OUT OF THE TUNNEL: EXAMINING THE MAAS HIRE

BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF

For a team set with a head coach and starting quarterback, the Saskatchewan Roughriders inking Jason Maas as the new offensive coordinator may be their biggest move of the off-season. 

After a woeful 2018 – now former – offensive coordinator Steven McAdoo bounced back with a solid season. Under his guidance the Riders were second in yards per game (just a shade ahead of Maas’s Edmonton Eskimos) with the help of a great running game and Cody Fajardo stepping out of the shadows and leading the league in passing.

But between the 2018 season and the rough West Final it was deemed that McAdoo, rightly or wrongly, was the one who ended up taking the heat for the loss.

Now the temperamental Jason Maas steps in and he is never shy to let his feelings show. He will shape the offence in the most important season for the Roughriders since 2013. There will be a lot of pressure to have a dynamic offence that will get this team over the hump and be in the Grey Cup next November at Mosaic Stadium.

Maas has been coaching since 2012 when he was the quarterbacks coach for the Toronto Argonauts. 2015 was the only season where he was an offensive coordinator before being named head coach and offensive coordinator of the Eskimos a year later.

The resume is short, but dynamic. In 2015 he had the best offence in the CFL as Henry Burris had a MOP performance with 322 yards passing per game, but was prone to turning the ball over with 26 touchdowns to 15 interceptions.

It was much of the same in Edmonton. It didn’t matter if it was Mike Reilly or Trevor Harris running his offence. They always were in the top three in the CFL and, if you include his one year in Ottawa, his offence was first in 2015 and 2016, second in 2017 and 2018 and third this past season. 

Maas has had the luxury of great weapons at his disposal in the offensive arsenal and with the Riders he has a great start with Cody Fajardo. Now the tough part for Saskatchewan: giving Maas more tools and re-signing or re-building the offensive line.

The hiring of Maas is another step for head coach Craig Dickenson reshaping his staff. This is his biggest hiring and maybe his biggest gamble. If it pays off, the reward is huge and if it doesn’t the repercussions are even bigger.

The hiring of Maas got us thinking how some coaches are just better coordinators and may not be suited to be head coaches. Three names that quickly come to mind are Richie Hall, Paul LaPolice and Jeff Reinebold. All three have been incredibly successful coordinators but their combined record as head coaches is bleak. Their combined record in their seven seasons was 36-83 with just one winning season (LaPolice in 2011 at 10-8).

Then on the other side, some are more suited to being head coaches like Dave Dickenson, Wally Buono and it’s starting to look like Craig Dickenson and Khari Jones are headed in that direction as well.

The thing is no one knows what will happen with Maas back as a coordinator, but it just might be what is needed to get the Green and White over the hump.

As for Paul LaPolice, the Ottawa Redblacks are hoping that he has learned from all of his mistakes in the past. They named him their head coach this past week and he will bring a 2019 Grey Cup ring with him.

Lapo has a huge job ahead of him with a bare cupboard and a front office that didn’t want to spend the money needed to keep their many offensive weapons this past season. What we hope for him is that people will be patient and give him at least two years to prove that he can turn the ship around.

The other coaching shoe to drop this past week was Rick Campbell heading across the country to become the latest head coach for the B.C. Lions. He is their third coach in as many years and also has a giant task in helping to bring a winner to the west coast.

The only advantage for Campbell is the gunslinger Mike Reilly, otherwise the situation he has acquired isn’t much different than the one he left. They can’t run the football and it’s a woeful offensive line. Throw in the fact that there is a lot of impatience in the front office. Now former head coach DeVone Claybrooks started to finally get things going near the end of the 2019 season but was still let go. Campbell may have a longer rope but the pressure is still there.

All that’s left is Edmonton and it will be very interesting which direction they go with their hire. Will they try to find another retread, a current coordinator or go completely off the grid and head south for someone to lead the way?

After Edmonton makes their hire, round two of the coaching merry-go-round will begin. Numerous assistant coaches will be packing their bags and moving all around the country for their next coaching gig. It’s tough on the coaches and their families but if you look at any coach with a long resume, it doesn’t take long before the cities start to pile up.

One last note and that’s the Riders move to bring back Jason Shivers. He was amazing in a tough spot in 2019 and was rewarded for his efforts. He had the daunting task of taking over the defensive coordinator duties once Chris Jones decided to take off for the Cleveland Browns.

He is smart, young and relatable and also got the most out of his players. If the Riders were not quick to bring him back, he would have been a coveted name at any spot in the CFL.

It will be another fun week of the off-season in the CFL and after Edmonton makes their hire it will settle down over Christmas before things really get cooking in the new year.

(RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF/PHOTO: Java Post)