‘Best job in the league’: Roughriders re-sign GM Jeremy O’Day, head coach Corey Mace for 2-year contract extensions

As Donovan Maess explains, the Riders have displayed their confidence in head coach Corey Mace and GM Jeremy O'Day.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have signed head coach Corey Mace and general manager Jeremy O’Day to two-year contract extensions.

“We are trying to build upon something special here,” O’Day told reporters Tuesday. “With the hiring of Corey and the trajectory we’re going is what we’re trying to achieve.”

“When [I] sit back and look at how fortunate we are as a family, and myself personally, to be able to come to work to represent this organization and this fan base, the historic meaning of what that ‘S’ means to this league and this province,” Mace said, “This is this dream come true kind of stuff, man. I don’t take it lightly at all.”

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Tuesday’s announcement comes off the heels of the green and white securing first place in the west and ensuring the team hosts the West Final at Mosaic Stadium.

The 2025 season marks O’Day’s 27th year with the club and six years since he was named general manager in 2019.

O’Day began his career with the club as a player in 1999 – eventually joining the football operations staff in 2011. He’s won two Grey Cups with the team – as a player in 2007 and in 2013 as the team’s assistant general manager.

“I’ve experienced it when things were tough,” O’Day said. “You find out a lot of things about yourself and about people when you go through challenging times.”

“It just motivates you to do better,” he added.

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Corey Mace joined the green and white as the team’s 48th head coach at the end of the 2023 season.

Mace’s accomplishments during the 2024 season saw him receive the west division coach of the year honours.

In his second year serving as head coach and defensive coordinator, Mace has led the 12-4 Riders to first place overall for the fifth time in franchise history.

He currently holds a 21-12-1 record with the Riders.

Mace is a three-time Grey Cup champion. In addition to winning in 2022 with the Toronto Argonauts as the team’s defensive coordinator, Mace won two Grey Cups with the Calgary Stampeders – as a player in 2014 and as a coach in 2018.

Mace was originally drafted by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the second round of the 2007 draft. He played 40 games with the Calgary Stampeders after spending three years with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.

He would retire as a player in 2015 and immediately join the Stampeders coaching staff as a defensive line coach.

“Ultimately it just comes down to the decision and it was a quick conversation,” Mace said. “I couldn’t be more excited to be somewhere. So I’m lucky to have the best job in the league.”

Riders’ CEO Craig Reynolds says the tandem has brought a renewed winning culture to the team, which hasn’t been to a Grey Cup game since they won it in 2013.

“The leadership they’ve shown and the culture change that’s happened here with the success they’ve seen,” he said. “Stability and continuity in pro sports is an important thing.”

Now attached at the hip, O’Day and Mace’s contracts are both set to expire at the end of the 2028 season.