Following UT’s first title, Jorgensen leaves for Tennessee

After signing head coach Lars Jorgensen to an extension through 2014 in April after winning the school's first ever Mid-American Conference championship, Jorgensen has left the Toledo swimming and diving program to take the assistant coaching job at Tennessee, his alma mater. Jorgensen was previously a graduate assistant coach in the early 1990s.

"It was an opportunity for me to go back to my alma mater," Jorgensen said. "I had no plans on leaving, but it was a chance for me to be closer to my family and also work at my alma mater during a tough situation. It was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up."

During his six-year reign at Toledo, Jorgensen never recorded a losing record in duel meets and finished outside the top five just once. The Rockets won 20 individual titles under the two-time MAC Coach of the Year. Jorgensen finished with a record of 45-19-1 in dual meets and guided 24 athletes to All-MAC honors including 14 first-team members.

"I wouldn't change my time at Toledo for anything," Jorgensen said. "I had six great years here and everyone in the administration was wonderful. Everyone from Dr. Jacobs down to Mike O'Brien were phenomenal. I feel as though the program is in a much better place then when I got here."

UT had never finished higher than fourth at the MAC Championships and had placed second to last the year before he was hired. Jorgensen immediately improved the team to a sixth place finish in 2005 and continued that growth each of the following three seasons, including a runner-up finish at the 2008 MAC championships.

O'Brien has begun the nationwide search for Jorgensen's successor. The former coach believes whoever it may be will have great success with the pieces that are in place.

"They have a really bright future, including a great team for next year," Jorgensen said. "The new head coach is going to come in and have a good chance to win a Mid-American Conference Championship his first year."

Rockets fourth in preseason poll, to play Miami (FL) in home-and-home series in 2015

The University of Toledo football team was picked to finish fourth in the Mid-American Conference West Division on Friday at the MAC Media Day at Ford Field.

"I think that because the kids are so young and we don't have a proven quarterback, I thought that they'd have us somewhere around that spot," Toledo head coach Tim Beckman said. "It's how good the program gets each and every month, we want to see progress from September to November. For me it's the postseason that matters, not this preseason stuff. Just get to where we need to get to on Dec. 3 and that's Ford Field [for the MAC Championship Game]."

The Rockets, who tallied 75 points in a ranking system which gives six points to the projected favorite and one to the predicted last place team, were selected to finish ahead of Ball State (50) and Eastern Michigan (20). UT finished behind Northern Illinois (115), Central Michigan (83) and Western Michigan (77). CMU has won the MAC Title three of the past four years, but lost four-year starting quarterback and two-time MAC Offensive Player of the Year Dan LeFevour to graduation. Toledo defeated the top-picked Huskies last season 20-19 on a game-winning blocked field goal by former safety Barry Church.

"NIU's well deserving of it and coach [Jerry] Kill has done a great job with that program," Beckman said. "We play them there and that's always a tough place to play them at. That [win] was last year; this is this year. This is a new team and a new senior class. It's their opportunity to get this program back to where it needs to get to."

Temple was picked to win the overall MAC Title out of the East. The Owls received the most points (137) and first-place votes (17) of any team.

The Rockets also announced last week that they have agreed to a home-and-home series to play Miami (FL). Toledo will host the Hurricanes on Sept. 5, 2015 and will travel to Sun Life Stadium on Sept. 3, 2016.

"That's UT football right there," Beckman said. "To get the Hurricanes to come to the Glass Bowl—[that's] great for the fans and great for the program."

While most mid-major programs take extra money to travel to play premier schools, Toledo agreed to a true home-and-home series to get Miami to the Glass Bowl, with each school receiving a guaranteed amount of $300,000 in the year they travel, as reported in the Toledo Blade.

"When you can get the Hurricanes or anybody like that that's a national caliber program in this Glass Bowl, that's a win-win situation," Beckman said. "[Athletic Director] Mike O'Brien called me up when it first came about and said ‘What do you think?' I said ‘That's kind of a no-brainer to bring the Hurricanes here.'"