Mike O’Shea
Head Coach
Mike O’Shea enters his 12th season as Head Coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2026 after signing a three-year contract extension on November 17, 2025.
The Blue Bombers were 10-8 in 2025, marking the ninth consecutive season under O’Shea the team has posted a double-digit win season.
O’Shea is also the winningest coach in franchise history with a career record of 117-77.
The CFL’s longest-serving head coach, O’Shea was hired by the club on December 4th, 2013 and helped guide the club to five straight Grey Cup appearances from 2019-24, including winning championships in 2019 and 2021.
He is a two-time recipient of the Annis Stukus Trophy as the CFL’s top coach (2021 and 2022) and now ranks seventh in league history in career wins behind Wally Buono (282), Don Matthews (231), Frank Clair (147), Ron Lancaster (142), Eagle Keys (131) and Ray Jauch (127).
The Blue Bombers are continually one of the CFL’s most-disciplined teams and were the least-penalized team in 2025 for an eighth consecutive season. The defence ranked once again first in fewest offensive points allowed in 2025 at 21.4, continuing a run of stinginess that began in 2021.
Dating back to 2021, the thrilling 33-25 overtime victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the 2021 Grey Cup made the Blue Bombers the first CFL team to repeat as champions in a decade, and the first in Winnipeg since 1961-62. The Blue Bombers 2019 championship ended a drought that had covered 28 seasons dating back to 1990.
O’Shea’s role in the franchise’s rebirth since his arrival has been significant. Preaching discipline and a team-first approach, he has built a culture in which his coaching staff is empowered while his players are eager to play for him.
O’Shea took the Blue Bombers reins after spending four seasons as the Special Teams Coordinator with the Toronto Argonauts, winning a Grey Cup in 2012. He was a three-time Grey Cup champion as a player during his 16-year CFL career, 12 with the Argonauts and four with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was part of three Grey Cup championship teams (all with Toronto) in 1996, 1997 and 2004, and in 2017, was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
O’Shea played in 271 regular season CFL games, 18 playoff contests and three Grey Cups. The native of North Bay, Ontario, was a five-time Division All-Star (1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000) and was named a CFL All-Star and the league’s Most Outstanding Canadian in 1999. His first league-wide award came in 1993 when he was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Rookie Player.
In 2006, O’Shea became the first Canadian ever to make at least 1,000 tackles in a career, and in 2007 he was named an All-Time Argo at linebacker. An advocate for his teammates, O’Shea was a CFLPA player representative for many years and upon leaving the game, he accepted the position of First Vice President for the Players’ Association.
Mike is an alumnus of the University of Guelph and is a member of the Guelph Gryphons Sports Hall of Fame. Mike and his wife Richere have three children: Michael, Ailish and Aisling.
Media links
-November 18, 2025: 3 Takeaways from O’Shea’s media conference
-September 10, 2024: The Long Read: The Road to 103… and Counting
-November 14, 2023: Coach O’Shea reaching legendary status
-December 8, 2022: “He’s our leader, our captain”
-December 8, 2021: The Long Read: The Magic of Coach O’Shea
-March 22, 2017: Mike O’Shea | Built on hard work