Toledo coach reacts to loss of Leroy Blyden to KU: ‘This is the world we live in’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Six of seven MAC all-league players with eligibility left entered portal this offseason.
- Toledo offered MAC freshman of the year Leroy Blyden a deal worth more than $700,000.
- Instead, Blyden transferred to KU basketball; he’s a possible starter in the backcourt.
The ongoing plight of mid-major college basketball teams during the NIL/transfer portal era has been on full display at the University of Toledo and the entire Mid-American Conference the past two weeks.
According to the Toledo Blade, six of the seven all-league players with eligibility remaining have elected to transfer since the opening of the portal on April 7.
The players on the move: Toledo’s talented backcourt of Leroy Blyden Jr. (signed with Kansas, 16.4 ppg) and Sonny Wilson (South Florida, 17.0 ppg) as well as Kent State’s Delrecco Gillespie (Houston), Miami’s Brant Byers (Penn State) and Eian Elmer (Wisconsin), and Buffalo’s Ryan Sabol (Providence).
Miami guard Luke Skaljac is the only returning all-MAC player who elected to bypass the portal and stay put.
“I don’t think I would use the word ‘disappointed,’” 16th-year Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk said to the Toledo Blade when asked for his reaction to losing MAC freshman of the year Blyden to KU on Monday.
“This is the world we live in. Hopefully, there are some changes that are coming. We all can probably agree that none of this is sustainable,” added Kowalczyk, referring to all college players basically becoming free agents immediately eligible at their new schools after every season.
Current NCAA rules grant players immediate eligibility after they transfer. Just a few years ago players had to sit out a year at their transfer destination prior to being eligible to play in games.
Kowalczyk — he was able to replace one of the Rockets’ departing guards out of the portal in former Marquette player Sean Jones on Wednesday — says he holds no ill will toward players such as the 6-foot-1, 170-pound Blyden, who decide to switch schools.
“I have a great deal of respect for Leroy and his mom and dad,” Kowalczyk told the Toledo Blade “He was absolutely tremendous for our program, for our institution, for our community this year. For him to get this opportunity from Toledo, I’m happy for him and I’m proud of him.”
According to Blade reporter David Briggs, Toledo offered Blyden a deal worth more than $700,000 for the 2026-27 season.
Briggs wrote that Blyden during the upcoming season, “will likely make triple the money and step into a starting role alongside five-star freshman guard Taylen Kinney. He has a chance to be a household name on one of the biggest stages in college sports.”
Blyden recently made three campus visits — to KU, Baylor and St. John’s.
“Blyden’s one-and-done departure perfectly captures what mid-majors are up against these days,” wrote Briggs. “Not long ago, a player like Blyden almost certainly would have stayed at Toledo and fans here could have watched the point guard with a big smile and bigger game develop into one of the top players in the country over three or four winters.
“By the end of last season, the MAC freshman of the year was the league’s most dangerous scorer. Next season, he would have been the conference player of the year favorite. That was the trajectory. That was even the intention,” Briggs added.
The NIL era seems to have eliminated mid-major teams’ chances of advancing to the Final Four. No mid-major has reached the Sweet 16 the past two seasons.
“We wonder why, once again, no team from outside the power football conferences and Big East crashed the Sweet 16 — something that before last year hadn’t happened since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985,” Briggs wrote in the Blade. “The teams that used to come of age together and shock the land in March no longer get the chance. Too bad. We can — and should — wish Blyden all the success in the world and celebrate what still makes college basketball special. It’s also OK to mourn the magic we have lost,” Briggs added.
This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 10:04 AM.
