It’s a story with so many layers, and Jeff Cummins is oh so willing to share it.
Cummins, who was a guest coach at Winnipeg Blue Bombers training camp this past week before returning to Nova Scotia and his role as the head coach of the Acadia Axeman, has been a football lifer.
And this game has taken him from his hometown of Los Angeles to El Camino Community College to the University of Oregon college to a six-year career in the CFL with the Las Vegas Posse, Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Rough Riders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats – along with a three-year stretch in the Arena League.
“This game can take you all over the world,” began Cummins in a chat with bluebombers.com before he headed back to Wolfville, NS. “I’ve been lucky enough to see a lot of Canada because of this, a lot of the United States.
“I played in the Japan all-star bowl out of college in Tokyo. This game affords you so many things, but it’s the people.. it’s always about the people.”
This was the fourth guest coaching experience for Cummins with the Blue Bombers, an association which dates back to the days of Dave Ritchie and Jim Daley as the head coach here. His association with members of the Blue Bombers goes even deeper. He was a teammate of Mike O’Shea in Toronto and of Kyle Walters and Danny McManus in Hamilton, where those three won a Grey Cup together in 1999.
His assessment of each, FYI:
Coach Mike O’Shea:
“Michael and I were only teammates for one year, but we did play together in the 1993 Shrine Game when he was at Guelph, and I was at Oregon – that’s the first time I met him. Great teammate. Competitive. Just like he is now as a head coach – it’s all about the team. Character. Funny. He liked to stir it up a little bit and with the characters we had on that team it wasn’t too hard to do.”
GM Kyle Walters:
“He was an under-rated football player, a very good football player. Smart, physical, fast – boy could he run – and we became close because he was a helluva golfer and we used to play a lot. He was behind Rob Hitchcock, who is a hall of famer, but he was a great teammate.”
Assistant GM/Director of U.S. Scouting Danny McManus:
“We called him ‘Pork Chop Danny’… Danny was unfazed. That’s the best word to describe Danny. He was just very even-keel all the way. Playing with Danny was a treat because you always knew you had a chance to win. He was so cerebral. I was so happy to play with him and not against him. I never sacked him. I sacked Damon and Doug and all these big-name guys, but I could never get to Danny because he got rid of the ball so fast. He was just a lot of fun.”
And as the head coach at Acadia since 2004, Cummins has coached hundreds of players – three of whom are now wearing Blue Bombers colours in fullback Mike Miller, defensive tackle Jake Thomas and long-snapper Mike Benson. Following his final practice on the weekend, Cummins and his former players all posed for photographs.
“The best thing for coaches is helping players achieve their dreams and some of their dreams are to play professionally in the CFL, some are to go on and be great businessmen or police officers, fireman, plumbers… whatever,” said Cummins. “My role is to help them get to where they want to go and just be a small part of their story.
“Fortunately, these three guys have been in this league for a long time and collectively it’s over 30 years. That’s a pretty cool deal.”
The Axeman start their training camp in mid-August. Leading up to ghat Cummins will be busy recruiting for 2023 and helping ready Wolfville for the Touchdown Atlantic CFL game between Toronto and Saskatchewan on July 16th.
Cummins, just like any other guest coach or training camp hopeful, spent as much time as possible soaking up everything around him during his stay. He enjoys his gig at Acadia, but also is also open to an opportunity to coach one day in the CFL.
“You’re never too old or too far along that you can’t learn something,” he said. “I enjoy listening to Mike and the way he is such a leader and the way he treats his team and the staff and just people in general. I’m always learning how to change things up a little bit at practice and pre-game stuff. Overall, it’s about finding another way to look at the game.
“Selfishly, I always like coming out to see my friends and spend some time with them. Ultimately I’d love to coach at some point at the CFL level, so it’s nice to see what that could look like someday. This was such a blast for me to be here. I enjoyed every second of it.”
