O’Shea: “Pretty quickly with Jason you recognize his energy; you see that he’s got a tireless work ethic”

The offensive numbers — the rushing titles for Brady Oliveira, the passing totals for Zach Collaros — are all tangible things Mike O’Shea can see as clearly as anyone.

Ultimately, though, O’Shea’s decision to officially promote Jason Hogan from running backs coach to offensive coordinator of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this week was based on so many other aspects only the head coach can see from behind closed doors in meetings and from interactions on the field with players and others.

“Pretty quickly with Jason you recognize his energy; you see that he’s got a tireless work ethic, he’s got a thirst for knowledge,” began O’Shea in a media conference call on Wednesday, one day after naming Hogan the club’s new OC and Jarious Jackson as quarterbacks coach. “He’s going to be a lifelong learner who is always going to be trying to take in more information. Then over the course of time you watch him take more of a role and have command and presence in a meeting room.

“He’s always bringing fresh ideas and his own ideas to meetings per planning and the relationships he developed over time are very important to our organization. It’s just one of those things where I don’t think there’s a time frame to put on a guy — ‘we need a guy to be here five years before he moves up’ or anything like that.

“It was just all the attributes he has are very recognizable.”

Hogan was named the successor to Buck Pierce, now the B.C. Lions head coach, after serving the last three years as the Blue Bombers running backs coach. He’s long drawn rave reviews from Oliveira for his work with the club’s star and becomes the third coordinator over the last two years, after Jordan Younger on defence and Mike Miller on special teams, to be promoted from within O’Shea’s staff/playing ranks — clearly also a factor in the decision.

Brady Oliveira with Jason Hogan

“He knows our personnel. He has a great belief in how we do things,” O’Shea said. “In terms of the playbook he’s going to put his own mark on it, but I don’t think it’s going to be a whole new language that the offence has to learn, which is probably beneficial. Another benefit is right from the get-go he was really wanted to make sure that Marty (Costello, offensive line coach) was on board with it, too. He recognizes that he wants these good people that are unbelievable coaches around him. He’s not… ‘I’ve got this title, here I go. I want everything my way.’ He understands the value of surrounding himself with good people.

“… you understand that we value continuity. But he had to be the right guy, too. It’s not just, ‘Hey, we’re going to go with continuity over talent.’ He’s talented.”

Injuries and changes in personnel saw the Blue Bombers offensive numbers dip considerably last season, as the club went from first in points in 2022 and 2023 to eighth in offensive points last year. Hogan and Costello are now joined by Jackson on the offensive staff, with O’Shea indicating there will be another hire, possibly two, to fill the running backs and receivers coach positions. He also said Hogan will call the plays.

O’Shea said the process to find a new offensive coordinator began as far back as late last November, not long after Pierce left for the Lions while admitting he’s a ‘little more deliberate than other people would want, but that’s OK, it’s my process.’ He also stressed the addition of Jackson — the long-time CFL QB and assistant coach who did an admirable job as an interim head coach with the Edmonton Elks in guiding them to a 7-6 record under his watch — is critical, too.

“(Jackson’s) been there and done it. We were on a Grey Cup team together in 2012,” said O’Shea. “He’s held a lot of different positions. He’s played the spot. One of the things, which I have said to him, was him stepping into the head coaching role in Edmonton, in a very tough situation, and the way I thought the team played for the second and last third of the seasons I thought was pretty neat to see.

“He’s just a guy who can bring a lot of experience in the passing game and certainly help Hogie, and he was certainly on board with that. And I think he’s going to be a great resource, not only for Jason but for our offence and our team.”

CAP INCREASES: The CFL announced Wednesday an increase in the salary cap for 2025 of over $400,000, bumping the cap to $6,062,365.

2025 salary cap increase driven by 2024 league revenue growth

Asked about the timing of the announcement — less than a week from the official opening of CFL free agency and with teams already in the negotiation window — O’Shea said: “Depending on where you’re standing, the timing is good or bad. From the players association standpoint, it’s probably good timing. From general managers’ standpoints, it might be challenging. But we don’t know that, yet. Free agency doesn’t hit until actually Feb. 11, despite what all is being talked about.”

And when he was asked if the cap increase may ‘give him some hope’ to revisit some deals left on the table — the Blue Bombers have reportedly lost receiver Kenny Lawler and guard Liam Dobson to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats — he added this:

“I’m not sure how this is all going to play out. Those are all questions for the GMs across the league, I would imagine. In terms of a coach having hope, I’m always filled with hope with every guy that we have on our team. I always have a lot of care and good memories of guys that have been with us and have made different decisions, for whatever reasons they make those decisions. But hope, I’m never short of that. Part of my job is to go by hope, too, right?”