SportsCage analyst Arash Madani is fascinated by the Toronto Argonauts search for the team’s next head coach.

“If you asked the 5,000 college football and pro football coaches across the continent what they would do for a pro head coaching job, they’d give up a limb, most of them,” Madani said on the SportsCage.

“Look at what’s happened over the last little while, everybody’s saying no to the Argo job. [Mike] O’Shea said no. [Orlondo] Steinauer said no. [Corey] Mace said no. O’Shea interviewed. I don’t know if Steinauer’s been interviewed. So far it’s their in-house guys who’ve interviewed for the position. You’re in a major market with a lot of resources, and people aren’t interested.”

Saskatchewan general manager Jeremy O’Day addressed reports about Coach Mace and the Double Blue.

“[The Argonauts] didn’t call. No one asked for permission, so I’m not quite sure where that came from,” O’Day said. “But when we did hear about it, Corey did tell us that he’s not interested in going anywhere. They did not reach out to us for permission.”

Former Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie left to become Ottawa’s head coach and general manager on November 5. In an interview with 3DownNation insider Justin Dunk, Dinwiddie explained how joining the Redblacks will allow him to do less work than when he was in The Six. Madani elaboratec on the problem in the Argonauts’ front office.

“They have not had a scouting department, they have not had a player personnel department for three years,” Madani said. “Guys keep leaving. Vince Magri left at the beginning of training camp in 2024, not replaced, went to the Buffalo Bills, and it’s now caught up with them. I’ve said it before: the team’s general manager couldn’t name half the players on the roster. They sided with Michael Clemons and John Murphy. Ryan Dinwiddie was like, ‘Cool, I’m out then.'”

Madani compared the Argos head coach job to someone applying to be a hotel manager.

“Who’s going to make breakfast? Well, we don’t really have anybody to. Well, who’s in charge of the IT for the computer system? We don’t have an IT person,” Madani joked. “Where’s the janitorial and the custodial services? Well, we don’t have that either. Well, how am I supposed to be your front office manager of this hotel?”

One player expected to return from injury for Toronto in 2026 is quarterback Chad Kelly, who suffered a gruesome leg injury in the 2024 East Final. Madani speculated about his contract with the Argonauts. 

“Chad Kelly is going to be healthy next season. To me, that is still very interesting, and this is what I mean by that: Chad Kelly’s cap hit for next season is based on his contract that is registered with the league. I sourced this out last week when I was in Regina, it is $625,000,” Madani explained. “That includes housing, that includes marketing money, that includes the partridge in a pear tree. The cap hit $625,000, but on February 1 Chad Kelly is owed a bonus of $225,000.”

Madani went on to question Kelly’s CFL future and what might happen to him.

“If Chad Kelly is going to remain in Toronto, we will know on February 1 because they have to write that check for $225,000. Is Chad Kelly on the trade market perhaps for an Argo roster that’s in tatters and you got to rebuild or not? I don’t know. But what I’m telling you is we’re all going to know by the first day of February where this is. And if I’m Chad, I do not restructure. I do not agree to a pay cut,” Madani explained.

“I do not ask for a trade because here’s what happens, if the Argos don’t want to pay him that money, they either have to trade the contract, and they won’t want to trade him to Ottawa to Ryan Dinwiddie, or they release him. Then Kelly becomes a free agent a couple of weeks before free agency begins league-wide.”