{"id":339647,"date":"2025-12-12T04:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T04:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/339647\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T04:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T04:12:09","slug":"cfl-closes-investigation-into-alleged-argonauts-tampering-with-riders-corey-mace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/339647\/","title":{"rendered":"CFL closes investigation into alleged Argonauts tampering with Riders’ Corey Mace"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: Bob Butrym\/RFB Sport Photography<\/p>\n

The CFL has concluded an investigation into the Toronto Argonauts for allegedly violating the league\u2019s tampering policy, though its results remain unclear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe league investigated an allegation of tampering against the Toronto Argonauts. The matter is now closed,\u201d a CFL representative wrote in a statement to 3DownNation. \u201cAs per CFL policy, the league does not announce discipline involving teams or staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, November 24, it was reported that Mace declined to interview with the Argos<\/a> for the role of head coach and an additional title in football operations. The following day, Saskatchewan general manager Jeremy O\u2019Day confirmed Mace wasn\u2019t leaving the organization but denied Toronto ever formally asked for permission to speak with him<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The Argonauts] didn\u2019t call,\u201d O\u2019Day said at the time. \u201cNo one asked for permission, so I\u2019m not quite sure where that came from, but when we did hear about it, Corey did tell us that he\u2019s not interested in going anywhere \u2014 but they did not reach out to us for permission.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked for comment about the investigation, the Roughriders referred back to O\u2019Day\u2019s remarks and indicated they had nothing more to add.<\/p>\n

The Argonauts declined 3DownNation\u2019s request for comment regarding the results of the investigation. The organization recently decided not to renew the contract of assistant general manager John Murphy,<\/a> though it remains unclear if the two situations are related.<\/p>\n

There is reportedly a 10-day window teams must honour before asking the Grey Cup-winning franchise about interviewing potential candidates for jobs. This procedural piece appears to have never occurred if the Argonauts indeed reached out, though Mace made it known behind the scenes that he would not consider leaving Saskatchewan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mace has existing relationships with Toronto\u2019s current staff as he served as the team\u2019s defensive coordinator in 2022 and 2023. He won a Grey Cup in his first season with the Argonauts, then helped the organization set a new franchise record with a 16-2 finish the following season. Since joining the Roughriders, he has posted a 21-14-1 record as head coach and captured the franchise\u2019s fifth-ever Grey Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a violation of CFL policy for any person connected with a team, either directly or indirectly, to have any contact or negotiations with a non-playing employee who is under contract with another franchise without first obtaining express written permission. This includes advances made directly or indirectly through an agent, by public or private statement, or inference.<\/p>\n

If tampering is found to have occurred, teams are subject to a fine of up to $50,000 and the loss of their next available first-round CFL draft pick. In the event of a second offence, the violator can be suspended for a specific or indefinite period, including a lifetime, at the commissioner\u2019s discretion.<\/p>\n

Punishments for tampering were beefed up in 2016 following a string of questionable coaching changes, including a move by defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe from Montreal to Edmonton that was blocked by the CFL<\/a>. While the league sent out a memo warning teams about the consequences of tampering<\/a> in 2018, no fines have been publicly announced or reported under the current policy.<\/p>\n

The last known fine for tampering with a coach came in December 2011 when the Argonauts, led by head coach Scott Milanovich and general manager Jim Barker, were fined $5,000 for poaching defensive coordinator Chris Jones from the Calgary Stampeders.<\/p>\n

Four years later, Edmonton general manager Ed Hervey, who had previously been fined for tampering with players, was docked $1,500 following the departure of then-head coach Jones for Saskatchewan after he publicly stated that tampering with coaches was \u201cjust part of the CFL\u201d and that everyone did it.<\/p>\n

After allegedly being rebuffed by Mace, the Argonauts promoted quarterbacks coach Mike Miller to their head coaching position<\/a>. The organization has also made substantial changes to their front office, bringing back Jim Barker in a player personnel role<\/a> and adding John Hufnagel as a senior advisor.<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto finished third in the East Division standings in 2025 with a 5-13 record, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2019. Franchise quarterback Chad Kelly was unable to play all season due to a fractured leg he suffered in the East Final the previous year, giving way to Nick Arbuckle, who threw for 4,370 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions to be named the team\u2019s candidate for Most Outstanding Player.<\/p>\n

The Argonauts ranked seventh in net offence, sixth in net defence, and seventh with a turnover differential of minus-eight. The club\u2019s leading rusher was Spencer Brown with 314 yards, the leading receiver was Dejon Brissett with 907 yards, and the leading tackler was Cameron Judge with 79 tackles. Toronto ranked ninth in attendance with average crowds of 15,109, which was a 0.1 percent decrease from the previous year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Bob Butrym\/RFB Sport Photography The CFL has concluded an investigation into the Toronto Argonauts for allegedly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-339647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}