O’Shea joins Blue Bomber elites

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This article was published 08/07/2023 (819 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One day the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will have to make room for a third statue outside IG Field.

Friday night’s 24-11 victory over the visiting Calgary Stampeders put head coach Mike O’Shea in elite company as he’s now tied with Cal Murphy for second-most wins in franchise history at 86.

Bud Grant — who coached the Bombers for 10 seasons from 1957 to 1966, winning four Grey Cups — sits alone in first place with 102.

A bronze statue of Grant was erected at the Gate 1 entrance in 2014. Three years later, Murphy — a three-time Grey Cup winner in 14 seasons, eight as head coach, with the Blue and Gold — had one depicted at Gate 3.

O’Shea’s résumé suggests he belongs, but he isn’t convinced.

“Maybe a snowman,” quipped O’Shea after the game.

It’s the exact response you’d expect to hear from him.

“He’ll never talk about it. He’ll put the praise on everyone else but himself and that’s just the type of guy he is and why we love him as our head coach,” said right guard Patrick Neufeld.

The Bombers are 86-59 since O’Shea took the reins in 2014, but for those that need a reminder, he didn’t exactly hit the ground running. The club missed the postseason in his first two years, and didn’t win a playoff game until his fifth year in 2018 when the Bombers got past the Saskatchewan Roughriders before losing 22-14 in the West Final to Calgary.

There were a lot of fans and media members who weren’t patient at the start, but defensive tackle Jake Thomas — a Bomber since 2012 — believes there were signs as early as Day 1 that he was the right man for the job.

“I remember the first day he was here, he met everyone at the door and he shook our hands. And we’d be on the road and you’d see the equipment guys loading up the truck and he’d have a bag. Just little things like that,” said Thomas.

“You knew right away that he had the chance to be successful. Just the way he carried himself and everyone believed in him. When he spoke, everyone listened, which sometimes isn’t always the case. It was definitely a rocky start at first, but I think once he got his culture built here, these last four or five years, you could see what he could create.”

Many different coaches and regimes had tried and failed before O’Shea got the Bombers to raise the Grey Cup over their heads in 2019 to snap a 28- year championship drought. He solidified himself as one of the all-time best professional coaches this city has ever had in any sport when he followed that up with another CFL title in 2021, and then a championship game appearance in 2022.

“It was all him. It was building. It was him believing in us and us believing in him,” said right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick.

“I’d run through a wall for Osh, but Osh would run through it with me. He’s gonna be right beside you, holding your hand and pushing your back.”

The success on the gridiron is one thing, but Hardrick thinks O’Shea’s impact extends further than that.

“Mike O’Shea is a great person. He coaches the person before the player,” said Hardrick.

“The talks we have in the offseason, he’s made me a better husband and a better dad. Man, I could never repay him. When we call in the offseason, we never talk football. He’s just constantly making me (better) and constantly making me get mentally tougher. And he does that for everyone, so whatever I’m saying, everyone else would say the same thing.”

The 52-year-old product of North Bay, Ont., leads all current coaches in wins and is only 16 away from sharing the top spot in the Bombers’ record book with Grant. With O’Shea inking a three-year contract extension this past offseason, it’s likely only a matter of time.

Grant is tied with John Hufnagel (Calgary, 2008-2015) for 10th place in league history.

“That’s amazing. I can’t wait for him to break the record, said defensive end Willie Jefferson. “Hard work, dedication, great leadership, he’s somebody that all of us look up to and all of us aspire to be something like him one day. I can’t say anything bad about him.”

“He’s a man of the people. He’s a player’s coach, he understands what we go through on the field and off the field during the season.”

O’Shea was asked about what it meant to reach win No. 86 and he was coy with his answers.

He did share two words, though: “I’m thankful.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31