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<\/p>\nMike O\u2019Shea has spent a lot of time under the hood of the 2025 Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and he\u2019s come up with some important fixes he hopes will get the engine purring again next season.<\/p>\n
The Blue Bombers confirmed Monday that veteran Canadian Football League assistant coach Tommy Condell will replace Jason Hogan as the team\u2019s offensive coordinator \u2014 Hogan will return to his previous role as the running backs tutor \u2014 while long-time defensive tackle Jake Thomas is retiring and transitioning to become the defensive line coach, replacing a retiring Darrell Patterson.<\/p>\n
Condell returns to the Blue Bombers after landing his first CFL gig under head coach Jeff Reinebold in 1997 and after spending the last two years as the offensive coordinator with the Ottawa Redblacks. He has 15 years of CFL experience with five different teams, also including the Ottawa Renegades (2004-05), Saskatchewan Roughriders (2006), Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2014-15; 2020-23), Toronto Argonauts (2017-18) and Redblacks (2024-25).<\/p>\n
Important to note: Condell also worked with Zach Collaros during his time with the Ticats (2014-15), although O\u2019Shea said that he did not consult the Blue Bombers quarterback in making this hire. Stating the club needed to make a change at the offensive coordinator position, the Blue Bombers head coach added, \u201cWe weren\u2019t good enough last year for a variety of reasons, and we needed to seek someone with more experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
And as for the decision to add Thomas to his staff, O\u2019Shea said this about one of the most-respected people in the building \u2014 not just on the roster:<\/p>\n
\u201cLove the guy. Can sit here right now and picture him hoisting the Cup in 2019. Extremely smart, passionate, good leader. A guy that just loved being around. There was a time where because of a contract issue he came late to training camp by I don\u2019t know how many days, not much. But the whole practice stopped and everybody went nuts that he walked onto the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat right there speaks volumes about what everybody thinks about him. Not just from the players\u2019 perspective, but in the entire organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
FYI: O\u2019Shea said there may be further changes to the coaching staff, indicating he would like to add one more piece while also adding that the status of quarterbacks coach Jarious Jackson is still to be determined.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Shea\u2019s conference call today was done only in an audio format and can be found here:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
What follows are some other key talking points about the coaching moves\u2026<\/p>\n
WHAT MAKE CONDELL STAND OUT AMONG THE OTHER CANDIDATES\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tommy Condell during his days with Hamilton<\/p>\n
O\u2019Shea spoke of Condell\u2019s extensive experience in the league and the fact they\u2019ve crossed paths over the years at various CFL events, at coaches\u2019 conferences or even in discussions on the field before games.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026And over the course of time as you\u2019re watching film or looking at the CFL things come up about his creativity and you like how he manages a game \u2014 those types of things. So, over a long period of time it\u2019s just always been there that, yeah, I like Tommy Condell.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sort of gather information about a lot of people over the course of a career in the CFL and that\u2019s the way a lot of coaches do it; they just have multiple interactions with people around the league over a long period of time and that forms the picture you have of coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE RUSHING NUMBERS\u2026<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Brady Oliveira<\/p>\n
Ottawa finished sixth in rushing yards per game last year (93.6) \u2014 Winnipeg was second at 124.1 \u2014 and last in 2024 at 83.7 yards per game. That said, Condell certainly didn\u2019t have a Brady Oliveira as an option, either, with William Stanback Ottawa\u2019s tailback in 2025 and Ryquell Armstead and Khalan Laborn the primary ball carriers in 2024.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Shea when asked about meshing Condell\u2019s pass-heavy attacks with the Blue Bombers DNA of pounding the football:<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to be a problem. I do believe our coaching staff as a whole understands on any given week, whatever it\u2019s going take that week to win a game, that part of our DNA is not going to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
THERE IS NO MAGIC POTION\u2026<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jason-Hogan-24251-Large.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Jason Hogan<\/p>\n
Hiring Condell and moving Hogan back to coaching the running backs isn\u2019t a simple magic potion for an offence that finished last in passing yardage in 2025 (235.0 yards per game), second in rushing (124.1), fifth in net yardage (345.7) and seventh in offensive points per game (23.1).<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s also remember that Collaros missed five starts and didn\u2019t finish three other games while the receiving corps not only lost Kenny Lawler in free agency, also saw Dalton Schoen limited to just five games.<\/p>\n
To that end, O\u2019Shea spoke of the fix needing to be a collaborative effort while also falling on the sword for some bigger picture issues he mentioned in general without getting into specifics.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost, it starts with me and making sure I\u2019m holding everybody accountable to a higher standard. We just didn\u2019t play up to our standard last year, especially on offence. It\u2019s pretty easy to say that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were certain things that were out of character for us last year that we need to come in this year and fix. I don\u2019t think that, as you alluded to, making a change or a couple changes doesn\u2019t fix everything. Everybody\u2019s got to come in with a commitment to getting back to playing football the right way, playing good football and resetting the culture and that starts with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further to that, O\u2019Shea spoke of Hogan\u2019s reaction to the news \u2014 he was \u201cobviously disappointed\u201d \u2014 and in his decision to remain on the staff in his old role.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe certainly wanted to have more production in his first year as an OC, so he\u2019s disappointed in how it\u2019s turned out. But I think if you were to ask him, he\u2019s probably more disappointed for the team, not for him personally.<\/p>\n
\u201cReturning back as a running back coach, that\u2019s something that I think he\u2019s thankful for. He\u2019s been in that position before, he knows the room. I think he\u2019s going to be excited for that. But also from my standpoint, he\u2019s a really good coach. And I think the timing was just maybe a little too soon for him. Most importantly, I don\u2019t know that I did a good enough job. In fact, I know I didn\u2019t do a good enough job supporting him and making sure I was giving him what he needed. But certainly, for a guy to take a step back and continue with the same team, that\u2019s a rarity. So, I like that about his character. He\u2019s certainly able to drop his ego and say, \u2018Yeah, this is a job I want.’\u201d<\/p>\n
THOMAS MOVES FROM TRENCHES TO SIDELINES\u2026<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Jake Thomas<\/p>\n
O\u2019Shea raved about Thomas\u2019 intelligence \u2014 not just his football smarts \u2014 and suggested he could one day end up as a GM in this league, adding, \u201che\u2019s the type of guy that he could probably do whatever he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the recent transition and success of Mike Miller from playing to becoming the special teams coordinator did not play into the decision. Instead, he saw in Thomas what he has seen in other players over his career who have made quick moves from playing to coaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of faith in a lot of players and then you\u2019re just around guys for an extended period of time and you just know that they\u2019re going to be successful in whatever they do. And they\u2019ve been in football for so long it would be a shame for them not to use that knowledge. It\u2019s like they have multiple degrees in football. They spend so much time in the game that, to me, it\u2019s just natural that they continue. Now, it may not be for them \u2014 and it\u2019s certainly not for everybody \u2014 but pretty quickly on you determine who in that locker room would be cut out for the next step. Now, whether or not they want to or whether or not they want to continue as they go along after they see what\u2019s involved\u2026 a lot of these guys have a pretty good understanding of what it\u2019s like to be a coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to make sure that transition is fairly smooth for them because there are some surprises but Mike\u2019s success, I don\u2019t think that really had a bearing on the idea with Jake.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking back a pile of years, Mike and Jake and other guys would be guys that in my head it would be like, \u2018Yeah, this could be a natural fit if they choose to do it.’\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike O\u2019Shea has spent a lot of time under the hood of the 2025 Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-362792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362792","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=362792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}