{"id":403044,"date":"2026-01-11T18:16:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T18:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/403044\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T18:16:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T18:16:37","slug":"jake-thomas-underwent-organic-transition-to-coaching-with-winnipeg-blue-bombers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/403044\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake Thomas underwent organic transition to coaching with Winnipeg Blue Bombers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo: Reuben Polansky\/3DownNation. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Jake Thomas didn\u2019t hesitate when given the opportunity to join the coaching staff with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers after playing 13 seasons along the defensive line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened fairly organically. I had a really good exit meeting with (head coach Mike O\u2019Shea) and at that point I was still planning on continuing playing, if that was possible. Then a few weeks went by after the Grey Cup and we continued our conversation. He let me know that there was a chance this opportunity would be available and it\u2019s one of those jobs that if you don\u2019t take it now, it\u2019s not going to be there forever,\u201d Thomas recently told the media via videoconference.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the year when I was talking to (the media) this wasn\u2019t a plan, but I\u2019m very happy with how it worked out. Usually the best things in life aren\u2019t overly planned.\u201d<\/p>\n

This also isn\u2019t the first time O\u2019Shea has hired a coach straight from the locker room as Mike Miller was hired as the team\u2019s special teams coordinator following the 2024 season<\/a>. The veteran head coach clearly has an extremely high opinion of Thomas, who was Winnipeg\u2019s longest-tenured player at the time of his retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Thomas is) extremely intelligent. He\u2019s always been a guy who studies the game well, communicates well to his teammates, so you expect that to continue,\u201d said O\u2019Shea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Jake will always want to stay in football. I think this gives an opportunity to see what it\u2019s like on this side of it. I believe the future for Jake is going to be pretty good \u2014 he\u2019ll probably end up being a GM, so he can do a lot. He\u2019s the type of guy that he could probably do whatever he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s unit struggled at times during his first year at the helm, though it significantly improved in 2025. Trey Vaval was named the CFL\u2019s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player as a breakout returner, while the Blue Bombers placed first in the league\u2019s aggregate special teams ranking, which combines metrics of kicking, punting, returning, kick coverage, big plays, and penalties.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Shea indicated that Miller\u2019s successful transition didn\u2019t necessarily play a role in hiring Thomas, though he plans on providing him with the same level of support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to make sure that transition is fairly smooth for them because there are some surprises,\u201d said O\u2019Shea. \u201c(Thomas) is so highly respected in the locker room and across the league, and also he\u2019s really skilled in terms of dealing with humans, so if anything were to come up, he\u2019ll handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think looking back a pile of years, Mike and Jake and other guys would be guys in my head that I\u2019d be like, \u2018Yeah, this could be a natural fit if they choose to do it.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas thanked his wife for supporting his transition to coaching, saying he was shocked at how supportive she was with the decision. She had recently completed a 32-hour drive home to the Maritimes with their two children, dog, and two cats, so he would have understood if she was less than enthusiastic about him staying in football.<\/p>\n

Thomas has also stepped away from real estate, which was his off-field career for the past few years. He hopes to remain in football for at least the next 10 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think real estate actually made me realize how much I actually love football. Same with COVID \u2014 I think pre-COVID, I took for granted how awesome my life was as a professional football player. To have that taken away from you, I think rekindled that love for the game and I think that\u2019s probably why I played as long as I did,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always in the back of your mind that you want to stay in football (post-retirement), then for this opportunity to come up, I pounced at the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers finished fourth in the West Division standings in 2025 with a 10-8 record, qualifying for the playoffs as the crossover team before losing the East Semi-Final to the Montreal Alouettes. Zach Collaros threw for 3,048 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions over 13 regular-season games, going 6-7 as a starter.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg ranked fifth in net offence, third in net defence, and eighth with a turnover differential of minus-eleven. The club\u2019s leading rusher was Brady Oliveira with 1,163 yards, leading receiver was Nic Demski with 1,001 yards, and leading tackler was Tony Jones with 104 tackles. Winnipeg ranked first in attendance with average crowds of 32,343, which was a 3.7 percent increase from the previous year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Reuben Polansky\/3DownNation. All rights reserved. Jake Thomas didn\u2019t hesitate when given the opportunity to join the coaching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,22070,22936,49,48,7028,521,522,520,1172,527,169891,82,22073],"class_list":{"0":"post-403044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-3down","9":"tag-3downnation","10":"tag-blue-bombers","11":"tag-bombers","12":"tag-ca","13":"tag-canada","14":"tag-canadian","15":"tag-canadian-football-league","16":"tag-canadianfootballleague","17":"tag-cfl","18":"tag-coach","19":"tag-football","20":"tag-jake-thomas","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-winnipeg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403044","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=403044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}