With most of the recent attention around Saskatchewan Roughriders' new head coach Corey Mace and new offensive coordinator Marc Mueller – general manager Jeremy O’Day has been busy making sure his new hires are fitting into the community.
O’Day says following the hiring of Mace the next step has been to put his staff together. Which started with the signing of offensive coordinator Marc Mueller.
“Excited for this offseason but more importantly the early phases of putting the coaching staff together, that was part of the hiring process with Core was to go through his staff and right now we’re at the point where we’re just putting it together,” O’Day said during an interview with CTV Morning Live Saskatchewan.
O’Day says he’s not surprised to see Mace developing an early bond with Rider Nation.
“It’s kind of his personality, he’s been someone that’s always connected well with the fans even when he was a player and now as a coach he knows the importance of that,” O’Day said.
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“As I said in our press conference, it’s not something he’s faking by any means,” O’Day added.
With O’Day and Mace landing on Marc Mueller as the team’s next offensive coordinator, O’Day said calling Ron Lancaster’s grandson to come work for his grandfather’s former team was a special moment.
“It was awesome, to be quite honest with you, we interviewed Marc last year for the offensive coordinator job and the timing just wasn’t right for him he wanted another year to work with Dave [Dickenson] and the staff over there (Calgary),” O’Day said.
O’Day acknowledged that many times in football it’s about timing.
“He’s someone that we’ve had our eye on for a while and he’s a bright, upcoming coach in our league.”
Mueller, the former Regina Rams quarterback also spoke with CTV Morning Live Saskatchewan on Tuesday and said it’s still sinking in that he’s with a new team.
“Kind of, it’s still a little weird wearing other colours after 10 years of wearing the same colours it’s a bit different but it’s getting more real each day,” Mueller said.
For Mueller coming to work for the Riders culminated from many different aspects, including his belief in Mace to succeed as a head coach in the Canadian Football League (CFL).
“I’m good friends with Corey and I believe in him as a head coach and as a person and a leader,” Mueller said.
Mueller also said he feels very fortunate the Riders believe in him as well.
Mueller’s early expectations of the Riders’ offense in 2024 are still coming together, but he’s aware of some of the struggles in recent years.
“As of right now you can’t say exactly what it’s going to look like but hopefully we put a product out there and a team that scores enough points to win,” he said.
“At the end of the day, our job is to score one more point than the other team does.”
Mueller said they’ll play a team offense and will put players in the best positions possible to be successful.
