BOMBERS HIRE O’SHEA
General Manager Kyle Walters is excited to announce today that Mike O’Shea has been named the 30th Head Coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
O’Shea takes the reins of the Blue Bombers with 20 years of CFL experience and after spending the past four seasons as an assistant coach with the Toronto Argonauts. The four-time Grey Cup Champion won three as a player (1996,1997 and 2004) and his first title as a coach in 2012, leading a stalwart special teams unit for the Argos.
“Mike knows what it takes to win in this league, and he has done that as both a player and as a coach,” says General Manager Kyle Walters. “He is highly respected by his peers, and someone we feel is the right fit for what we are trying to build here. We’re thrilled to have Coach O’Shea on board.”
O’Shea remarked, “This is truly an honour to take over as Head Coach for such a historic franchise and one of the landmarks of Canadian football. The organization, our fans, the city and province deserve a winner, and I assure you we will do everything in our power to make all of those people proud.”
The North Bay, Ontario native played 16 seasons in the CFL for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts, from 1993 to 2008. He concluded his career finishing second all-time in career tackles with 1,151 and is one of only three players to record over 1000 tackles made. He won the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian award in 1999 after recording 84 tackles, 13 special teams tackles and three interceptions that year.
Mike and his wife Richere have three children: Michael, Ailish and Aisling.
No doubt Arash would be all over that. It's no secret how badly he wants his beloved Bombers to get their stuff together to overtake the team he hates the most, the Saskatchewan Roughriders. His contempt for us is well known. Want proof? Just check out his tweets during Grey Cup week. He can't stand that a supposed intellectually inferior province full of hicks and hillbillies has a team that is at the top of the CFL. Or maybe he's just bitter that Milt Stegall and Paul Lapolice were invited to join TSN before he was. Other than that, good… Read more »
Hey Arash, why not let the club make the announcement, you are always jumping the gun on stuff like this and when you guessed wrong there's never a retraction or apology.
Two points: As a reporter, you report on the 'scoop'. Arash Madani is simply doing his job. You don't have to like him over what you see as a 'dislike' for the Riders, but you can't begrudge the man for doing his job. Might I add he isn't wrong very often, and certainly wouldn't just make something up for the sake of a story. As for the hire, this is a good hire in Winnipeg. Rather than go with a recycled coach who has been around, they get a fresh start with a guy who has been on the radar… Read more »
Hey Heath, being the proud Saskatchewanian you are I never thought you'd want to stick up for the guy. The fact is, he wasn't the only one reporting O'Shea's hiring this morning. A lot of other Winnipeg media folks were too. Arash is just one drop in the bucket, although he likes to think of himself as a big splash. He's the hottest sports reporter in Canada, just ask him.
I just don’t get the love affair with Michael O’shea. It seems to me the natural progression for a head coach is positional coach, D or O coordinator then possibly a chance at a head coach. Some spending time in NCAA or NFL. As good as he might turn out to be (because you never know)the fact is he has only managed the special teams for 4 years and for most of this time he has had the flying Hawaiian. To me this is good news because I hope the Bombers fail again. I love a time when the Eskimos… Read more »
While he may not have been the only one reporting this, his was what I read. The proud Saskatchwanian in me follows Saskatchewan based media such as this blog for example.
Sure, I have been critical of Madani in the past, and at times he does have a very elevated sense of self – worth. However, all that being said, I won't be critical of a man who is doing his job.
Wonder if this means CD will leave Winnipeg. Not getting considered for HC on your own team and then they hire the special teams guy from another team? I woudl take that as a slight for sure.
Solid hire, but regardless, if they don't fix the QB position, the head coach won't matter much.
Get ready to continue to lose Winnipeg!
-Ron Burgundy
what?? i like o'shea a lot. great canadian player. good special teams coach. he's a big part of cfl football. but how do you go from special teams coach to head coach? seems like he's being setup for failure. the bombers need stability and experience more than ever. i wish him luck but i have a feeling this won't be good for the bombers or for o'shea.
O'Shea ? Bombers bomb again.
Another "FIRST TIME COACH" for the Blum Bloomers ! Here We Go Again !
"Go Riders" !!
Winnipeg did hire O'Shea as their next head coach.
Cortez is being interviewed for the OC position in BC. He was evidently close in Winnipeg. It appears that contrary to his claims to the contrary, he is looking for work elsewhere. I hope he doesn't dick around too long. If he is gone then we just have to replace him. Khari Jones might be a good fit. Marcus Crandell would be a nice QB coach fit. The sooner you can firm up the coaching staff, the sooner you can get to work on the season.