Saskatchewan Roughriders' general manager Jeremy O'Day is thankful for his contract extension, but knows there are other matters to attend to with his job.
"You don't really get a lot of ease of mind in this position. You're always living in the moment with what's going on, what's on your plate, what challenges there are that week," O'Day said. "Also, you're always trying to think about the future and long-term success of the team, you're trying to balance that at all times, making sure that you're staying in front of anything that's coming up and trying to be able to put the team in the best position to win."
The 51-year-old O'Day joked that now he has players' contracts to worry about: "Mine's a lot faster process than most of them."
Both O'Day and head coach Corey Mace are signed with the Riders through the 2028 CFL season. CEO Craig Reynolds detailed how the process played out.
"We started conversations, it was late August, around this possibility. Jeremy and I have a great working relationship. Jeremy and Corey have a great working relationship. It came together quite easily and quite quickly," Reynolds said. "They both wanted to be here, we wanted them both to be here."
O'Day initially started with the Green and White as a player from 1999 and retired in 2010, then transitioned to football operations when he hung up his cleats. He started as the Riders football operations coordinator in 2011, served as assistant general manager from 2012 to 2014. In 2015, he became Saskatchewan's interim vice president of football operations and general manager when former GM Brendan Tamen was let go.
The Roughriders hired Chris Jones from the Edmonton Football Team and O'Day held the position of assistant vice president of football operations from 2016 through 2018. He got his shot as Riders' GM in 2019 and remains on the job. During his tenure with Saskatchewan, he won one Grey Cup as a player in 2007 and another as an assistant general manager in 2013.
"That's been a long time to be with an organization and I got to experience it when things are tough. You find out a lot of things about yourself when you go through challenging times and about people," O'Day recalled. "It motivates you to do better and to try to turn it around. You know how important winning Grey Cups is for this province, for the people of Saskatchewan, and then it's important for my family as well."
The 39-year-old Mace is in his second year with the team. In his first year, he guided the Roughriders to the West Final in 2024 as the team lost to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 38-22. The camaraderie between Mace and O'Day felt natural from the start, even when Mace interviewed for the job.
"I try to say I'm a people person and you get vibes from people out of the gate. Without having a relationship before taking this job with J.O., from the interview process and instantly as soon as we got here, things have clicked very easily," Mace said. "Our working relationship is excellent and our friendship is excellent. I can't speak for anybody else, but certainly in this position, it's been outstanding."
Mace began his coaching career in 2016 with the Calgary Stampeders where he remained until 2021 as the team's defensive line coach. He left Calgary to be the Toronto Argonauts defensive coordinator from 2022 through 2023. In 2024, Mace accepted the Riders head coaching job. As a coach, he's won two Grey Cup, the firs one in 2018 with the Stamps and the second one in 2022 with the Argos.
"For my family and me, to be able to stay here in Regina and represent this team, it was such an easy decision," Mace said. "We love it here. We love the community and Rider Nation has been really good to us. Extremely grateful for everybody that went into that decision."
Recently, the Green and White defeated the Argonauts 27-19 in Week 19, which allowed them to clinch first place in the West Division. That win gave the Roughriders the right to host the West Final -- the last time Saskatchewan had done so was in 2019.
The Riders travel to Winnipeg to take on the Blue Bombers on Friday. Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk, and Wes Cates bring you the pre-game show at 3 p.m. Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 6 p.m. Listen to our comprehensive coverage on the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
