Jason Candle officially was named head coach of the UConn football team on Dec. 6, exactly two months ago.

Precisely what has he spent those months doing? Just getting 103 people to agree to join him in Storrs, Conn.

That’s 71 new players to the program – largely transfers, some freshmen – and 32 members of his staff, including assistant coaches. Maybe Candle, who came from Toledo, can write a book on how to rebuild a football program in 60 days.

“You have so many moving parts you have to get in place, having to put together a roster in a short amount of time,” Candle told reporters this week.

“I made the joke the other day,” he continued. “‘This is the first time I’ve ever had to do this, and it’s the last time I’ll have to do it, too.'”

Jim Mora’s departure to Colorado State after UConn’s second consecutive nine-win season left the Huskies diminished in numbers between players who followed their coach there, others who entered the transfer portal and those whose eligibility had run out.

Candle didn’t need an annual overhaul at Toledo, where his teams won 81 games over his 10 seasons. He developed a reputation there as an excellent recruiter who had the ability to retain his athletes, even with the growing lure of the transfer portal.

During his time at Toledo, he and his staff recruited the No. 1 class in the Mid-American Conference seven times. His 2024 class had the highest rating of any program in MAC history, putting it ahead of many Power Four schools. He twice won conference coach of the year honors.

A fair number of those 71 new players are transfers from Toledo or incoming freshmen who had planned to play there in 2026.

Candle said Wednesday he’s eager to see just how the pieces fit together. He’s worrying now about building a competitive team and not about the fall schedule, which features two Atlantic Coast Conference opponents (Syracuse and North Carolina) and one from the Big Ten (Maryland) -- just on the home portion.

“I haven’t even paid much attention to it,” Candle said, referring to the schedule. “I’m trying to get through February and March and get to spring football and find out who we have on our team and what that’s going to look like before I even really worry about who else we play.

And he had an announcement for fans who want a glimpse of the 2026 Huskies.

“Obviously encouraged and eager to get out in front of our home fans here. We’re going to do a spring game this year and we’re going to ty to make sure we allow our fans to be able to see our team and our team to be able to get out in front of some fans. Let our quarterbacks have the opportunity to be in pressure situations when there’s people in the stands.

“Hopefully that first game at the stadium goes well. …From there we’ll worry about what it looks like moving forward.”

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