For the 2026 CFL season, the Saskatchewan Roughriders have a new defensive coordinator, Joshua Bell who was promoted from defensive backs coach.
“A lot of people, I’m sure, would be interested in having Josh Bell running their defence. We’re fortunate as ever to have him stay in the building and be able to do that with us,” head coach Corey Mace said from the CFL winter meetings.
“Truthfully, I know it was important for him as well. Extremely excited for his opportunity. But something that you know we’ll be right there together as we’ve been to this point. So, it worked out great.”
Mace and Bell’s relationship dates back to 2014, when the two were teammates with the Calgary Stampeders.
Mace retired after the 2015 season and transitioned to coaching the Stamps defensive line in 2016. In comparison, Bell played until 2017 and coached Calgary’s defensive backs from 2018 to 2020. Later, their paths crossed again when Bell left Calgary for Toronto to coach the Argonauts defensive backs from 2021 to 2023, and Mace coached the Double Blue defence from 2022 to 2023. Mace came to Saskatchewan in 2024 to coach the Roughriders, bringing along Bell from Toronto.
Mace and Bell won a Grey Cup as teammates with Calgary in 2014, on the same coaching staff with Toronto in 2022, and Saskatchewan in 2025 as coaches. Before the CFL, Bell played in the NFL and won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers in 2011.
“He’s done an incredible job throughout his entire coaching career,” Mace explained. “I’ve always thought of him as one of the top coaches at his position group. Certainly, how we’ve operated for quite a few years together, it’s a collaborative effort. I don’t think that’s going to change at all.”
Mace explained how he will spend his extra time now that he’s no longer the defensive coordinator.
“It depends on how you’re going to allocate the time. Certainly, the number one thing I’m most excited about is spending more time in the offensive meeting rooms. Being able to spend more time, not only with those coaches in meeting room environments, but also with the players. I never had the opportunity to cross-train in my coaching career and be on the other side of the ball, so I’m excited about some of that,” Mace said.
“My heart’s not going to stray too far from where it’s been. It’ll allow me a lot more time to look at different situations, situational football, watching more and more games, outside the allotted time that I usually do. I think it helped from a team perspective, it allowed me to spend more time looking at some things I’d like to do but don’t have time for, but certainly now I’ll have that time. I’m excited for some new things, but ultimately, we know our recipe.”
Mace also shed some light on new coaching staff additions: Micah Johnson, who will coach the defensive line, and Jeff Stusek, who will be the special teams assistant. Those two replace Phillip Daniels, who is now the Ottawa Redblacks’ defensive line coach, and Jeff Higgins.
“I’ll start with Big Phil and Higgs. They did a tremendous amount of work for us and helped us get to where we needed to get to. But for different reasons, decided to make a change, both of which being Micah Johnson and Jeff Stusek,” Mace explained.
“They’re full-time in Regina. Incredibly important. Half of our staff live full-time in Regina. The amount of work that we can get done together is extremely important. Both of these guys, what Green and White mean to them, you can’t get that out of a lot of people. Super important for myself and a lot of people in the building. Unfortunately for the Rams, they lost another coach, but they are still rolling. They didn’t need [Josh] Donnelly. Extremely happy to onboard those two coaches, and they’ve already been in the office, working away. Incredible additions in my opinion and view.”
Johnson finished his 12-year playing career in the CFL, his last team being Saskatchewan. Stusek was with the Regina Rams since 2017, first as a receivers coach, then as their special teams coordinator in 2020, and later as an assistant coach in 2022.