Days removed from hoisting the big silver trohpy in Winnipeg, Corey Mace still smiles when he hears the words head coach of the Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders.
During the locker clean-out day, part celebration, part farewell, the Riders’ bench boss is soaking in every last moment of a season that rewrote the script in Riderville.
“No. that’ll never get old,” Mace said with a grin when I opened our chat with the line he’s heard hundreds of times. “It’s so cool to be able to say that… with this team and what that means here.”
It’s a journey that began 720 days ago — a number that sounds even longer when Mace says it aloud.
“That sounds like a long time,” he laughed. “It sure doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. But when you sit back and think about each day… that’s a lot of hours, man. But you could add another 720 to feel how we feel now, more than worth it.”
Even on the heels of a title, locker clean-out day still tugs at a coach.
“It’s inevitable,” Mace said. “Even when everything’s positive, it’s bitter because we’re not all going to be back together — that’s tough.”
He admits those feelings started even during Grey Cup week, each practice, each meeting, the final walk-through, moments he knew were the last of their kind for this group.
The Canadian Football League’s behind-the-scenes YouTube series offered fans an intimate look at the Riders week in Winnipeg. Mace watched it for the first time with his wife the day after the championship.
“I thought it was really cool. It gave people a little bit of insight. There’s a ton more that goes into getting the team out there, but that’s a great starting point. I think people understand a bit more what it’s like.”
Tevaughn Campbell told me he knew on May 9 that this team was destined for something big and Mace wasn’t surprised.
“By the time we got to camp in May, I don’t think anybody’s vision was anything else," he said. "The buy-in was universal from returning vets to fresh free-agent faces. Everybody worked their tails off, it really took everybody.”
Mace doesn’t point to a singular moment of crisis. Instead, it was the quiet battles that impressed him most.
“There are so many individual stories, guys taped together to be able to play in the playoffs but as far as full-team adversity, not huge hurdles. Speed bumps and the guys were quick to put both hands back on the wheel.”
At a youth football announcement earlier in the day, someone told me something interesting: no Rider team has ever openly said they’re chasing back-to-back championships. This one already has.
“That’s the mentality,” Mace said. “We’re not shy about the work, we invite it.”
And now that his team has tasted a title?
“That’s going to be hard not to try to taste again.”
Mace has walked the same road Trevor Harris is now contemplating, a veteran player deciding whether to step away.
“Right now, I think it’s important he celebrates this time,” Mace said. “He knows how I feel about him. He’s got a lot of good ball left if that’s the route he chooses, I’ll respect anything that guy wants to do.”
If the 2025 Roughriders were made into a story, I asked Mace which scenes must make the cut.
He didn’t hesitate:
- “Back-to-back wins over Winnipeg — Labour Day and Banjo Bowl.”
- “Clinching the division.”
- “Rider Nation showing out for the Western Final.”
- “That last drive.”
- “Fans filling the stadium for the game that ended up being cancelled.”
- "And of course, the Grey Cup in Winnipeg."
Coolest Moment as head coach? Hint: it's not beating Winnipeg.
Calling the Touchdown for Dreams recipients each year stands above everything.
“That’s special, man. That’s probably the coolest thing.”
From the day he arrived, Mace has made a ritual of walking to the middle of Mosaic Stadium and staring up at the empty space he hoped would one day read 2025.
“I’ve seen that banner up there in my head almost 720 times.”
What will it feel like when it becomes real?
“I hope I have the wherewithal to let it sink in, but knowing us, it’ll be 2026 and we’ll have a game to go win.”
“You’re probably looking forward to four months without me asking questions,” I joked as we wrapped up.
Mace laughed.
“Appreciate you, brother.”
And with that, the head coach of the Grey Cup champions stepped back into the most bittersweet day of the season, already thinking about tomorrow, next year, and the banner he’s walked past hundreds of times.
What a time indeed, Rider Nation.
