‘Just a leader of men’: Corey Mace brings confidence in 1st year

Corey Mace has been up to the task in his first season as a CFL head coach.

After the Saskatchewan Roughriders have missed the playoffs the past two seasons, Mace has the team back in the postseason and hosting a home playoff game. The Riders will enter Saturday — the final day of the CFL regular season — with a chance to still finish first in the West Division.

The Riders take on the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday. Kickoff for the game is set for 5 p.m. at Mosaic Stadium.

Earlier in the day at 1 p.m., the Winnipeg Blue Bombers take on the Alouettes in Montreal. If the Bombers win, they will clinch the West Division title. If the Bombers lose, the Riders can finish first with a win over the Stamps.

Mace has been a big part of the turnaround for the team this season, who had to navigate a seven-game winless slide in an up-and-down year, and is one of the frontrunners in the race for CFL Coach of the Year. Mike O’Shea, the Bombers head coach, is some of his stiffest competition in the West Division.

Offensive co-ordinator Marc Mueller, who was on the Stamps coaching staff when Mace was a player and coach in Calgary, said he is still the same man he remembers from there.

“Just a leader of men. You can always tell the people who have leadership capabilities because people gravitate towards them and Corey is definitely that,” Mueller said. “I think we’re all connected and try to be the best representation of him.”

Linebacker Jameer Thurman was with the Stamps from 2017-22 with Mace on that coaching staff. After a season in Hamilton, Thurman was reunited with Mace in Saskatchewan this season.

“It’s nothing new to me. I feel like he has been the same person throughout (his coaching career), he hasn’t switched up and nothing has changed who he is. Just still being yourself and not trying to do too much or change things. Just sticking to the standard that you have for the team and organization and sticking to that.”

So, how does Mace feel he has grown since Week 1 as a head coach?

“Just situations — things early move kind of fast,” said Mace, who also calls the defensive plays as the team’s defensive co-ordinator.

“Understanding the trust and the faith of the people around me. I don’t want to use the word delegate — that’s not it. Just being able to bounce ideas and communication off (of). Putting ourselves in situations throughout the week of practice so the same things for us as a staff are comfortable and confident in different situations because we have been there.”

Having that self-confidence in himself also might have contributed to the team staying the course and not making any panic-induced moves during the seven-game winless streak.

“We saw in camp that we felt like we had a pretty good team and we knew we were going to be able to compete,” Mace said. “How the guys responded and the morale, understanding it was a bounce back or bounce backward kind of deal. I know the games didn’t turn out the way we wanted but when you watched the games, you know there were fixable tweaks to get over the hump.”

“To make a bunch of drastic changes, that’s tough because you make one change — on paper it looks like just one guy but there’s so many other people playing around the one person being changed. Continuity is key in my thought process. The guys just responded well… We always believed we were a good team. To have that confidence in the first year of people being around each other is special.”

The CFL West Division award winners will be announced on Oct. 31.