The transition from playing to coaching — from hanging up the proverbial cleats to doing the Xs and Os thing and piecing together a playbook – could hardly be portrayed as seamless for Mike Miller.
Fact is, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers new special teams coordinator was admittedly still trying to process the whole thing Monday afternoon, not long after his retirement and his addition to the club’s coaching staff was made official earlier in the day along with the promotion of Jordan Younger to defensive coordinator, with Richie Hall remaining on board as a defensive assistant.
Some evidence of Miller’s whirlwind few days came during his first media session as special teams coordinator when he was asked for a highlight from a Canadian Football League career which began in 2011 in Edmonton as an undrafted free agent.
“I honestly didn’t even think that me taking this job would also be me announcing my retirement, so I never really thought about it,” said Miller with a chuckle from his offseason base in New Brunswick. “That kind of hit me today when people were like, ‘Congrats on retirement!’ and I was like, ‘Ahhh, sh–… I don’t remember retiring.”
What has unfolded over the last few days has undoubtedly become a bit of a blur for Miller, the CFL’s all-time special teams tackle leader who missed last season with what he revealed Monday as a neck injury. Doctors and the team’s medical staff explored all possibilities throughout the year before it was determined there was no solution that pointed to a return to the field.
“In the season I had never given up hope that I was going to somehow find a way to get back on the field,” he said.
“So, I was really focussed on rehabbing and doing whatever I needed to do to for there to be any glimmer of me potentially playing again. And then when the season ended and after the Grey Cup, I did start kicking the tires on what I was going to do to provide for my family.
“I didn’t know it was going to be in coaching; there were a few people who did ask me, ‘Did you ever think about getting into coaching?’ and I couldn’t give them a straight answer. It was still too fresh being done playing. So, I don’t know if I ever really thought if I was going to get into it, but when the offer came about it just felt right, it felt like the right thing to do. It’s probably the easiest transition. A lot of people have told me it (coaching) is the next best thing to playing. I’m excited for that opportunity.”
Miller replaces Paul Boudreau, who spent the last seven years as the Blue Bombers special teams coach but did not have his contract renewed for 2024. Indirectly, Miller did get some some on the job training all through last year in helping on special teams and it’s his work ethic, his attention to detail and love of the craft that has long impressed head coach Mike O’Shea and led to this opportunity.
Asked Monday from the CFL’s coaches meetings in Nashville what has led him to believe Miller is ready to transition from player to coach, O’Shea provided some runway for the club’s new assistant coach – the same runway he got when he first turned to coaching in 2010 with the Toronto Argonauts.
“I guess that’s probably hard to describe. There was a point where Jim Barker (then the Argos head coach) thought I was ready,” said O’Shea. “It’s just you know he can do it.
“We’re not looking for it to be perfect. We don’t need an unbelievable lecture style — stand up in front of everybody and deliver great prose. We need a guy like Mike that the players are going battle for. Is it always going to sound perfect? Is the technology piece going to work out every time? No, but it’s OK. If I can go back and remember my first week, I didn’t know how to turn on a computer, so Mike’s well ahead of the game in that regard.”
The Younger/Hall decisions, meanwhile, certainly were longer in coming. O’Shea has the utmost respect for Hall – the 63-year-old CFL legend who has been his defensive coordinator since 2015 – but Younger’s name was becoming more and more prominent around the league for the work he’s done with the Blue Bombers defensive backs.
O’Shea didn’t say this promotion was made because of the risk of losing him to a CFL rival, but added, “I just know the climate. He’s doing great work, everybody’s noticing, and you’ve got to strike first.
“JY’s been on this trajectory for quite some time, even as far back as his playing career. He’s just really intelligent and creative. So, these conversations go back, and you just know there’s going to come a time where if you don’t make a move, you’re going to lose him, and I didn’t want to get to that point.
“I had this conversation with Richie over the course of time. It’s not an easy decision… you’re talking about two guys I have long-standing relationships with and value a whole lot. To be able to have both on staff was certainly what the aim was, but you can’t really guarantee that. I’m just so excited Richie agreed to stay on.”
Hall’s title is listed as ‘defensive assistant’, but O’Shea insisted he’ll continue to play a prominent role.
“I don’t know what the title will be, but his role will be the same as part of it has been in all the years he’s been with us, and that’s to mentor the entire team — the coaching staff, offence, defence, special teams guys,” O’Shea said. “There’s not a day that goes by that there isn’t one, two, three, four guys that wander in and out of Richie’s office to sit down and have a chat, and it’s not always about football. I think he’s coming on his 40th year in the CFL and so to be able to keep that kind of CFL knowledge base around, that experience, and also to have one of the greatest human beings in our league stick around our team is pretty good. JY, I’m sure, will be leaning on him as much as possible, too.
“… That many years is such a precious resource. You need to find a way to keep it. Once again, we’re grateful that Richie even, put in a tough spot like this, has decided stay with our team.”
