With the Grey Cup in the rearview mirror, the Saskatchewan Roughriders have made one of the first significant moves of the offseason hiring Corey Mace as their new head coach.
Mace is a former NFL player, having spent time with the Buffalo Bills from 2007-2009 before making the jump to the CFL where he was a defensive lineman for the Stampeders from 2010-2015. After retiring, he was hired as a defensive line coach for the Stamps from 2016-2021, replacing his former teammate Devone Claybrooks in the role.
Following the 2021 campaign, he was signed by the Toronto Argonauts to be their new defensive coordinator, where he helped overhaul a franchise which had gone 17-33 over its last 3 seasons and helped mould them into a Grey Cup winning team in his first year.
This year, the Argos set a new franchise record with 16 regular season wins, while the defence led the CFL in sacks (68), interceptions (27), turnovers (54), opponent big plays (30) and rushing yards allowed (83.6 per game).
A 3 time Grey Cup champion (once as a player, twice as a coach), Mace was widely considered one of the CFL’s rising stars amongst the coaching ranks. He interviewed with the Ottawa RedBlacks last offseason, but was ultimately not selected for their vacant head coaching position.
Now, Mace will look to turn around a Roughriders team that’s gone a disappointing 6-12 in back to back seasons. A result that led to former head coach Craig Dickenson being let go by the club at season’s end.
While the Port Moody, BC native’s coaching staff has yet to be finalized, it’s being reported that former University of Regina QB Marc Mueller is likely to named as his offensive coordinator for 2024.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Cmm3. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.