With Ottawa filling their coaching vacancy by hiring Ryan Dinwiddie (to fill coach and general manager positions), Toronto now has an opening at the head coach position.
To be fair, this type of speculation happens all the time when a head coach is at the end of their contract. And while Mike O'Shea certainly would not cut his own feet out from under him, his press conference did sound like he would like to stay in Winnipeg.
And why would O'Shea not want to stay in Winnipeg? As the Head Coach of the Bombers he holds a 117-77 win-loss record and is the Bombers' winningest coach. He was also the coach that helped the Bombers break their 29 year Grey Cup drought. However, it is not like O'Shea lacks history with Toronto. Remember, he had a great career with Toronto, playing 11 seasons at linebacker; and later was a special team's coach for Toronto for four years.
Let the speculation begin
Look it is going to happen, so why not embrace it. I have mentioned previously that I find it ironic that there are sports reporters out there that will comment all kinds of things about a player's injury, and quickly follow it up with, 'I don't want to speculate'...but they just did. Speculate away my friends, speculate. It is going to happen, so let us not pretend that we do not want it to happen.
I tell you what, you want to have a more enjoyable and engaging CFL, you do not need to change the rules. The CFL Eastern and Western Semi-Final proved that. What you do need is excitement around the league, and some of that is related by people not being afraid, or somehow thinking that they are lesser of person that reports on sports, by speculating.
There are going to be all kinds of names thrown around with who may go to Toronto to be their next head coach. And, unless that is Mike O'Shea, or it is another Bombers' coach...that does not impact me much at all. But what if it is O'Shea? His name will certainly be part of the speculation.
If O'Shea leaves...who replaces him?
This is a very interesting question, because if you ask me the Bombers do not have an heir apparent. I see absolutely no circumstance where Jason Hogan gets the job - I wonder if he will even be on the staff in 2026. I do no think that Mike Miller is the guy...yet. Richie Hall? No. How about Jarious Jackson? That is where things start to get interesting for me.
"Immediately upon retiring it was announced that Jackson would then begin his coaching career as the quarterbacks coach for the Lions. After coaching in BC for one year (2013) he spent the next couple seasons as the quarterbacks coach for both the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders before being named the BC Lions' Offensive Coordinator for the 2018 season. He retained the position for the 2019 BC Lions season, but after a disappointing year, his contract was not renewed for 2020.
On February 6, 2020, it was announced that Jackson was joining the Toronto Argonauts as the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The 2020 CFL season was cancelled, but Jackson coached for the Argonauts in 2021 where the team finished in first place in the East Division.
On January 4, 2022, Jackson formally joined the Edmonton Elks as the team's pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He retained the same role to begin the 2023 season, but after an 0–8 start to the season, Jackson was promoted to offensive coordinator on July 31, 2023, replacing Stephen McAdoo.
On July 15, 2024, following the dismissal of head coach, Chris Jones, Jackson was named interim head coach while retaining his play-calling duties. He posted a 7–6 record in the remaining 13 regular season games, but the Elks failed to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. He was not selected as the head coach for the 2025 season following the hire of Mark Kilam. He was also not retained on Kilam's staff.
On February 4, 2025, it was announced that Jackson had been named the quarterbacks coach for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers." - source
Possible roles for Jackson
So that all makes a very interesting case for Jarious Jackson. If Hogan goes and if O'Shea goes, what role(s) will Jackson hold? I have never really liked the idea of a person being both the offensive coordinator and the head coach. Tell me a handful of times that has worked out well. But the Bombers might find themselves in that position if they think Hogan is no longer the guy, and if O'Shea heads to Toronto.
The only thing worse for the Bombers than Jarious Jackson fulfilling both roles, is the Bombers thinking he cannot fulfill both roles; promoting Jackson to head coach, and keeping Hogan as the offensive coordinator.
What did you think? Let me know in the comments section wherever you are reading this.
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