Update > This is now official.
Toledo is expected to hire Mercer head coach Mike Jacobs, sources told FootballScoop on Wednesday. The deal is expected to be completed today press conference is expected Friday, sources said.
Jacobs recently finished his second season with the Bears, a 9-3 campaign that saw an undefeated run through the SoCon and a trip to the second round of the FCS playoffs. His 2024 team went 11-3, won the SoCon, and reached the FCS quarterfinals.
Prior to that, Jacobs went 32-9 across four seasons at Lenoir-Rhyne and 42-8 from 2016-19 at Notre Dame College. He has been to the Division II semifinals twice and made three trips to the Division III quarterfinals.
Overall, Jacobs brings a 94-23 record with five championships won across three separate conferences, four top-10 finishes, and four trips to the FCS or Division II quarterfinals with him to Northwest Ohio.
Back to Northeast Ohio, we should say.
A native of the Toledo suburb of Maumee, Jacobs played offensive line for John Cooper's Ohio State teams from 1997-01 and spent his entire adult life in the Midwest until taking the Lenoir-Rhyne job in 2020. Jacobs began coaching as a graduate assistant at Eastern Michigan in 2002 and later took jobs at Ohio-based Wilmington College, Purdue, California University of Pennsylvania, and Notre Dame College, also located in Ohio.
Jacobs replaces Jason Candle, who took the head coaching job at UConn earlier this week. Candle went 81-44 with two MAC championships in 11 seasons at the school. Toledo is the most consistent winner in the Mid-American Conference; the Rockets have enjoyed 17 consecutive non-losing seasons, and their last three head coaches have taken jobs at Illinois, Iowa State, and UConn.
From Jacobs's bio:
A 22-year collegiate coaching veteran with footprints of success throughout each stop of his storied career, Mike Jacobs was announced as the 21st head coach in the history of the Mercer football program on Jan. 18, 2024.
Jacobs, who has compiled an 85-20 (.810) record across head coaching stops at Notre Dame (Ohio), Lenoir-Rhyne and Mercer, boasts the nation’s sixth-best winning percentage among active coaches at the NCAA Divisions I and II levels.
In just nine campaigns as a collegiate head coach, Jacobs has mentored 13 student-athletes to all-America nods, and his NCAA Division II squads at both Notre Dame and Lenoir-Rhyne also raked in 17 all-region laurels. His programs have also boasted 100 all-conference awards, including 62 in four seasons at Notre Dame, and seven Academic All-America crowns.
Former Notre Dame running back Jaleel McLaughlin was a two-time finalist for the Harlon Hill Award, including a runner-up finish in 2019, while former L-R wide receiver Dareke Young was selected in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. MU cornerback TJ Moore culminated his senior season in 2024 by finishing runner-up in voting for the Buck Buchanan Award which honors the national defensive player of the year in Division I FCS college football.
A four-time conference coach of the year recipient, he was also tabbed as the National Coach of the Year in 2018 by Don Hansen’s Football Gazette. He was also a finalist for the 2024 Eddie Robinson Award which is presented annually to the national coach of the year in Division I FCS college football.