing.

You can use the plane again.

Yeah.

I was like, I don't ever want to be in a plane with you.

Interesting.

But I did fly with him a few times.

It was great.

What's a high bar?

Yeah.

That's right.

Everyone surviving is a is a. Yeah.

I mean, seems like a minimum requirement.

I think that is everyone surviving.

It would certainly be a minimum requirement for my mystery guest as well.

Okay.

Is this person a pilot as well?

Is this your college roommate?

Is that who's coming out?

Oh, man, that would be great.

Yeah.

Ryan.

Ryan would be fun.

Yeah, that's not Ryan.

Oh, don't know, but no, no, it's.

You're going to have to find out.

Okay.

I'm excited.

Yeah, they might be.

They might be one of the biggest event planners in northwest Ohio.

You said baseball, right?

Not softball.

I said baseball.

Okay.

All right.

Meaning that it's man.

That's why I asked you.

That's not.

That's not what that means.

There are women that play baseball in College Division one.

I do appreciate what.

Ever heard of sexism?

Yeah.

No.

Okay.

Let's get let's give it a minute.

This is not that show.

It's not that show.

All right, let's go.

Can you say new to me?

Yeah.

I've never heard it before.

Okay.

All right.

We're gonna take a break when we come back.

All right.

We will meet.

My mystery.

Guess I'm intrigued.

I am to and I saw their car.

So now I'm trying to figure out who would have driven that car.

His car or her car?

The car.

That car?

Yeah.

All right, we'll take a break.

We'll be right back on the 419.

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It's my mystery guest.

I gave some clues.

I said, this person is a vice president.

They are a director.

They are a former baseball player from Wisconsin, not originally from Toledo, obviously.

In fact, they've only been here a little over a month.

My mystery guest is the vice president and director of athletics at the University of Toledo, Tom Moreland.

Thanks for having me on to the show.

It was a little bit of a suck up in the jacket.

He he does where?

Rocket skier oh, we should have known, but bright yellow.

Just hang on, hang on a second.

Hang on one.

I want to call that a brown noser, by the way.

It's good.

Looking good.

Yeah, it's a fair point.

One second.

Hang on one second.

Matt Kilham.

Yeah.

Is going to call me out for wearing a brand that employs me.

I just want to make sure we're clear here.

Yeah, that's fair point.

Yeah.

Okay.

Now you see what I'm talking about.

Matt has never not worn at least two pieces of branded for six months gear for six months.

I actually just on this one shirt.

Okay, so that is I'm saying it's a lot of sitting close to me.

A lot of use out of.

Right.

Yeah.

That's right.

Tom, welcome to Toledo.

How has it been so far?

Awesome, awesome.

It's a it's a great community.

We have great people coaches, staff, student athletes.

I think when you have an opportunity like this at this university, you always think about people first.

And so really starts with our with our board just really engaged.

Mike Miller, being the board chair, cares deeply about the university, the community, and then certainly our president and Doctor Holloway, a really long and established career, knows the footprint of this area of the country incredibly well, has spent some time outside of it and come back to it.

And so just the list goes on and on.

So professional reasons just couldn't be more excited.

But then also on a personal level, just got the keys to our house about about two days ago.

Nice family's trailing behind a little bit but that's but that's worked out for us and so just couldn't be more excited.

How do you even begin to start to learn all the people that you have, their names and the people that you have to know in your department, in the university and in the city do do you do flashcards?

Are you constantly taking notes?

How do you start to learn or meet all these new people?

Yeah, it's a great question.

Probably been doing it my whole career.

You know, it's my first time as an athletics director, but at the University of Illinois, I was the chief commercial officer at the opportunity there.

We had probably about 100, 125 staff and kind of my unit.

Right.

It's a similar size staff here at here at UT.

I was the chief revenue officer at Purdue.

Similar responsibilities as U of I. And then I worked at Iowa and fundraising.

And I think in all those different stops, it's always about just connection and relationships.

And so flashcards great idea.

Haven't done that.

But I think probably in my whole career it's always just about connecting with our fans, our donors, our alumni in the community.

And so it's probably just just a strength.

I've also just been doing it so long as well.

Yeah.

I'm interested in your impression of Toledo, both as a university and as a city before you came for your interview.

And then what did you learn when you got here?

Yeah.

Let's go.

We'll go before, you know, lifelong midwesterner.

So grew up in Wisconsin, lived in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois.

And so now Ohio.

Right?

Right.

Naturally, making making my tour.

Right.

My.

My wife.

Manifest destiny.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

And so only hope to get to West Virginia at some point.

Yeah.

I don't know if that's on the list.

I'm sure it's it's a great community.

I just I don't have a lot of viewers say whatever you want.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's a great athletics department there at West Virginia.

And great Addie, my wife grew up in Minnesota, so we're kind of like lifelong Midwesterners.

And so I think being lifelong Midwesterners have a lot of respect for Toledo.

Right.

Think, think a lot of great things about it.

And so that was before moving here.

Now being here for call it 5 or 6 weeks, those expectations have been far exceeded.

There's there's so many things to do here.

There's great schools.

The Metroparks you know, before coming here, everybody's like, hey you got to see the Metroparks.

I'm like okay.

Like I kind of get it.

And then I see them.

Yeah, they are remarkable.

They are world class.

And so this is great.

Thanks.

Yeah, yeah.

Put them on their right.

Let me do it tomorrow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But they really are they're incredible.

So that's really on the community side.

But for th athletics department the univers you know we have an incredible tradition here right.

Have competed at a really high level highest degree of integrity.

And so thought a lot of it before coming here.

And now being here six weeks.

Just like on the personal side, our expectations have absolutely been exceeded.

I'm curious about fit as well.

I mean, you there's an ascension obviously from a career standpoint, you continue to go to larger universities or larger conferences, but it also has to fit you and your family.

Talk to me a little about the duality to that, and maybe you already hinted on it as a midwesterner, but you know, you've got to bring your family here.

So when we've had other individuals on that, you know, hunt around or recruited for positions in this very high level, but when the offers come in, wha the process of even considering an interview look like at home?

Yeah.

Like do you taught your wife to grow on the table?

Yeah.

Talk to me about what that looks.

I mean, on a molecular level, you are.

You're a human being just like the rest of the people.

This table.

But you have to oversee a giant ship.

And theoretically, you're always looking for a larger ship.

But that can't always be true based on how old your kids are or having enough time with your family, which is probably laughable with their career.

But talk to me about that conversation.

It's always flattering to be asked or to be some influence with a big job, but you want to be a dad in a husband.

So can you talk to me a little bit about that duality?

You know, even in your in your question, you're kind of making a good statement with it too.

So I remember very early in my career, the athletic director at the University of Iowa gave me so much time.

And frankly, looking back on it, more time than he probably should have.

And so when I think about careers, I will always work with our staff on those types of things.

And we had grabbed coffee about once a month.

And so to keep the story short, what Gary Barta told me was, he said, Tom, you need to put a list together with your with your wife on the types of places that you would want to go.

And you said it because when people reach out to you, it's very flat.

I would imagine for any profession.

Yes, it just is.

And you're excited about it.

And so we've always had that.

So that's really step one.

And then it's the community.

And then again I'll go back to the people.

We have an awesome, awesome president here.

He's got a great strategic plan.

He connects well with people.

He loves all of our students.

He loves college athletics.

We've worked with him on a number of occasions.

Even in a short tenure.

We being the Metroparks.

And it's a it's a toss up to say he's cerebral.

I mean, he's a brilliant guy, but he is also extremely approachable.

And he will sit back and then speak.

And he has a a common sense, practical commentary on whatever the scenario we're talking about is.

But it and again, this isn't a platitude.

The way that he's able to frame things is pretty impressive.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, he's an exceptionally smart guy.

And again, those things, if those things don't necessarily come hand in hand one another.

So I'm not surprised that you find him to be the same way.

He also doesn't take himself too seriously, which with like with as smart as he is, is is a refreshing.

I mean, and I remember homecoming listener.

I mean, he wore a hat that may have been the size of Texas.

Yeah, literally in the back of a in the back of a convertible with a giant foam cowboy hat.

Yeah, but you talked about people.

You mentioned that a couple of times already.

When decide to pull the trigger.

You.

That's a big change no matter what.

Although you've done a couple of times when you get in and the family isn't here yet.

But what is sort of step one of unpacking the the brown box that is your office?

But what do you have a process in a way, to yourself?

I think what's really important is when you come into opportunities like these that have strong traditions and history, you have to learn that first.

I think sometimes leaders come in.

Hey, here are the 20 things that that I want to do.

Yeah, that's a mistake.

And so when I've had media interviews or speaking engagements, people like, hey, what's your plan?

Where are you going to do them?

Like, well, let's just take a step back and give us about 60 days.

And then after about 90 or 100 days, we're going to establish a core set of strategic priorities that we're going to execute on.

I think we're leaders.

Misstep is they're trying to win headlines and do things, you know, winning the press conference.

My press conference was awesome, I loved it.

I'll be forever grateful to everybody involved.

But it lasted one hour.

Yeah, right.

And now you got to execute.

And so been doing this for about 3540 days.

Understanding people building trust.

There's probably a couple initial key priorities will be a few more throughout the summer.

And then we're going to go and we're going to execute on them.

And you talked about fit earlier I think that fits the Toledo community.

I think that fits northwest Ohio.

This is a community of substance, but with our strong tradition, tradition and history as well, we just need to keep the momentum and pushing forward.

Usually these opportunities become available because it's not going well.

Sure.

And I share that with all of our head coaches and staff.

That is not the case here and that is not lost on me.

So we just need to keep moving.

I want to talk about kind of your career history to bring you to this point, to have you ready for it, but maybe the right place for us to start is really like, what is the role of the athletic director?

What is that?

What does that actually entail in 2026?

Yeah.

Great question.

At its core, it's about putting people in a position to be successful, about supporting our coaches, supporting our student athletes, supporting our staff.

But a key piece of that is the relationships we have on campus with our presence cabinet, the relationships we have with our donors, our fans, our corporate partners and our alumni.

But at the center of everything that we do is is always our student athletes.

College athletics is changing quickly.

But what I say a lot is during moments of change, there's moments of opportunity.

And so every decision we make has to be with our student athletes at the center of it.

And so supporting our head coaches.

When our head coaches see the opportunity to compete for a Mac Championship on a regular basis, to compete in the postseason, I think that's when they're at their best.

And so when they have that path to do those things, I think they operate at a really high level and the same for for our student athletes.

They're really competitive.

They've made sacrifices and commitments.

You know, for a lot of them, from probably, what, 8 or 9 years old going to 18 practices, travel training.

It's a family commitment for their parents as well, and supporting our student athletes athletically, academically and socially.

And I think student athletes want to be at a place like University of Toledo because we have transformational relationships.

We're really investing in them, have a connection with them.

If all an athletic department or coach cares about the student athletes, how you perform, I think you can do a nice job.

We're not going to be great because that's really just a transactional relationship.

And then for our staff members, one of our goals will probably be to be one of the best athletics departments to work at and live at, and I think we can do that here in Toledo.

Sure, there's there's bigger ones.

Bigger doesn't always mean better.

You could have an hour commute each way, maybe not afford a home.

Schools might be really challenging when you think about this community, and sometimes when people live here, while you take that for granted.

Sure.

I'm here to tell you I don't.

Yeah.

And I've lived in great communities and I would take those for granted.

But I have friends across the country where, you know, they're leaving for work right now, right?

And they might get there in an hour.

Right.

And then trying to drop off their kids and go see a kid's baseball game.

Like, that's pretty challenging stuff.

And so it's really about focusing on our coaches, our student athletes and staff.

So much of the position is also about fundraising, and we're in a world now and a way to try to support the athletes.

You've had these prior fundraising positions at other universities.

How do you it seems like you're in a unique position to mesh those two skills as part of the directorship here?

Yeah, absolutely.

What I learned from a mentor early in my career is a vision without resources is irrelevant.

And so connecting with our donors, our fans, our alumni, our corporate partners on why they should invest in Utah, invest in our student athletes and really showing them the impact.

I think sometimes people misunderstand fundraising, like, hey, you're schmoozing with people or twisting somebody's arm.

I've never done that in my entire career.

You really build a relationship on a personal level and see how they want to support the program, and everybody's different.

Some people come into one game a year.

Some people season tickets, some people.

It's joining the rocket Fund.

Some people it's a really significant gift or corporate partnership.

But what separates us here at UT is we have a great market here.

And so if everybody can just do their part that they're able to do where the premier program in this conference.

We're talking with Tom Moreland, the vice president director of athletics at the University of Toledo.

My mystery guest here on a mystery guest edition of the 419.

How many talk to me.

You talked about employees and student athletes and coaches.

Give me some of the numbers of the department.

How many employees, how many coaches and how many student athletes.

Yeah, yeah, that's a good question.

Dazn yeah, I was gonna say yeah, they really appreciate that very round numbers.

So you're looking at about 150 staff members right.

So about 150 full time staff members.

And then you also have your game day part time staffs.

And so that's usually several hundred as well.

We have 17 sports here at the University of Toledo.

I think that's a that's a really good mix of those 17 sports, just under 400 student athletes.

And then so the the amount of head coaches for those 17 sports were there's some crossover.

You look at our track and field and cross country program that that has one head coach and then assistant coaches for that.

But what's what's unique here.

And again why I think it's special.

We have coaches have been here for 30 years, a head coach for for 30 years.

That's really unique.

And you have someone like Mike Jacobs who's certainly been a head coach.

Other places he's won at an unbelievably high level.

Couldn't be more excited about Mike, but Mike's going on what, month six here.

Right.

So we're the two new guys in town.

But then you look at Todd check and men's basketball.

Todd's going on year 17.

Ginny's been here for a few years.

So there's just that really good mix, which I think is important because when you're a head coach and it's really competitive, it can get a little lonely, right?

And they have families and you can only bring so much home because it's not like you're going to call the other head coaches in the league and ask about, you know, strategy and advice because because that's your competitor.

It is lonely for me on this show, being the only person having talent.

Yeah.

It's a lonely morning every morning here.

So thank you for seeing me.

And you want to talk to the break here.

That was a disaster.

The one day that.

Let's take a break for a break.

Sure.

When we come back, I do want to kind of jump into the past a little bit, talking about you to your early athletics career and coaches who made a difference in your life.

And then we'll talk about, I know you don't have a real solid checklist of things I want to get done at Toledo, but let's talk about the vision talk.

Let's do it.

The goals that you have for Toledo Athletics, we'll take a break.

We'll be right back on the 419.

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Welcome back into the 419 powered by a mystery guest edition.

We're talking with Tom Moreland, the vice president director of athletics at the University of Toledo.

Yeah, we we were closing in a break, but I wanted to reframe the question as a little guy, professional athlete was the dream.

Probably.

Probably.

But what?

What?

Walk us into the letterhead on your your door today.

You grew up in Wisconsin.

Baseball was a tried and true number one thing.

Or were you a multi-sport athlete?

Good question.

So I grew up about three blocks from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

My grandfather was the head men's basketball coach there kind of years before I was born.

But the fine tradition of basketball, yeah, really good tradition.

And so I've been around college athletics, like truly my entire life, and so grew up three blocks from the arena.

Both my parents were lifelong school teachers.

So higher education sports was like always a thing in the Moreland House.

And so I've told people probably from eight years old to 17 years old, I went to more college basketball games and probably like any other teenager in the country, because I would just go to all of them, rarely ask me for a ticket because they all know who I was.

And so the joke I tell people from my background talking about my playing career, there's four catchers.

When I was at the University of Iowa, okay, one got drafted by the New York Yankees, one got drafted by the White Sox, one got drafted by the Oakland A's.

One of them's the ad at the University of Toledo.

Yeah, yeah.

So I knew early one that.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think it worked out one.

Yeah, sure.

I just knew gosh, probably 45 minutes in that first practice.

I was like, these guys are pretty good.

I got my work cut out for me.

But I had a tremendous student athlete experience.

Yeah, I had a very similar experience athletically.

I remember the first time from Olympic development.

I was like, oh, these these guys are going to do it.

Yeah, they're pretty like, maybe I'll just start straightening up their bags.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But you talked about your folks and grandparents.

It isn't.

Although it does sound like the dye was a little bit cast for you.

There are a lot of things that make up someone of your talent.

Those are my words.

You're very humble guy, but talking a little bit about Trump upbringing in those people that sort of cast the DNA that makes you affective in this capacity.

Yeah.

Great question.

You know, being from Milwaukee and I think that's Toledo in a lot of ways, hard work.

Yes, sir.

Hard work is everything.

Grit being a good teammate.

And so, you know, growing up in Milwaukee, going to University of Iowa, having that type of student athlete experience, where where I was on the team and our coach made it clear, but he valued it.

I was on the team to be, you know, like like a locker room guy.

Like I had to be a culture guy because it certainly wasn't going to be performance.

Sure.

Had to have really good grades, do well and strength conditioning kind of do all those different things.

And so I just loved it.

And then working at the University of Iowa, being a fundraiser at my alma mater, a place where I was a letter winner.

Just the types of relationships you build.

You get to know people on a just a really, really personal level.

And then and then going to Purdue.

Mike, who was our athletic director there, just announced his retirement.

Really grateful to Mike for all the opportunities I had there when I was there.

The football program, Purdue has been a little up and down, but for my for my years there.

Jeff Brown was a head football coach.

He's now at the University of Louisville.

Jeff did a remarkable job just just focused and development and execution.

And he's one of the best coaches had the opportunity to be around, just like Kirk fans at the University of Iowa.

And then go to the University of Illinois, fifth most populated state in the country, flagship institution for that type of state.

Josh Whitman, the ad there have the highest degree of respect for Josh, but we're just able to really grow and elevate the program.

And so somebody that's been a lifelong midwesterner, I remember I told us to Josh, when I first went to U of I, I said, I've always respected this institution, you know, as being a big tenor.

I said, but I think he competed a really high level.

And I think our last couple of years there, winning bowl games, going to the Final Four.

I think we probably did that.

Talk to me about, you know, the job has always been people entrusting their children to you.

To your point, these are student athletes.

You're now there's an extra layer of, to some degree, financially supporting families.

Summer looked down on that or feel like the apocalypse is upon us.

All right.

Based on sports, that is not the tenor you'll find on this show, certainly.

But how do you balance the two things between having it be a business and you keep saying people, and that's not lost on us.

The balance between having it be a transactional business as well as being a caretaker of young people's lives.

Yeah, it's a good question.

I think one of the real benefits of revenue sharing nil 18 and 19 year olds get like real adult experience with high degrees of accountability at a young age.

And you look at the GPA of our athletics program, it's a 3.52, right?

That's a great thing.

So when people are like, well, student, any of us got not collectively.

Yeah, that's a good one.

Yeah yeah yeah I can't guarantee that I pulled a third of that.

Want to make sure we're clear.

Yeah.

And our football program 3.4 men's basketball.

Todd.

They've always had a really high GPA in his whole tenure here.

And I don't think that was maybe the case before.

Todd.

Yeah, from what I've heard.

And so in the national media talk about like, hey, they don't go to class and those types of things fundamentally at the University of Toledo, that is not accurate.

Our student athletes go to class.

The amount of student athletes I've met here in my short time, they're going to pursue an MBA or graduate work is is remarkable.

And so there's certainly a balance to it.

But I think it's a really good thing because they're communist institution compete at a high level getting a great degree.

You can graduate from here and you can stay here.

That's not always the case.

And you look at other some of the other communities in the Mac, they don't really have the market that we do.

We have a very real market here.

And so now they have the opportunity to be compensated.

I think some of the things that people read about in the national media aren't always accurate.

Get on it.

Weird.

I'm going to write that in this subject matter is so weird.

Everything else, they are kneeling.

Yeah, exactly.

They focus on.

And I don't blame them.

Right.

Because there's there's there's truth to them.

The 1% of 1%.

Yeah.

But for those student athletes and I've been around a few to wear since they were probably 16 years old, as long as they stayed healthy and kept moving forward, they were always going to be a professional athlete.

And so now in today's age, I do think they should benefit in revenue sharing.

I absolutely think they agree.

But what people probably don't talk about is last name, say they get to come to an institution like this, get a scholarship, build relationships, get challenged, developed, and yeah, they're going to have a little bit of money in their pocket.

And I think that's a good thing.

I think the accountability component of is fascinating.

It's always been with the big cat, Andy Katz and lawyer.

His mom was famous for saying, I'm sure the cats and wires are famous for saying many things, but that you pay a kid to go to Ohio State to play the tuba.

My kid should be able to go and learn how to be a professional athlete, right?

So the drop down from that to your point, statistically speaking, most of your student athletes are not going to be professional athletes, but the managing of finances, having an understanding of accountability are transactional or applicable skills to anything they're walking out of the doors with when they turn their go ahead.

Can you explain just a little bit of like what is the actual like financial landscape of, of athletics at Toledo?

Because, I mean, we hear about the, you know, six and seven figure checks written to student athletes in top tier, you know, big ten SEC programs.

But I know Toledo has a slightly different model.

Yeah.

And so and I know that every sport has a slightly different model.

So catch us up on on what that looks like today.

Yeah.

The three main buckets.

And I think this is where the media is not always reporting on this correctly.

The first main bucket we talk about student athlete benefits and support because that's where most of the conversation is right.

I don't think people are really interested in.

Hey what's the operating travel budget for this sport right there in nil.

The first main bucket is scholarships.

We all understand how that works.

And so we absolutely participate at that for for all of our programs and do a really good job.

The second bucket, which is new since July of 2025, is revenue sharing.

So that came after the House settlement that worked its way through the courts for for many years.

And that's put athletics departments like ours, ones in the Mac, the Big Ten, the SEC, the ACC, where we can share a certain amount of revenue directly with our student athletes.

And there's a cap on that number, just currently 20.5 million in the Mid-American conference.

Nobody is at the cap.

Nobody is in the Big Ten, the SEC.

They're all at the cap.

And so what you're seeing at those types of schools, they want to share revenues beyond 20.5 million.

So in the third bucket is that's that's third party name image and likeness.

There's a new clearinghouse a college sports commission, a lot of headlines around the CSC.

They're continuing to grow and evolve from my seat and spending a lot of time in that area.

I wish people would give them a little bit more grace, you know?

Kidding.

Because we're not even a year into this.

And if anybody was expecting the biggest sea change in the history of college athletics would be perfect on day one, like they are hitting themselves.

And so they continue to grow and evolve and change and and I really hope it works.

But those are really our three primary buckets for us.

What we're focused on all three.

But from the student athlete benefits side, certainly scholarships is of the highest priority.

And then a few of our sports participate in revenue sharing.

That's a that's a really interesting and good level setting.

Commentary A gentleman named Byers created the first concept of student athletes, and that was in the 60s.

Yeah.

So if you're looking at the amount of time that we fixed or crafted the student athlete concept, which again happened in in the 1960s.

This is new and moving quickly on top of technology, which of course is moving so rapidly that even high level institutions as a teenager curriculum out every six months.

So the lack of grace you can spread across culturally.

And that is one thing I will say as we, as we sort of land this plane.

Thank you.

What what are the three years from now?

Five years from now?

Looking at the the resume of the department, what are the goals that you want to have achieved as the director of athletics?

Yeah.

Great question.

Probably a few things.

I think without a doubt, our expectation is to be the premier program in this conference, like no doubt about it.

And I think we can do it.

I think we're on the verge of doing that.

When you comparison to what's called the kind of group of six, I think we should be absolutely one of the very top schools in that I think sometimes people always want to play the comparison game.

We're focused on being the very best version of the University of Toledo, and when we do that, what makes us unique?

The outcome of that is being the premier program in the Mac and being one of the premier programs of the Group of six.

And so when people talk about athletics departments that are performing at a really high level, like I said earlier, yeah, there's some bigger ones, but they're going to they're going to point to UTB like, hey, they're competing for a Mac Football championship every year, men's and women's basketball, competing to go to the NCAA tournament.

Volleyball is doing their thing competing for the NCAA tournament, Mac Championship and want all of our 17 sports to be competing for a Mac Championship.

Year in and year out.

I was talking to some people over the weekend just catching up with friends, and they asked me the same question.

I said, we can win a mac Championship in every single sport, every single year.

And so that's the expectation.

It's high.

But I think that's very real here to be specific, executing on what we call the Champions Complex.

It's a new facility for our student athletes that has academics, nutrition, strength, conditioning.

It'll impact all 17 of our sports.

400 student athletes really want to get that done.

You asked in three years I want to get that done in a year.

And so we have a little bit of money left to raise for that.

But I think we can probably get that done in the next few months.

Exciting.

Yeah.

Kidding.

And I think probably the last thing is people, you know, see the university with Doctor Holloway really going through a growth phase that the athletics department is operating a high level like I talked about, but is really benefiting the rest of the institution is really being anchored in this community.

So as they talk about the growth of the university athletics department is playing a really significant role in that.

I don't know if you had the chance during the interview process to attend any games, but the fan experience at the University of Toledo is a very fun experience.

What is something from another place that you've been that you think would be great to have it?

One of the games or things here that you that you think Toledo would love?

Is there something like that they'd like to add to the fan experience?

Yeah.

Having our students at our games in men's and women's basketball, they transform the environment.

They do.

And so the last two Big Ten schools I've been at really good basketball programs, and they make the home court advantage.

They make it unbearable for the other team.

And then on the football side as well, when I was at Illinois, we went from, gosh, 2000 season tickets in football to when I left 9000.

Wow.

And so want our students at the games.

I think it impacts their student experience.

That's where they're going to build relationships, lifelong memories.

Right.

That's where they're going to remember their experience for the whole institution.

But they also create that home field advantage for our football program as well.

So that's great.

I've gotten that feedback a little bit.

And so all of our students can expect to see me a lot.

They're going to see me on campus but want our students at the games.

Good.

All right, Don, buckle up.

It's now time for Gretchen's wacky quiz.

All right, let's do it.

Sorry for the name.

It's the 419.

Okay, I'm going to ask you for rapid fire questions.

Gretchen, ask you to describe Toledo in one word, and you and Matt will list the nine best things in Toledo.

Which 40 days in should be a piece of cake.

There we go.

All right.

What is your idea of the perfect birthday?

Wow.

Perfect birthday.

Probably spending time with.

With my family, getting around and golfing.

All right.

Have you ever made a homemade gift for someone?

I've probably attempted and probably hasn't gone very well.

Sure.

Yeah.

What's your favorite video game to play?

Oh, gosh.

You know, I was I was probably a EA sports, you know, person in the early 2000.

Been a long time since the video games have come out.

Yeah.

You're a little busy.

Yeah.

Do you believe in second chances?

Absolutely.

No question.

I think especially for what we do sometimes, and not just student athletes.

Students make mistakes.

They deserve a second chance.

Absolutely.

And so, yeah, I think that's a great part of what I get to do.

What's the one word you would use to describe the city of Toledo connected.

Okay.

And again, I've said it a lot for where I grew up.

And that's why we love it here so much.

People are connected here.

But I'd also say for again, being 40 days in very welcoming.

Very, very.

That's good to hear.

Yeah.

All right.

We're going to do nine favorite things.

Let's do it.

We're just going to list them off here so far.

Great food.

Love it.

Close proximity airport.

Airport drive Inverness golf club.

All right.

Good for you.

Toledo country club.

Love it.

All right.

The schools?

Yes.

The 419 podcast.

Good for you.

That's it.

That's the show?

Yeah.

Great.

This guy is.

Give a shout out to the wife and kids.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He didn't say the Metro parks yet.

That's okay.

I got to put the Metroparks on there.

I went to the watershed.

I know here I have.

I knew how you got on the guest list.

Yeah.

Yes, sir.

Yeah.

They're.

The Metroparks are remarkable.

Amazing.

The remarkable.

As a result of all the things you mentioned were remarkable.

It's about community.

And we're only good as a result of the people that we're able to work with.

So.

And you're one of them, sir.

Good to have you.

Thank you.

Home opener for football.

Yeah.

Central Connecticut state.

Yeah.

So we well, home openers their first game.

Mike Jacobs career.

We're going up to East Lansing Friday night played Michigan State.

So Pat Fitzgerald first game at Michigan State.

Mike Jacobs first game for the rockets.

Should be really exciting information if you want to come out and enjoy the biggest party in Toledo.

Let's do it.

Fall home opener Utt rockets.

Com.

Tom Moreland, thank you so much for joining us.

We'll take a break.

We come back we'll be joined by John Torres.

You may know him more regularly by his social media handle Restore the Block.

We'll learn more about the great work he's doing on the other side of this break.

Here on the 418.

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Advisory services are offered through Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC, securities offer through Capital Investment Group member Finra, and see more information at Waitrose Destination Toledo whether you're a local or a visitor, destination, Toledo invites you to explore the region and be a tourist in Toledo.

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Welcome back into the 419.

I was, you know, cruising through Facebook and some of my favorite social media channels are SB mowing, SB pressure washing these folks online that that use their channel to improve their community, beautify it, and then they record videos and you get to watch these time lapses of how they're very they're very intriguing.

And then I find one called Restore the Block.

And I realize that that's happening here in Toledo.

We're joined now by the man behind Restore the Block, John Torres.

John, thanks for being here.

Thank you for having me.

What I how did this get started?

Yeah, that's the same thing.

A lot of people ask me that question and I don't really have.

It was an accident.

Like one specific.

It really was.

Just thought this would be a really cool idea.

Let me try.

I'm not afraid to take chances.

I'm not afraid of failure.

Charles.

I go see what happens.

I mean, there's two really significant sides to what you're doing, right?

There is certainly a get your hands in the dirt and do the hard work and landscape and all of that.

But then there's also a video production and marketing and social media side.

Yeah.

Did you have experience in both of those spaces when you started?

No, I only realized how to make a time lapse video last June.

I think it was all right.

I just started tinkering with it.

So are you out there like setting up?

So for people that haven't seen these videos, it's the cameras, the cameras moving around.

There's several of them.

There's national ones and and then and then John's.

But they're setting up the camera as they're moving around the space, cleaning it up.

So they first they do usually do a pan of like the whole space and see that's overgrown and trash and trees and everything and then show them working in each particular area, pulling everything out, dragging everything out.

It's you can't not watch it.

It's very interesting.

So you're doing all your own camera work and moving the camera around.

Oh my goodness, that's a lot.

I mean to think about like that that first time, right?

I mean, was there was there a property that you cleaned up that you're like, hey, I'm going to put this on social media.

And then you got back and realized, oh, I don't have any content to put out like, this isn't going to work.

Or like, maybe just not.

There's really not pretty much like every property that I've done.

I've eventually made a video for it.

Obviously there are some parts that just don't make for good content, so they're just get cut out.

Yeah.

But yeah.

So how do you choose the locations like some of these other videos?

Again, that I that are in my algorithm and now probably will be forever.

But like you see the person going up to the to the homeowner and saying and it's usually an elderly person, right?

And knocking on the door, someone that doesn't have the funds to take care of the property.

Do you do that part as well?

How do you come upon the places that you're okay?

So I started cleaning up abandoned properties because there's a great need for that.

There's as of recently I've started including like residential lots.

So people that live in these houses that, for whatever reasons, just can't keep their yard clean.

Yes.

Last Friday, I stopped at a property that I'm going to be doing and spoke with a guy who owns that house, and a neighbor happened to come out next door and was like, hey, I need some yard work done.

This guy stiffed me.

He never came back, and I was looking for a property to do that day.

But I had a limited amount of time because it was already like 10 a.m.

and I looked at his and I was like, well, we can just do yours today.

Okay, so I did.

He was probably so excited.

Oh yeah.

So how long does it generally take if it's one of those big, huge overgrown trees and you got to have your trailer and everything out there, how long does it take you to film and do the work on one of those properties?

I mean, one of my best videos I did in like 5.5 hours, but that was a small, yeah, front lot.

But there are jobs that I've been on for like over I think 13 or 14 days was my longest video, but that job is not even done yet.

When you talk about making good content, how do you know if it's good or not?

What hits your criteria for I honestly, I'm probably not experienced enough to know if it is good or not.

I don't know if it sounds like you get it.

I mean like lighting if I'm recording.

Yeah, like sometimes you'll see a lot of the glare, you'll see a lot of the shadow, and it's just like, that's just not going to work.

Okay.

It seems like what I'm noticing is the good content is like clearing sidewalks, edging sidewalks, weed whacking, things like that.

So you can noticeable you can see it.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Right, right.

So how did you were you already doing landscaping type work before this?

I mean, you have the trailer, you have your truck, you have all this equipment.

How how is it that you have all of this stuff?

I've just pretty much, like, always done labor type work my whole life.

So.

And I already had a trailer.

That trailer was given to me.

Okay, sure.

So.

And how is the city cooperating with you?

I know that there was some, maybe some initial consternation.

About what?

You know, the stuff that you're removing needs to be taken somewhere and, you know, or have you been given access to the dump?

What's the status of, of of the partnership?

Yeah, the partnership with the city.

Basically, right now I just do everything on my own.

There's no outside assistance other than like donations I received from viewers.

But like the actual work, I organize it, connect all the dots.

I take the brush to the new recycling center of the city just opened.

Great.

That's available to residents of Toledo for free.

So I've been taking that there.

The trash.

I'll bag it up, and I have a designated lot where I put it out for bulk pickup, and Republic Services has done really well.

That's good picking those items up.

That's awesome.

So I make it happen.

How do you find the next location?

Just driving around.

I might find it on my way home.

Yeah, sure.

Driving home today.

Yeah, right.

So I'm just calls out to you how much?

How often during the day.

Do you wonder why people are litter so much?

Not very often, no.

Do you know why they do it?

I don't, but just like a lot of things, I think it's just something that's here to stay.

I think it's just something that you'll never fix.

But you can improve.

Do you find friends and family calling and saying, hey, hey, come on over to my yard just about every other day?

Yeah, sure.

Yes.

Talk to me about the.

You know, you launched the social media channel.

What was the kind of early feedback to you doing this and and what has that that grown to become?

So the first video I posted was a lot on the corner of Delaware in Detroit.

It was an old tire shop from what I've learned, and I kind of just rushed the video and through something up and like overnight it had like, I don't know, 300 or something reactions, which was like far and above any amount of reactions I would ever get on my personal page.

Same here.

You know, I get like 3 or 4.

Yeah.

So when I seen that, I was like, oh wow, I might be on to something.

So I just kept doing it.

And then I finished a lot.

And by the end of that lot, I got an interview with ABC.

Sure.

And that's how I made the page.

Yeah.

She was like, can I come out and interview this morning?

And I was like, well, yeah, let me, let me make a social media, maybe make a page for something called the go to.

Right.

And so do you get is the goal to eventually get so many followers or likes or shares or do you that you can make this revenue to support your work, or do you ask for donations to support the work that you're doing, or is this just totally volunteer work for you?

In the beginning it was strictly well, it is still voluntarily do it on my own will, but I didn't make any money at all in the beginning.

I tell people I make a few dollars now, I'll Facebook monetization.

Okay.

Of course, my following isn't very huge in the grand scheme of things.

I don't have millions of followers yet, so not taking it to the bank just yet.

But between the monetization that I do get and the donations from viewers, I'm able to to keep doing it.

And yeah, anytime you put anything out to the world, there's going to be naysayers and negative comments and feedback and, and the, the old adage is and the blade is now disabled comments.

But they say never read the comments, right?

I'm sure you had people coming at you early on with criticism.

How I mean, how do you deal with that?

How did you work past that?

And how did you kind of not let that shut you down?

I mean, I definitely used to like check a lot of comments more in the beginning.

Now, I do see them, like if I open up my phone and I open up my page, you know, I'll see some comments.

And if they're right there, like, I'll look into it, I'll read into it.

And I mean, it doesn't it doesn't bother me.

Yeah.

You know, talk to me about what you get out of this.

And I don't mean financially, but I mean, there has to be a feel good here, or else you wouldn't do it.

What?

What kind of keeps you going?

We talked a little bit before we started the show.

That you're a morning person, so you're getting on the bed at 430, 5:00 in the morning, sometimes to hit pavement or grass at six.

What motivates you?

What what what what puts wind in your sales?

At the end of the day, it's just being able to help be of service to somebody that needs somebody to help.

Because the need is is obviously overwhelming in these neighborhoods.

So I guess that's what keeps me going.

But just doing the work itself, it's like tremendous sense of purpose.

Sure.

You know, like, yeah, people are waiting to see, you know, hey, you know, show up to this lot and clean this up or what's the impact you think it has on the neighborhood when these lots that have long since been abandoned and not taken care of are cleaned up?

What's the feedback that you're getting?

You see people come out to their houses and come and talk to you.

What are they telling you?

I mean, it's it's it's pretty much all positive.

Like I've, I remember I vividly remember there's a, there was an older gentleman at a sidewalk I cleaned up over on.

It was, I think it was a Detroit and Delaware one.

But like he came over when I was done.

Been there several days.

And like, he's just jumping up in the air and like, kind of pumping his fist.

Yeah.

He was excited because it was like this whole lot was cleaned up and that was a humongous job.

And he's been looking at that for bad knows how long.

Yeah.

Where we come from.

I mean, I appreciate the fact that you're doing the work and this is kind of your baby, but we're all sort of standing on other people's shoulders.

Does this come from your folks and your immediate family?

Where do you get this drive to be in service to others?

Or maybe it is just from you.

I don't want to spill the beans.

Certainly.

Done.

You got it.

Okay.

We went out.

You here on the show?

We'll just pretend like you're just a saint.

Can I get it?

What?

I mean, I've seen a couple of projects where you've had folks in the community come out and help.

What?

What are those opportunities that are continuing moving forward?

If folks are watching this and they go, man, I love what he's doing.

I, you know, I can I can come out and I can use a shovel or a rake or I can do some weeding or whatever.

Is that an opportunity?

I guess, like the volunteer cleanup projects?

I've had one.

We had a dumpster provided.

But as far as getting volunteers, I haven't had a whole lot of luck with that.

This coming the 27th.

Saturday, June 27th, I'm going to be working with Joe Cordova with Rock the block, the annual event they have where they clean up a lot.

There will be some volunteers that day and as as I, as I as I continue this work, hopefully I can incorporate more volunteers and, you know, have projects where volunteers can come and do that sort of thing.

But it's just right now it's kind of a whole lot, and it's a whole lot for me to kind of shirt and then every aspect.

Yeah, making sure I have the tools every morning.

Yeah.

How many properties are you doing in a month?

It varies.

It varies because some days, like I can go at it for 4 or 5 days that week.

Some days I might only have like two days or even one day.

But I mean, I'd say I'd probably averaged in a month.

I've probably averaged 5 to 8 properties, I'd say.

And how long have you been doing this?

Last August.

Coming up on a year.

August something.

And that's a real that's a real impact.

What's the craziest thing that you found buried under a fallen tree or under a tall grass?

Oh, craziest thing I saw.

One about the cat that you had that was visiting you for for a while.

Oh, there's lots of cats.

Yeah, there's lots of cats.

But I found some really cool vintage dishware.

Okay.

Yeah.

From what?

That was, like in a box or just in the garage.

It was actually just on the ground.

There were several pieces, and I heard from neighbors that it might have been stolen from one of the houses.

Oh, years ago.

And just kind of, like, thrown there.

Yeah.

What is the worst part of this meaning?

Like, is there unloading a trailer by hand?

Okay, well, I was going to say it's got to be your store back for that.

Okay.

Unloading a trailer by hand when you got vines and everything.

And then you got some thorns and.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What?

I mean, how do you see Toledo?

Right?

I mean, you are literally, as you're driving around, you're looking for, to some extent, the worst parts of Toledo.

Right.

I'm just curious kind of your opinion of, of this area, with, with that lens, Toledo is, to me, just a normal city of any decent scale.

I think there's a lot of potential.

I think we are perfectly located, you know, right close to Detroit, right up and down 75.

I think it was greater at one point.

But like all cities, you know, nothing stays the same.

And we just have to do the hard work to bring back its glory.

Well, you're definitely doing the hard work.

It's certainly appreciated.

I love watching your videos.

If someone is learning about you for the first time, obviously they could go and like your page Restore the Block on Facebook and Instagram I'm assuming.

But is there any other way that the community could support you if they wanted to help you do what you're doing?

Well, that's that's a good question.

You don't have to necessarily help me per se.

You take initiative in your own neighborhood, you know, go clean up some litter.

I mean, 5 or 10 minutes a day with a bag, you can go pick up quite a bit of trash can.

That's true.

So there's all kinds of ways to make an impact, even if it's directly.

Well yeah.

Thank you John.

So nice to meet you.

Absolutely, John with Restore the Block.

Thank you for everything you're doing.

We'll take a break.

Be right back on the 419 every day.

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Welcome back into the 419 powered by as we wrap up, a mystery guest edition.

Excellent.

Get, Kevin.

Thank you, Mr.

Moreland.

Such a nice man.

Yeah.

Tom is.

Tom is fantastic.

I had a conversation with him.

It may have been about a month ago, and he talked a little bit about it on the show, but just his perspective on our market versus the other conference schools and the the realization that Buffalo is the only other like big city in, in the Mid-American conference.

And the reality is they've got a ton of distractions where the university is in a priority.

And here in Toledo, our university is a is a priority.

So there's a real opportunity there.

I'm excited for for his leadership.

And of course, you know, John, I've been trying to get John on the show since we started here on wheat because he's doing great work and he's the epitome of of what we want to highlight, people that are getting their hands dirty, making our community a better place.

Yeah, he does such hard work.

Go follow his page.

Restore the block.

You missed any part of the show?

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