'ABOVE AND BEYOND': MIKE O'SHEA ON CUSP OF BOMBERS COACHING HISTORY
Ever wonder when Mike O’Shea first wanted to be a head coach?
I asked him that on Wednesday.
“Never,” he said. “It just happens.”
Nearly 11 years ago, it just so happened the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were looking for a fresh start, so GM Kyle Walters called the man who’d coached special teams in Toronto the previous four seasons.
O’Shea didn’t exactly jump at the chance.
“I really like what I’m doing now,” he recalled thinking. “And I don’t know anything about what that would even entail. You don’t know that you can do it until you get in.”
Ten seasons later, it’s safe to say he can do it.
In fact, only one man has done it better in franchise history.
With his next victory, O’Shea will tie Bud Grant at 102 regular-season wins, a milestone that once appeared unreachable.
“Are you serious?” a surprised Drew Wolitarsky said. “This is a big week then. We’d love doing that. Especially in Sask on Labour Day — that’d be awesome.”
That Wolitarsky, a receiver in his seventh season with the Bombers, had no idea his coach is on the doorstep of history is exactly the way O’Shea would like it.
He’d rather chew on a handful of nails than talk about himself.
“That’s not his thing,” is how defensive coordinator Jordan Younger put it. “But couldn’t happen to a better guy. I’m glad he’s had the success he’s had, as a co-worker, as a friend. I’m really proud of him. And just really honoured that I can be a part of it.”
Younger has been around O’Shea longer than any member of the Bombers, dating back to a handful of years when they were teammates in Toronto, a few years when Younger played under O’Shea with the Argos and through the last six seasons in Winnipeg.
“And he’s never changed,” Younger said. “Not one bit. Everybody has their good days and bad days, but he’s the same person every day. The world needs more of those people.”
Younger says O’Shea is smart and works hard, like all coaches do. But X’s and O’s aren’t what begin to set him apart.
What does: his ability to apply his experiences and convey those lessons.
“And he’s just always in teach mode,” Younger said. “It’s never stepping on anybody’s neck. It’s always just teach, teach, teach. It’s fun to watch. Every player’s going to tell you this is a special place to be. And it starts with his leadership.
“We’ll all get to look back at this and know that this was a special time.”
The word leadership comes up a lot when asking about O’Shea.
So do lines like this: He won’t like me saying this, but…
“His attitude, the way he carries himself, the way he leads every day, are things that I try to emulate,” quarterback Zach Collaros said. “Not just here, but at my home. Trying to set a good example for my family. I’ve been around some really good people, and he’s probably at the top of that list.
“I don’t even know what to say, ’cause he’s going to be mad about it.”
Wolitarsky was willing to take the risk, relating a story about his coach going the extra mile for a player.
Two years ago, offensive lineman Liam Dobson showed up in Winnipeg without a driver’s license. When O’Shea told him he should get one, he said he didn’t have a car to practise with.
“He would pick Liam up every day,” Wolitarsky recalled. “Liam would drive around, get his hours in and get his license. Stuff like that. That’s just above and beyond.”
Collaros remembers that, too.
“I remember walking into the facility one morning, and it was like 6 a.m. or 6:30, and Liam’s pulling up with Oshe,” the quarterback said. “And I’m like, ‘What is going on here?’”
Dobson’s response: “Oshe is teaching me how to drive.”
The Bombers aren’t the only team that cultivates a family vibe.
But their plows have been going deep for years under O’Shea, and they continue to reap the benefits.
Collaros recalls going to his coach for time off when his grandmother died during training camp last year.
“It was no issue at all,” Collaros said. “He said something along the lines of, ‘This is what I’m here for. Things like this. I can tell she was very special to you.’ He doesn’t just treat me that way because I’m the quarterback. He treats everyone the same way.”
When he sees leadership potential in a player, O’Shea will make sure it gets tapped.
Wolitarsky recalls arriving in Winnipeg as a 21-year-old, sitting in the coach’s office, not knowing anybody or what his role might be.
O’Shea told him he noticed the leadership he’d shown at the University of Minnesota and wanted that from him here.
“He kept me on that track and taught me how,” Wolitarsky said. “And sometimes he’d have a hard conversation with me about my role and not maybe saying something when I should have. Pressing me to be a better leader and a better person and a better man.”
O’Shea’s memories of his early days in that office: he was overwhelmed at the number of decisions on his plate.
“But it was all exciting and fun.”
Every day, O’Shea walks right by Grant’s statue as he enters the stadium.
As soon as Sunday, he’ll stand alongside the legend.
For one week, at least.
Then it’s on to CFL win No. 103, all in the same place, in a job as transient as they come.
“As soon as we start talking about it, it could become transient again,” O’Shea said, laughing. “So why don’t we just leave this topic.”
Sure.
For today.
After rough start, job still keeps O’Shea on his toes
A couple years into his current gig with with the Blue Bombers, Mike O’Shea’s job was anything but secure.
After posting records of 7-11 and 5-13, O’Shea’s team started off Year 3 with one win in its first five games, and the heat was on going into late July.
A seven-game win streak later, he was well on his way to a long stay in Winnipeg that would produce back-to-back Grey Cup titles and the current run of four straight appearances in the championship game.
Asked on Wednesday if he ever wondered if he was on thin ice, O’Shea said this: “Just go back and listen to those Monday night radio shows with Bob (Irving) those first two-and-a-half years,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate.”
The 53-year-old says he used to dissuade players from saying they were lucky, because he knew how much hard work went into putting them where they were.
Coaching is a little different.
“For the most part as a head coach you have to believe that most of it is in your control and you better control it,” he said. “But there are a small handful of things that are completely out of your control. And it depends on whether the people above you react to the things that are out of your control, or recognize that they’re out of your control. If you’ve got patient management, they recognize those things. So I do feel fortunate to be around a group that has decided to stick together.”
When O’Shea first took over he was overwhelmed with the surprises the job produced. Ten seasons later, the job still keeps him on his toes.
“Every year there are still surprises,” he said. “Because every year it just evolves a little more. And the players change. I’d say there’s still surprises. Which is probably a good thing. If you felt like you knew it all, then you’re probably about to get fired.”
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2024-08-29T02:55:53Z dg43tfdfdgfd