The West Division’s newly decorated Coach of the Year hasn’t even been a head coach for a year.
“You’d never guess he’s a rookie coach,” quarterback Trevor Harris marvels when asked about Corey Mace, who was appointed the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ field boss just 11 months ago.
In that short time, Mace has helped the Roughriders rebound from back-to-back six-win seasons and guided them into Saturday’s CFL West semi-final against the B.C. Lions (4:30 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
“He’s definitely a leader of men and I feel like everybody rides for him,” cornerback Marcus Sayles says. “He’s a players’ coach and he’s going to make sure that we’re locked in every day.”
Mace arrived in Saskatchewan with the reputation of being a players’ coach and, sure enough, the label fit. But a coach who embraces such a mentality must also establish what can be a delicate balance.
“The pulse for when Corey has been able to kind of step on us a little bit and demand more from us and also maintain who he is, being the players’ coach that he is, has been really awesome,” Harris says.
Mace, to borrow the quarterback’s phrasing, stepped on the players when he felt they needed to step up.
On Sept. 17, he abruptly halted practice to express his displeasure about how the players were performing. When the impromptu intermission did not have the desired effect, it was time to transmit a message that was even more emphatic.
The players were ordered to leave the field and return to the dressing room, where Mace offered a candid in-house assessment of where the team stood in his eyes.
“We kind of needed that on that day,” kicker Brett Lauther says. “Even inside the dressing room, behind closed doors that no one’s seen, the speech and the emotion and everything else that came out was at the perfect time.
“I remember crossing paths with him that day on the way out of the stadium. I jokingly said, ‘We’re going to look back on this day as the TSN Turning Point and we’ll laugh about it when the time comes.’
“That’s just a great example of many this year of him just doing the right things at the right time.”
After Mace made his points unmistakably clear, the team returned to the field for the remainder of practice at the insistence of the key leaders.
That session took place during what could be described as a make-or-break period in the Roughriders’ season.
After boasting records of 4-0-0 and 5-1-0, the Roughriders hit a winless skid that eventually swelled to seven games (0-6-1).
The results wavered, but the messaging never did.
A steadfast belief in and maintenance of the core philosophies enabled the Roughriders to weather a dry spell that was marked by close games — including four that were decided on the final play.
The ability of Mace and his assistant coaches to take a 38,000-foot view of the team ultimately contributed to an ascent.
Mace stopped practice on a Tuesday. The following Friday, Saskatchewan defeated the host Calgary Stampeders 37-29 to ignite the Green and White’s resurgence.
The Roughriders proceeded to defeat the Ottawa REDBLACKS 29-16 on Sept. 28 and register a home-field victory for the first time since July 19.
Then came a 28-24 victory over the host Edmonton Elks — an Oct. 5 result that guaranteed Saskatchewan its first playoff berth since 2021.
Most impressively, the Roughriders bounced the visitors from B.C. 39-8 on Oct. 12 to ensure there would be playoff football at Mosaic Stadium in 2024. (Tickets are available HERE.)
“I’m just happy for (Mace) and the team that we’re in this position right now, but the work isn’t done,” Lauther says.
“He’s the Number 1 pusher of making sure we’re doing the right things each and every day to get us to where they know our potential can reach.
“I’m super-thankful to have him here and super-thankful to have him as a head coach.”
In that capacity, Mace is to represent the West when the CFL Awards are presented on Nov. 14 in Vancouver, during Grey Cup week. He is up against the Montreal Alouettes’ Jason Maas for CFL coach-of-the-year laurels.
The real prize, however, will be handed out on Nov. 17 when the championship game is played.
Mace, who carries the dual role of defensive co-ordinator, arrived in Saskatchewan with three CFL titles to his credit.
He has been part of a championship team as a defensive lineman (with the 2014 Stampeders), defensive line coach (2018 Stampeders) and defensive co-ordinator (2022 Toronto Argonauts).
While in Calgary, Mace was introduced to fellow defensive lineman Micah Johnson. The two tackles made the interior of the Stampeders’ defensive line a no-run zone for rival teams while forging a close and enduring friendship.
Their relationship is such that Mace named his first-born son Micah.
So what we have here may very well be a first — an active player whose coach’s son carries the same first name by design.
“With (Mace), it’s everything I expected,” says Johnson, who on Wednesday was an All-CFL Divisional selection for the seventh time since entering the league in 2013.
“From my perspective, I just tried to give Mace his space and watch him grow. I didn’t want to overwhelm him because we know each other.
“We’ve had a lot of great conversations and I think it has worked out how we planned. And then to get an all-star the first year in his system, it’s awesome.”
And not at all surprising.
Mace was a head coach in the making long before he assumed the reins.
“It more so came to fruition when he became my D-line coach in Calgary,” Johnson recalls. “In ’16, ’17 and ’18, you could tell.
“Now that I think about it, you could tell even when we were both playing, because he could do 8:30 meetings and he could run the whole D-line meeting by himself. He did that a lot when he was still playing.
“(Being a head coach) is one of the things I used to talk to him about. It’s amazing to see. It still feels like yesterday that we were playing in Calgary but now, that fast, he’s a head coach.
“That just tells you what kind of guy he is.”
Sayles, by contrast, didn’t have any history with Mace when the Roughriders came calling in early June — following the cornerback’s release by B.C.
“Once I got here, I felt the energy of what was going on,” says Sayles, a 2024 All-CFL Divisional selection. “Mace instilled the type of team that he wants and the type of energy that we’re going to have throughout every single day.
“It’s a product and we see it every single day. Our practices are like that. Our games are like that. We were in a little slump, but we got back on track and now we’re in the perfect position.”
Mace, for his part, is not yet in a position to take stock of a successful debut season as a head coach.
“Maybe we’ll reflect in the off-season or something like that,” he says after a 9-8-1 regular season. “It’s just hour to hour of what we’ve got to get done to try to help this team push forward.
“I will say it has gone by quickly. Training camp feels like yesterday. But I’m probably too focused on the now to give you a better answer.”
If you ask the players, Mace is the answer.
“This is something that, from the get-go, I’ve kind of known,” Lauther says.
“When he signed here and before I met him, so many people told me great things about him — and they’re all true.”
