The Saskatchewan Roughriders have taken a different approach to the team's general manager and head coach compared to their rival Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The Riders extended the contracts of Jeremy O'Day and Corey Mays, putting more than one year remaining on their contracts.Bye Kyle Walters and Mike O'Shea are back on their contracts in Winnipeg.although there are nuances regarding the individuals leading the bombers. O'Shea usually preferred to complete one contract before starting another. The team recently made the decision to have Walters live out his tenure.
O'Day and Mays were already under contract through the 2026 CFL season when President and CEO Craig Reynolds began negotiating two-year contract extensions for both men in late August. This led to Saskatchewan's general manager and bench coach signing paperwork allowing them to remain with the team. in the 2028 CFL season.
Meanwhile, Walters and O'Shea's deals expire after the 2025 season, as do the two in 2023. Both were instrumental in turning the Bombers into a perennial contender as Winnipeg made five straight Gray Cup appearances and won two, winning back-to-back in 2019 and 2021 in between coronavirus pandemic seasons.
Reynolds, who has served as Roughriders president since 2015, rewarded O'Day and Mays for returning the franchise to prominence after two straight seasons in which Saskatchewan missed the postseason with a 6-12 record under Craig Dickenson. Mays won a playoff game in his first year as head coach and his team is already in first place in the West Division with two games left in the 2025 regular season.
The Port Moody, British Columbia native was hired by the Green and White on November 30, 2023. O'Day's relationship with Mace began with one phone call, and like the feeling after an intriguing first date, he wanted to talk to him more. This led to a Zoom call, an in-person interview, and ultimately a long-term relationship with franchise growth potential. The gregarious leader posted a regular season win-loss record of 21-12-1.
“He's not fake by any means, he's real, genuine, very hard-working, motivated – he's fun to make a difference every day. He's great for the organization, the players love him, he loves the players – he can be such a soft hand, he can be such a heavy hand if he needs to. His drive to succeed, his drive to win and the way he wants to do it, very prepared and organized in his approach to what he wanted do,” O'Day said.
“When you interview them, you gather a lot of information about the coaches to make sure it's accurate and what you hear is what you get. He's dedicated to the process. His experience in the community, his success as a good football coach, all of that matters. Sometimes you buy a car and it doesn't drive the way you expected it to – with him it's exactly what we expected it to be.”
The Riders hope Mace-mobil will lead the team to its fifth Gray Cup championship and, ideally, more. He has already helped Saskatchewan achieve the rarity of earning the right to host the Western Finals for the fourth time (1976, 2009, 2019 and 2025) in Roughriders history since the one-game knockout system was introduced in 1972. However, as Mays likes to say after each victory: “We haven’t done anything yet.”
“To be honest, I don’t even like what we’re talking about. [my extension] because we have a lot of other things we need to focus on,” Mace said.
Like his Winnipeg counterpart Wade Miller, Reynolds would like to see Mace and O'Day lead Saskatchewan to multiple Gray Cups. But unlike O'Shea and Walters, the Riders' tandem has contract stability and is looking to hit the end goal every year for the foreseeable future.
Now the Green and White will have to implement and measure success one ring at a time. After all, this is how a promising date comes full circle.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (12-4) will face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (8-8) at Princess Auto Stadium on Friday, October 17, with kickoff scheduled for 8:00 pm ET. Riders beat Toronto which allowed them to take first place in the Western Division, and Blue Bombers lost to Edmontonfailing to reach the playoffs.
The weather forecast for Winnipeg calls for temperatures of up to 11 degrees and rain. The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune in to 620 CKRM in Regina and 680 CJOB in Winnipeg.
