MAC head coaches vote Toledo as favorite in preseason football poll

August 4, 2025 by Staff

A poll of all Mid-American Conference head coaches during its 2025 Football Media Day on July 24 at Ford Field in Detroit voted Toledo as the favorite to win both the regular season crown and the conference championship. The Rockets received seven first place votes to top the regular season standings, and six votes to win the 2025 conference title game.

Head coaches were not allowed to vote for themselves in the poll.

The 79th college football season for the Mid-American Conference will officially begin on Thursday, August 28 when Wyoming and Akron kicked off at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT, at InfoCision Stadium in Akron. on ESPN+.

The 2025 MAC Football Championship odds also favor Toledo at FanDuel.com, just ahead of Ohio and Buffalo. The title game will once again take place at Ford Field in Detroit on Saturday, December 6th at Noon ET/11 am CT on ESPN.

Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan and Ohio all have a new head coach, as does UMass which returns to the conference after essentially being kicked out after the 2015 season when the Minutemen refused to join in all sports. Since then, the school has played football as an independent. UMass was a member from 2011-2015.

Ball State replaces Mike Neu with Mike Uremovich after finishing last season with Colin Johnson in an interim capacity. Neu was fired after a 3-7 mark in 10 games and Johnson went 0-2. In nearly nine full seasons, Neu had marks of 30-63 overall and 25-43 in MAC play. Neu only had one winning season with the Cardinals and that was in the Covid-shortened 2020 season when they finished 7-1 overall, 5-1 in the conference, won the MAC title and beat San Jose State in the Arizona Bowl for the first and only bowl win in school history (1-8). Uremovich spent the last three seasons as the head coach at Butler (23-11, 15-9 Patriot) where his team was 7-4 twice and 9-3 this past year.

Bowling Green lost Scot Loeffler to the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles where he takes on the role of quarterbacks coach. He tendered his resignation on February 28, paving the way for BGSU to hire Eddie George away from FCS member Tennessee State where his first head coaching gig proved to be successful as he guided the Tigers to the playoffs for the first time since 2013. He was 24-22 in four seasons, including a 9-4 finish in 2024 after his team was eliminated in the opening round at No. 14 seed Montana, 41-27.  Loeffler spent six seasons at BGSU, compiling a 27-41 over-all record as the team improved from 7-22 in his first three seasons to 20-19 in the last three seasons with three bowl appearances, though all produced losses by a single score.

At Central Michigan, Jim McElwain announced his retirement on November 20 after 6 seasons with the Chippewas. He left with records of 33-36 over-all and 23-23 in MAC games. The 2021 squad won the Sun Bowl, 23-21, over Washington State, for the school's first bowl win since 2012 and just the fourth in history. His replacement is Matt Drinkall who had served Jeff Monken as his offensive line coach and co-coordinator of the offense at Army since 2019. Prior to his stint with the Black Knights, Drinkall was the head coach at NAIA Kansas Wesleyan where his teams were 42-17 over 5 seasons and advanced to the National Championship playoff semifinals his final year.

Ohio removed the interim tag from Brian Smith on December 18 before he had ever coached a ball game. The AHC and OC under Tim Albin was named as the temporary replacement when Albin left to take the same position at Charlotte on December 8. Smith and the Bobcats then defeated Jax State 30-27 in the Cure Bowl on December 20. Albin posted a 33-19 record in four seasons, including a 23-9 mark against conference opponents. in his final game with the Bobcats, Albin coached the team to its first MAC Championship since 1968, and his 30 wins from 2022-24 mark the most successful three-year run in program history. Smith was instrumental in Albin's success. At various times, he was the team's assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, passing game coordinator, and/or running backs coach. He had previously served as an assistant head coach at Hawaii and Washington State before heading to Athens in 2022.

UMass named Rutgers defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak as its new head coach on December. 4. He was the 2018 national FCS Coach of the Year when he led Maine to the semifinals of the playoffs where the Black Bears lost to Eastern Washington. He then left for Minnesota to coach safeties and was named co-DC the following year. He moved to Rutgers as DC in 2022. Don Brown's second stint as HC of the Minutemen came to an end with his November 18 dismissal. Brown, 69, had a long career in sports, mainly as a much-respected defensive coordinator in football, but he also spent some time coaching baseball and basketball. UMass was just 2-8 at the time of his firing, and his teams were 7-28 in almost three full seasons. His first stint as the UMass HC ran from 2004-2008 when football competed as a FCS program and played in the 2006 FCS Championship game (lost). During that period, his record was 43-19. Shane Montgomery, who was 17-38 as HC of the Miami RedHawks from 2005-2008, was named interim head coach with the unenviable task of facing Georgia for his first game. Montgomery went 0-2.

Returning to the preseason poll, Miami was voted to finish second after receiving three first-place and accumulating 131 total points -- just 4 less than the Rockets. Miami also garnered four votes to claim the championship game title. The RedHawks, who fell 38-3 to Ohio in last year's championship contest, have made appearances in back-to-back MAC Football Championship Games. Miami defeated Toledo 23-14 in the 2023 title game.

Ohio was selected third with 123 points as they get set to defend their title. The Bobcats received three first-place votes in the poll, and 3 out of 14 of the votes cast to win the conference championship game.

A complete list of the MAC Football Coaches Preseason Coaches Poll can be found below. Coaches were not able to vote for themselves.

2025 MAC Football Coaches Preseason Poll
Position, Team, (1st-place votes), Total Points
1. Toledo (7) 135 points
2. Miami (3) 131 points
3. Ohio (3) 123 points
4. Buffalo 115 points
5. Northern Illinois 94 points
6. Bowling Green 81 points
7. Western Michigan 71 points
8. Eastern Michigan 68 points
9. Central Michigan 65 points
10. Ball State 41 points
T11. Akron 39 points
T11. UMass 39 points
13. Kent State 12 points

Conference Champion: Toledo – 6; Miami – 4; Ohio – 3