Saskatchewan Roughriders take different approach than rival Blue Bombers with GM, head coach contracts

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The Saskatchewan Roughriders have taken a different approach with the team’s general manager and head coach compared to their rival Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The Riders have extended Jeremy O’Day and Corey Mace with over one year left on their respective contracts, while Kyle Walters and Mike O’Shea are working to the end of their deals yet again in Winnipeg, although there are nuances in regards to the individuals heading the Bombers. O’Shea has usually preferred to finish one contract before starting another. Lately, it’s been the team’s decision to make Walters see his term elapse.

O’Day and Mace were already signed through the 2026 CFL season when president and CEO Craig Reynolds started conversations in late August about two-year contract extensions for both men. That led to Saskatchewan’s GM and bench boss signing paperwork to keep them with the team through the 2028 CFL season.

Meanwhile, Walters and O’Shea have expiring agreements after the 2025 season, just as the two did in 2023. Both played integral roles in turning the Bombers into a perennial contender as Winnipeg has been to five straight Grey Cup games and won two, winning back-to-back in 2019 and 2021 with the coronavirus pandemic season in between.

Reynolds, who has served as Roughriders’ president since 2015, rewarded O’Day and Mace for bringing the franchise back to prominence following two straight seasons where Saskatchewan missed the postseason with 6-12 records under Craig Dickenson. Mace won a playoff game in his first year as head coach and his team has already clinched first place in the West Division with two games left in the 2025 regular season.

The Vancouver, B.C. native was hired by the Green and White on November 30, 2023. O’Day’s relationship with Mace started from one phone call and like the feeling after an intriguing first date, he wanted to talk with him more. That led to a Zoom call, an in-person interview, and ultimately a long-term relationship with franchise-altering upside. The gregarious leader has compiled a 21-12-1 regular season win-loss record.

“He’s not fake in any way, he’s authentic, genuine, very hard worker, motivated — he’s fun to come to worth with every day. He’s been great for the organization, players love him, he loves the players — he can be that soft hand, he can be that heavy hand if he needs to be. His drive to be successful, his drive to win, and how he wants to go about doing it, very prepared and organized in his approach of what he wanted to do,” O’Day said.

“You do a lot of background on coaches when you’re interviewing them to make sure it’s authentic and what you hear is what you’re going to get. He’s committed to the process. His background being involved with the community, his success being a good football coach, all weighed in. Sometimes you buy a car and it doesn’t drive the way you thought it was going to drive — with him, he’s exactly what we expected.”

The Riders are hoping the Mace-mobile drives the team to its fifth Grey Cup championship and ideally more. He’s already helped Saskatchewan reach a rarity by earning the right to host the West Final for the fourth time (1976, 2009, 2019, and 2025) in Roughriders’ history since the one-game knockout was introduced in 1972. However, as Mace likes to say after each win: “We haven’t done anything yet.”

“If I’m being truthful, I don’t even like that we’re talking about [my extension] because we’ve got so much other stuff that we gotta focus on,” Mace said.

Like his counterpart in Winnipeg, Wade Miller, Reynolds would like Mace and O’Day to lead Saskatchewan to multiple Grey Cups. But unlike O’Shea and Walters, the Riders’ tandem have contract stability while striving to reach the ultimate goal each year for the foreseeable future.

Now, it’s up to the Green and White to convert and measure success one ring at a time. That’s how a promising date comes full circle, after all.

The Roughriders (12-4) visit the Blue Bombers (8-8) at Princess Auto Stadium on Friday, October 17 with kickoff slated for 8 p.m. ET. The Riders are coming off a win over Toronto that clinched first place in the West Division, while the Bombers lost to Edmonton, failing to clinch a playoff spot in the process.

The weather forecast in Winnipeg calls for a high of 11 degrees with rainy conditions. The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on 620 CKRM in Regina and 680 CJOB in Winnipeg.