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Honestly Booch has hated Jake Thomas for years, even when he was a serviceable backup player. Just hates guys with limited athletic ability who succeed anyway. I say give Jake a chance in this role and see how he does with it.

Now, if they would name Kola as the new head of catering….indisputable.

I actually laughed about the Jake-As-Coach thing just because I knew exactly what the reaction would be. So funny. I think he's well respected in the room and 13 years experience is definitely worth passing on to th next generation. I'm happy for the guy.

Is this a joke?

Their parents?

The best players don't always make the best coaches. It's often the less gifted guys who make tremendous coaches... so how good withh Jake Thomas be as DL coach? I don't know but it's not some immediately crucifiable since to try.

He can't be as bad as Patterson was and if it takes him off the field it's a double win. Are you seriously complaining about this? Jake is a long time veteran DL of our club and league, he has a ton he can teach. That doesn't necessarily mean he will be a good coach but excluding his chances of being one based on his playing career doesn't make sense either. Look at Ryan Dinwiddie, guy was a career backup and barely at that and is a great coach. I'm willing to give him a chance, and at the same time get rid of Patterson who was god awful.

And so is Hogan as RB coach. Winnipeg Blue Bombers hire Tommy Condell as offensive coordinator, Jake Thomas as defensive line coach - 3DownNation

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Complaining we can't keep guys because they over spent in free agency or keeping our own guys and complaining about lack of splash free agent signings. Bottom line there's no right or wrong, the only judgements are in the win column.

Exactly, I really don't understand the level of hate for Jake Thomas with some around here. Was he good the last few years? Nope. but it's not like he didn't try or bleed blue and gold. We are literally suggesting that the club should have cut ties with him permanently because he was too old to play well anymore and that is absolutely nuts. Some guys have gone off the deep end on the Jake Thomas hate train around here. I don't know if he will be a good coach, but I can't see any reason why he might not be. We'll see. We need to at least give him a chance. Exactly. He stepped aside as a player and we still get the benefit of his experience and locker room worth. I can't believe people are viewing this so negatively.

You realize that Hogan was our RB coach before when BO had his best years right? I think these are great moves for our organization.

Good plan. Put hogan specifically as the coach for the one area he was the most horrible at last year. And Jake Thomas coaching. Feels like two giant steps backwards to me, but I hope I’m wrong.

Yes. Exactly. One, Two, Three, Four! Everybody's talking about Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism This-ism, that-ism, ism ism ism All we are saying is give Jake a chance

Where this team has been more often than not.

https://www.thesportster.com/entertainment/top-15-horrible-athletes-who-made-great-coaches/

wasnt it like 50k a yr moving up to the next collective bargaining agreement? Lat yr 400k bump was a precentage of the new rev the league got from its rev sharing part of deal....so that first big bump may not be the norm yr in and yr out...or it could be even greater...Too bad the League isnt a bit more transparent about it...or putting it out there for all to see Maybe this yr its up another 300....400k in addition to the 50k....so essentially almost a million higher than 2024

Or having the best RB in the league made him look better than he actually is? He certainly didn't use BO the way you would think a great RB coach might. I'm less concerned about that move though - he's at least experienced in the role. Hiring one of our problem players to coach (imo) our biggest weakness does not inspire confidence in me.

THat was also 8 yrs ago also...before we effed up our SMS to Assett/ability ratio Since we grabbed WJ in FA ....who is a big ticket FA we have grabbed that was a coup or considered a big score?....I cant really recall any off the top off my head...but can think of multiple guys we re-upped/extended for big money...but small production....cause it was the curse of status quo/we good....and not projecting 2...3 yrs ahead

Where did Collaros and Jefferson come from?

Keeping Hogan when it seems like he and Brady clashed last year is sort of weird. I know Brady previously raved about him, and maybe we were reading between the lines too much, but it certainly seemed as if the relationship had gone sour.

sure didnt show it anytime in his career tho....what's he gonna teach any vet DL guy...or nw guy...absolutely nothing really.... just shows they still cant/wont make the real tough decisions....

This seems like the way the organization would handle things of this matter. At least they are addressing it.

Hogan back...why....pointless Couldnt cut ties with useless Thomas so have him coach?...??...Like wtf....with all his coaching experience and all....the least adept technical/skill guy we have...so have him coach?...makes sense to me...what a joke...those 2 moves just take the shine off of what so far has been a good off-season...but not a shocker...

Hogan was the RB coach for the past 3 seasons. And Jake no doubt has extensive knowledge about DL play.

Jake Thomas is back!!! as the DL coach

Sounds like they like Fajardo more than Kelly. Tells me all I need to know about how Kelly is perceived around the league.

O'Shea said its still to be determined if Jackson is going to be back.

It was probably sarcasm. Cautiously optimistic about Condell, but im guessing he was plan B after Miller took the Argos head coaching job. No idea why you would bring Hogan back in any capacity. Youve gotta figure there’s some animosity/bad vibe’s there with a few players. Pretty stupid decision.

From Our Man Tait in his latest piece.... Worth your click, as always: https://www.bluebombers.com/2025/12/22/__trashed/ "...And as for the decision to add Thomas to his staff, O’Shea said this about one of the most-respected people in the building — not just on the roster: “Love the guy. Can sit here right now and picture him hoisting the Cup in 2019. Extremely smart, passionate, good leader. A guy that just loved being around. There was a time where because of a contract issue he came late to training camp by I don’t know how many days, not much. But the whole practice stopped and everybody went nuts that he walked onto the field. “That right there speaks volumes about what everybody thinks about him. Not just from the players’ perspective, but in the entire organization.”

Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, Rick Carlisle, Steve Kerr are all guys who are or were great NBA coaches who were also journeyman pros. All we are saying is give Jake a chance.

Every coach in hockey pretty much. Most offensive coordinators were bad QBs. I mean the list is quite long in reality. Kellen Moore has the saints rolling. Dude who couldn’t make it in the cfl is the commanders OC. Kliff kingsbury. I mean. There’s a bunch man. In every sport on the planet. there’s more examples of great players failing as coaches. Wayne Gretzky immediately comes to mind. Deion sanders also cuz Colorado sucks. All the basketball coaches are former average players and despite the bias, Jake played pro football for 13 years longer than you did. And here’s a big thing, he’s respected around the league by his peers and teammates. That says something. Fans can **** on players but those guys who played with him and beside him and against him, they don’t and that means more than people online who will always find something to complain about. Dude bled blue n gold for 13 years. At what point do you show him any form of respect for destroying his body for our entertainment. im fine with Jake as DL coach. im not sure why they brought hogan back tho. I mean does Brady need a coach. Not really. So could have saved some $$$ there. Awkward.

I'm just really hoping the BB's find a few diamonds in the rough this coming season especially when it comes to our D and O lines and TC is heavily competitive earn your spot at all positions approach.

I'm just spit-balling here, but maybe the Bombers had limited options to fill the coaching roles due to the operations cap. Not alot of money left for top level position coaches when Walters and O'Shea prolly got raises with their extentions.

salary cap increases of a significant amount is extremely rare. I would not be banking on another increase before the next cba/tv deal. I don’t think other teams have had as high a rate of over paying guys when they resign. We also gamble on guys like kramdi and lawson when it comes to extensions. We do so hoping that we pay a bit more the first year then save money after that and have an easier time on the following contract. Bc is certainly the team who has over paid other teams free agents the most in the doman era. Them and edmonton who are constantly trying to fix bad teams in free agency. Right now, every one seems to be using the increased cap space to front load deals and over pay guys who resign. At this point, I don’t think guys who go to free agency will do early as well as the guys who lock in before the end of this year.

On the plus side, we don't have to argue/***** about Jake starting. I'm more upset Hogan stays unless its a money thing.

Look at it this way.... Jake Thomas didn't get to the CFL from his god-given natural ability so presumably he was very receptive to coaching along the way. Now maybe all those lessons he learned are things he can pass along. Or maybe the hate brigade is right and he will be terrible. It remains to be seen, i just know that retirement into coaching isn't an out of left field thing for players like Jake Thomas.

We don't pay anyone, which is why we are over the cap. Being over the cap is also why we can't afford any FA even though we wouldn't sign them anyways. This forum has gone bananas!! Up is left, down is wrong, wrong is purple and the only thing left to do is complain about absolutely everything!!!

dinwiddie I'm blown away by the uproar over a couple positional coaches lol. Here's a hint guys...they don't really have that big of an impact on players abilities. Scheme and drills baby. Thomas isn't going to turn Lawson into the next Doug Brown and he isn't going to help re-invent Jefferson...but here's the thing...no one is. Hogan isn't the reason BO is a freak of nature and he won't hold him back either. ****** relax boys

I never even had an issue with Jake as a player, in terms of talent... He was just used far too much in later years. In his younger days he was more than serviceable. In more recent years he was fine in a limited capacity but Prime Doug Brown minutes was asking way too much.

Bill Belichick

Can this team grow a pair of balls and cut loose guys. Hugely disappointed in this bull crap. Sign Jake + Hogan to fill the Buzz and Boomer costumes if you don't have the balls to say "good bye". Massive steps back on this club. I'm at the point of cleaning house at the top. Have we ever heard anything remotely that suggested that Jake Thomas was big in the film room and while limited on physical abilities he had the brains and the ability to dissect plays on the field. Come on now this is a joke. Hogan f'd up big time... soooo we bring him back? A complete joke.

JT...has bled blue for a long time....will he make a good coach...who knows..hopefully he will. Congrats to him on a new position... Hogan staying on is meh to me, but going back to RB coach, is probably a much better fit for him As to next signing, I am hopeful it's Nuefeld

he also had the worst collection of guys in league to work with too the last few yrs....so hard to say...I do know Patterson is a well respected and experienced coach both sides of the border...But he chose to retire so was out of our hands ....he did quite well in 2021 as the coach when we had talent to utilize.....Grey Cup ring and dominate defence cant be argued there I agree with SANKEY...More holes in his game than T.Jones and yes as bad as T.Jones is in space he way better than Sankey....so why pay Sankey premium cash when we can get the same for less....Now if we can grab McManus tho....you do that

Player quality does not equate to coach quality. There is no correlation whatsoever. Quit trying to sell that as a reason to criticize this move. One has nothing to do with the other.

Until I know what the salary cap is, I don't know how anyone can say we're overpaying this guy or that guy. We don't know.

I agree if it takes him off the field I'm all for it,,,,,but to become the DL coach...piss poor decision really when we have been pretty bad there for most part last few yrs....with him being of the worst...I'm sure there were better options out there

Walters has constantly overpaid our stars... Collaros, Brady, Jefferson to name a few. That's why we can't pick up other teams top free agents.

I don't think it was.... I mean as much as they had some close games they probably could have lost, they also had some close games they probably could have won. So a 10-8 record is probably where they ought to be. One game better than .500, it's not like it was some fantastic record and they got a home playoff game out of it or anything.

OL: Randolph, Lofton, Bryant, Wallace, - they need to sign a Canadian centre or guard in free agency. As long as BO is healthy, they need to start 3 Americans on the OL QB: time to move on from Streveler. Make sure ZC knows how to pee and see who else you can sign as a backup. Wilson can run short yardage. RB: don't assume BO will play the entire season. Recruit an entry level American for a backup and use him on teams or pay him extra to stay on the PR. DL: Cam Lawson, Woodbey, Jefferson (maybe), new faces needed - I would sign a decent DT in FA DB: I would keep the secondary intact Rec: scout for some new faces in the receiving corps - Demski, Wilson, are a good start LB: I would sign a decent, experienced MLB in free agency. Move Kramdi to safety or field corner and add new faces at WIL and SAM Bin ich bindich? (Am I crazy?)

Walters has done a good job so far with bringing back Brady, Demski, Lawson, Kramdi and Nichols, while also extending Wilson. Who else does everybody want back?