Blue Bombers offensive coordinator Jason Hogan at practice on Monday; photos by Cameron Bartlett
The respect, the admiration and appreciation just flows whenever Jason Hogan speaks of Buck Pierce.
Truth be told, it’s been that way right from his early days with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers when Hogan first sang out the hallelujahs for one of his mentors and the guy that got him his gig here back in 2022.
And it’s also one of those cool anecdotes Canadian Football League coaches like to tell and re-tell over pints at conventions.
The story goes like this: Hogan was working at the Université de Montreal in the winter of ’22 when Pierce called. Hogan figured the chat would be about getting intel on a potential draft prospect but, instead, Pierce — who first encountered Hogan through a virtual coaching clinic in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic — had been so impressed with the young coach he was actually offering him a chance to serve as the club’s running backs coach.
Fast forward to five years later and here we are with Hogan having humbly accepted the offensive coordinator torch passed to him from Pierce, who had it thrust into his hands in ’20 by Paul LaPolice after he left to become the head coach of the Ottawa RedBlacks.
And as fate would have it, he’ll pull on the offensive coordinator headset for the very first time this Thursday in the club’s 2025 season opener against Pierce and his 1-0 B.C. Lions at Princess Auto Stadium.
Yes, some storylines just serve themselves up on a glistening silver platter.
“Love him. Happy for him. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Buck,” Hogan told reporters Monday after a chilly practice session. “I’m really happy he won the first one. Obviously, I don’t want him to win this next one. Looking forward to it. Looking forward to seeing him out there and sharing that experience together. It will be exciting.”
Chris Streveler and Jason Hogan
It will also be one of the juicy subplots to Thursday’s curtain raiser for the Blue Bombers as fans — and armchair quarterbacks across Bomberland — get their first glimpses of Hogan’s attack after two vanilla servings in the preseason.
“We’re going to make it exciting for the fans,” he said. “It’s a collaborative work. That’s how we roll. That’s how I’ve always done it. The staff comes together, puts their ideas on paper and the players go out there and execute them. So, it’s a mix of what I’ve done ever since I’ve been coaching high school, college, university.
“Football is football. We tend to make it too complicated than it needs to be. There’s a bunch of stuff that will be in there.”
Hogan called his first few months in the OC role ‘humbling’ admitting, “Buck Pierce, LaPo… huge names, huge shoes to fill, so you’re not quite ready but if you surround yourself with the right people and we’ve got an amazing organization behind us so that helps.”
As to what to expect, consider this: every coordinator in this league, either on the offensive or defensive side of the ball, wants their group to be seen as ‘multiple’, meaning they can provide a variety of looks and adapt on the fly to any circumstances, whether they are foreseen or not.
But when Hogan was asked if his attack was ‘not just the same offence Buck ran?’ he grinned before this mini give-and-take:
Hogan: “There will be a lot of Jason Hogan’s offence… how about that?”
Reporter: “And how different is that from a Buck Pierce offence?”
Hogan: “It will be different from every other coordinator in this league.”
Reporter: “How much can you NOT tell us?”
Hogan: “A lot.”
There were chuckles then and an acknowledgement that Hogan has already learned enough to not to reveal any state secrets to a throng with microphones, cameras and notepads in hand.
Asked about what he he has learned a few months into the job, he stressed that an offensive gameplan is always a collaborative effort and, to that end, he praised the arrival of veteran quarterback’s coach Jarious Jackson after he missed all of training camp due to personal reasons.
“One of the key words we talk about in our room is being able to adapt,” he explained. “Football is constantly changing and you’ve got to be able to adapt — it’s kind of like in a game, really. You’ve got to be able to adapt and go on the fly with certain situations. I didn’t have an expectation, I just knew — seeing Buck and spending some time with (Marc) Trestman and AC (Anthony Calvillo) back in Montreal and Toronto — I had an idea what it would be like. But to personally go through it, you never know until you get at it head on. So far, it’s been a great experience. Again, I’m well surrounded, so I can’t complain.”
Jackson’s arrival is timely for Hogan and the Blue Bombers offensive charges as a veteran voice who played in this league and has been an assistant, coordinator and head coach, too. He wouldn’t elaborate on the nature of the personal matters he needed to tend to, adding, “I’m here, I’m focused and I’m ready to get to work and help the quarterbacks and help this team in any way I can.
“Again, everything that I’ve dealt with and trying to get here and finally being able to get here and put everything behind you, just focus on football now, I mean, I couldn’t ask for anything more.
“… I was still watching film. I was still watching the games — I’m on CFL-plus, typing in my name and email address, I’m doing all the stuff that a regular fan would do. But at the same time, we still have DVSport (a software used to share and watch film), and the way things work these days, even if you’re not physically there, you can normally stay in tune with things and what’s going on.”
More notes and quotes from the Blue Bombers practice day in this week’s NEED TO KNOW…
Jarious Jackson
QUOTABLE: Here’s Jackson when asked why he opted to come to the Blue Bombers after he was caught up in the purge in Edmonton after last season — despite going 7-6 as an interim head coach after the team went 0-5 before the change and seeing the Elks finish first in points scored and rushing per game and second in net offence:
“Just the opportunity. What Osh has built here… I can remember playing back in B.C. back in the day and almost have an opportunity to come over here and play, and it just didn’t work out. You watch back in the day when Osh was three, four years in (to his job here) … he’s getting booed, we don’t know if he’s going be here or not, and look where he is now, right?
“He’s almost built himself up in this organization kind of like Wally Buono with the B.C. Lions, in my opinion. So, why not? I wanted the opportunity to come work with a guy like that.”
FYI: The first injury report of the season for the Blue Bombers:
Injury Report: June 9, 2025 #ForTheW | @DoctorsManitoba pic.twitter.com/LDLwdUmVM8
— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) June 9, 2025
