Mitchell Blair
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall joked at the Riders Grey Cup celebration parade that during Grey Cup week Hamilton coach Kent Austin got all the attention, but in the end Corey Chamblin got the ring. Chamblin earned perhaps more than the ring with his demeanour throughout Grey Cup week and after.
Chamblin treated Grey Cup week as if it were a regular season game in August. The magnitude of being in the Grey Cup for the first time as a head coach in just his second year going up against the man who had quarterbacked and coached the Riders to a Grey Cup championship and doing it on his home soil where the pressure to win was enormous did not bother the 36 year old one bit. He was quick to answer questions with humourous one-liners throughout the week and with the ink not dry on the championship season, Chamblin remained humble while providing laughs in his last session of the season with the media. When asked what it meant to have the title “Grey Cup winning coach” besides his name, Chamblin did not hesitate when saying “It means you didn’t lose it”. He then discussed winning it all in just his second season as coach.
“I thought about that after the game and I just don’t see it.” Chamblin admitted. “It just felt as if it was meant to be. As time goes along, I may look at it in a different manner. I’m not minimizing the accomplishment in any fashion because I am excited to have done it in such a short time, but I haven’t really had it set in yet, but I’m sure it will soon.
Doing it in year two was something that impressed veteran receiver Geroy Simon.
“Corey is a great young coach and he’s going to be a great coach in this league or any league. “Simon said. “He wasn’t overwhelmed by what was going on at all. He knew what we could do. He was confident right from the start. It’s an amazing accomplishment to do that in his second year and he is a big reason why I want to be back here next year.”
Simon was one of the pieces Chamblin went out and got in the off-season to make his football team stronger. He also added the likes of Weldon Brown, Dwight Anderson and Ricky Foley while being fortunate enough to have John Chick come back from the NFL and Rey Williams to have a bounce-back season after a less than stellar 2012 in Hamilton. He was given the ingredients to build a Grey Cup champ by GM Brendan Taman and he created the right recipe as evidenced by the 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to take the 101st Grey Cup.
“It was a special group. We knew when we put it together that we could have something special.” Chamblin explained. “I think that we did everything positive this year and we ended up winning it all.”
As for when he knew when this team had what it took to win it all, he doesn’t single out one moment or one play, but he does single out one game.
“The biggest thing right now that gave me confidence and what I thought that made it was the first round of the playoffs, because I thought that one could have gone either way’ Chamblin confessed. “ That was a strong fight that the B.C. Lions put up and once we made it through that, I pretty much figured that we could handle anything because that was one of the toughest games that I’ve been in as a coach.’’
When it comes to 2014 and what his vision is for the team as he tries to lead them to a repeat, he admits he is putting that on the backburner for just a little bit.
“Right now, the vision I have is my bed. I am going to seriously take a rest because right after that semifinal loss in Calgary in 2012, I started working and probably didn’t stop until today, so I think I’ve earned that.” Chamblin said with a laugh. Once I’ve had that rest, I will take a look at things and sit back and say this is what we have to do. I will look at the players and say this is what we have to do and this is how we will try to do it. Hopefully it works.”
Chamblin showed in 2013 he could get the job done while staying very calm. His message to the team was the same whether they were on a five game win streak or a three game losing streak. It was a message the team responded to and it was a message that will likely be repeated as the team tries to make it two in a row. In the meantime, he can bask in the glory of being a Grey Cup coach at such a young age and when asked if he will ever have to buy a drink or a meal in Regina or Saskatchewan again, he was quick to come through with another quotable one-liner.
“My wife and my family after the game said, ‘What do you want since you won the Grey Cup?’ I said, ‘I just want free McDonalds for me and my son.’ So you can write that. If you want to give us free McDonalds, you’re welcome to it.’’
