Around Christmastime, Tod Kowalczyk made a phone call to an old friend.
The focus was not wishing a happy holiday, catching up on the past year, or making plans to meet in 2021. Instead, Kowalczyk and the man on the other line got straight to business: a long conversation about defense.
“I knew in order for this year’s team to be the best that they could be, I had to blow up the whole system and start from scratch. And do it in a five-day span,” the University of Toledo coach said. “I knew we had to make some severe philosophical changes and get away from things we’d done in the past to best utilize the talents that this team has.