Start building the statue O’Shea makes Blue Bombers history with win No. 103 By: Jeff Hamilton Posted: 6:03 PM CDT Sunday, Sep. 8, 2024 Last Modified: 4:32 PM CDT Monday, Sep. 9, 2024 Updates

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It’s been both a predictable and painful exercise the last couple of weeks trying to get a word out of Mike O’Shea.

After years of success as head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers – a decade-long tenure that began bumpy, but has been mostly a smooth ride the last several seasons – O’Shea has put himself in the history books.

Having already eclipsed the mark for most games coached with the Bombers, O’Shea, following a 26-21 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Saturday’s Banjo Bowl, has moved past the legendary Bud Grant for most wins in franchise history, with 103.

“It is what it is,” downplayed O’Shea during his post-game press conference, in what has been a theme ever since the milestone has been within reach. “Over time, these numbers just add up. But I don’t think we’re a numbers-based team, we’re a process-based team. We’ve got a room, a whole basement full of people that are all-in on the process and the outcomes just happen.”

To be fair, O’Shea did take a moment to recognize those who have helped him get to this point, including his wife, Richere, who was standing at the back of the room. You don’t last as long as O’Shea has with the same organization and amass a record of 103-68 over 11 CFL seasons without a little help along the way.

But if there’s anything O’Shea dislikes – even hates, a word that is certainly not too strong in this context – it’s having the spotlight directly over him. The 53-year-old has been that way ever since he arrived in Winnipeg as a first-time head coach in his early 40s, back in 2014, following four seasons as the special teams co-ordinator for the Toronto Argonauts.

There were a few times in recent weeks, as O’Shea neared his record-breaking victory, that in simply bringing up the subject, you got the feeling the former Hall of Fame linebacker was more prepared to take a run at you than have to talk about himself. Ask his colleagues, some of whom have been with O’Shea dating back to his playing days with the Argos, and they’ll tell you that’s just how the North Bay native is hardwired.

“This is a team thing to him,” said Bombers defensive co-ordinator Jordan Younger, who was teammates with O’Shea for four seasons in Toronto and has been on Winnipeg’s coaching staff since the 2018 campaign. “Ultimately, it’s about the team – everything revolves around ‘us’ and ‘we’, and when you make it about his individual accomplishments, he feels like it takes away from what we, as a group, have accomplished.”

He added: “I understand that it’s worth celebrating, it’s a hell of an accomplishment. I’m really happy and proud of him, but we won’t talk about it much.”

When talking to members of his coaching staff and players that O’Shea has spent a lot of time with in Winnipeg, one of the first things they bring up is his consistency. When pressed to expand on that, to a man, they will tell you that not much has changed with the way O’Shea carries himself since arriving ahead of his first season.

Jake Thomas is the Bombers longest-tenured player on the roster. He joined the team in 2012, two years before O’Shea took over, so he’s seen more of him than any of his teammates.

“I’ve been with him since 2014 and he can still get guys to run through a wall for him.”– Bomber defensive tackle Jake Thomas

Thomas was there through the lean years, when O’Shea first got to Winnipeg with the seemingly sole goal of instilling a new culture of accountability. Meanwhile, the losses kept piling up, with the Bombers going a combined 12-24 through O’Shea’s first two seasons at the helm.

Still, O’Shea never seemed to waver, Thomas said, always in control of his emotions. Even during those rough times when you would have excused any coach had they lost their cool from time to time.

“You see and hear it a lot in professional sports, that, over time, a coach’s message can get stale,” started Thomas. “I’ve been with him since 2014 and he can still get guys to run through a wall for him. He just has so much respect for everyone and so much wisdom for the game that it’s easy to follow him.”

While Thomas could talk football IQ for days when it comes to O’Shea – you don’t get to four straight Grey Cups, winning twice, without knowing a thing or two about the game – he, like several others interviewed for this story, sees the longevity of O’Shea’s coaching career as less about the X’s and O’s of the game and more about who he is as a person.

Thomas noted the time O’Shea called him the night before his winter wedding back in 2016. The veteran defensive lineman said he must have mentioned something in his exit interview, only for O’Shea to make a note of it and surprise him months later.

“He’s a leader of men,” said Thomas. “He’s authentic. His core values are his core values, and his beliefs are his beliefs. He prides himself on hard work, accountability and communication. He also treats you like a person, not just a football player, and is interested in your life outside of the game.”

Richie Hall had no idea who O’Shea was when he was suddenly a free agent after three seasons in Saskatchewan as the Riders DC. It wasn’t until O’Shea called him to ask if he’d be interested in joining his staff that Hall could ever recall the two having a real conversation.

Hall didn’t know what to expect; everything he knew about his future boss was based on O’Shea’s playing career, as someone who liked to play on the edge and wasn’t afraid to go over it from time to time. It wasn’t long before Hall realized he was judging a book by its cover, with O’Shea proving to be a much different person than he first envisioned.

“I have nothing but love and admiration for that guy because he really does care for the guys in the building and he does everything the right way.”– Bombers special teams coordinator Mike Miller

“To Mike, you’re a person first,” Hall said. “There’s football, and football is very important, but there’s also family, and there’s also life, which can come with a lot of struggles and stuff like that.

“When I look at him, there’s situations over the last number of years that have occurred to me from a personal standpoint, including deaths in the family, and just to see his response, it goes beyond being a coach. It’s a person and a very close friend.”

The importance of family – and being a good partner, brother and/or son – is of the utmost importance to O’Shea, who has always preached that one must be their best selves in order to properly honour their teammates.

When Hall’s brother, Michael, died midway through the 2019 season, O’Shea insisted he be back home with his family, where Hall would stay for weeks, missing two games. There have been several other instances over the years where O’Shea hasn’t batted an eye when insisting a player be there for the birth of a child or to mourn the loss of a loved one.

Then there was the time O’Shea showed up to Hall’s Regina home unannounced to hand deliver his 2019 Grey Cup ring. Hall said it was O’Shea’s way of thanking him, the best way he could after the formal ceremony was cancelled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“That makes you feel very special,” Hall said. “He’s sensitive to that.”

There’s few, if any, players that are cut from the same cloth as O’Shea more than Mike Miller. Miller played 11 seasons in the CFL, including his last five in Winnipeg, ending his run in the three-down game as the CFL’s all-time leader in special teams tackles.

When Miller was forced to retire with a neck injury that was diagnosed ahead of the ‘23 season, he admitted to some dark days trying to transition out of a game that had come to define him. He didn’t even know he wanted to be a coach until O’Shea met with him over the winter and asked him to take over the special teams this year.

“He told me he wouldn’t let me fail,” Miller said. “Just hearing that made it a whole lot easier to take this position. I have nothing but love and admiration for that guy because he really does care for the guys in the building and he does everything the right way.”

While certainly touched by the vote of confidence, Miller wasn’t at all surprised by the gesture. After all, he had a similar encounter with O’Shea as an undrafted free agent almost 15 years earlier.

Miller was asked to interview with three CFL teams at the league combine in 2011, including O’Shea’s Argos. He remembered being super nervous – when O’Shea asked him how people live in his hometown of Riverview, N.B., Miller hilariously but seriously answered by saying, ‘most live in houses, some in trailers’ – but any nerves he had felt were soon calmed by a conversation with O’Shea after he exited the room.

“He walked me to the elevator and just told me that he respected my game and saw me making the jump to the next level and to just to keep my head down,” Miller remembered. “It stuck with me the whole time, so when I did become a free agent and the opportunity to sign with Winnipeg arose, it was a no-brainer for me.”

There’s a reason why you rarely see O’Shea lose his cool; he’s too busy focusing on what’s in front of him to stress about what’s behind. He can come across as condescending to the media – and even at times with his own staff – but you can never question his willingness to put in the hard work and desire to win.

Buck Pierce has been part of O’Shea’s staff from the beginning, first as the running backs and then quarterbacks coach, before taking over from Paul LaPolice as offensive co-ordinator in 2020.

Pierce said he’s had countless conversations with O’Shea, many of which have extended beyond the game. Like others, he considers O’Shea as a mentor, not just as a coach but also a husband and father.

When Pierce had the chance to leave for Regina to become the next head coach of the Riders this past winter, potentially taking Younger with him, he instead opted to stay in Winnipeg. While it would be hard to get Pierce to admit it publicly, he doesn’t sound like someone who ever planned to leave O’Shea and the environment that’s been built here in Winnipeg.

“People know him as the coach, know him as the football-minded guy, but it’s that human element that he brings,” Pierce said. We’ve been together now 11 years, ever since he came here. That’s his standard, that’s the type of person he is – he cares about people.”

“What I appreciate about him most is this is a game where some head coaching styles tend to be more abrasive, a do-as-I-say style, where with Mike O’Shea, it’s just teach.”– Bombers defensive co-ordinator Jordan Younger

“What I appreciate about him most is this is a game where some head coaching styles tend to be more abrasive, a do-as-I-say style, where with Mike O’Shea, it’s just teach,” Younger added. “He’s just going to show you what you did wrong, he’s going to show you how to do it better and as long as you’re putting the work in and getting better each week, he’ll stay with you.

“That type of loyalty in this game, that type of willingness to be patient, is different. That patience has paid off over time. He’s been able to put himself in the history books and it’s really well deserving.”

What Jason Hogan, now in his third season as running backs coach, appreciates the most about O’Shea is how he pushes himself and his staff to give their very best effort and to consistently raise the standards, though never at the cost of one individual or coach, himself included.

Known for his trademark t-shirt and shorts while patrolling the sidelines, even when the temperature dips late into the season, Hogan is inspired by O’Shea never wavering from his true and genuine self. In the world of professional sports, where there’s a lot of flash and pizzazz, Hogan views O’Shea a major outlier.

“Osh is the kind of coach and man who doesn’t need catchy slogans or awesome quotes plastered all over the facility to get his guys going,” he said. “The four pillars we stand by were hand-written by him on a whiteboard in our team meeting room and that’s been enough to get the best out of a room full of high-end competitors each and every day. His message is just as strong, if not stronger and more meaningful, in his humble and inspiring way.”

Zach Collaros’ arrival in Winnipeg late into the 2019 season coincided with the Bombers’ rise to greatness under O’Shea. Collaros was acquired in a deal with the Argonauts just ahead of the league’s trade deadline in 2019, leading Winnipeg to the first of back-to-back Grey Cups that year and snapping a championship drought of just short of 30 years.

Collaros’ love for O’Shea has been well documented over the years, the two of them being somewhat kindred spirits dating back to their days together in Toronto. They’re both a bit old-school, possessing that kind of hard-nosed mentality that only comes with devoting your life to the sport.

In the immediate aftermath of the victory over the Riders, when asked about his coach surpassing Grant for the most regular season wins in Bombers history, you could almost hear O’Shea’s voice swirling inside Collaros’ head, pleading with him not to say a word. But the thing about Collaros is that he always comes through in the clutch, and in this case, he said what everybody else has been thinking.

Well, everyone but O’Shea, that is.

“I think the statue is starting soon,” Collaros said, smiling.

Just be sure not to ask O’Shea about it.

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jeffkhamilton