Murray Wood: Signs of spring appearing in Saskatchewan
Murray Wood says signs of spring were all over the place on the weekend, even though the forecast remains wintery for th...
With training camp beginning next month, it’s almost time to see how the 2026 Saskatchewan Roughriders season will shape out.
The team has continued to add players to their roster ahead of camp, where some position battles are expected to take shape.
Riders head coach Corey Mace joined The Green Zone on Monday after being at the CFL Combine, where he was named the 2025 CFL Coach of the Year.
He talked about a number of topics, including taking the Grey Cup around the province and the addition of defensive end James Vaughters to the defence.
Read more:
- Saskatoon Blades crown first round upset of Oil Kings in Game 7 OT thriller
- Riders defensive star, 1966 Grey Cup champion Garner Ekstran dead at 86
- Regina Pat Canadians top Moose Jaw Warriors to return to Telus Cup
Listen to the full interview, or read the transcript below:
The following questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
THE GREEN ZONE: How quickly did you flip your mindset to go, “OK, let’s get another one.”
Corey Mace: I think it’s just kind of how we’re wired. There’s plenty of time later to kind of sit down and look at that stuff. Don’t get me wrong. When we had our time to celebrate it, we did that. I think you’re supposed to, but you can only change the future. So let’s look at that.
THE GREEN ZONE: Can you believe it’s a month away from rookie camp?
Corey Mace: Yeah, it’s crazy. Things are kind of flying. We look at the big calendar there, and obviously, we’re heavy in on the draft coming up, and time’s dwindling. April’s here. Let’s go. Let’s get it going.
THE GREEN ZONE: So you did a pub crawl with the Grey Cup. How much advice did you get from fans during that pub crawl?
Corey Mace: I don’t know if I got a ton of advice. To be honest, I can’t really say that I’m going to remember everything, I had a couple (beers), I think. It was everything that I had hoped that it would be — just to be able to go to some of these towns and these steak pits and whatnot, just meeting Rider Nation. What a time to be able to just share with the province. That’s exactly what it was supposed to be about.
THE GREEN ZONE: Did you ever get an experience like that with the Stampeders or Argonauts? Or is this exclusively to Saskatchewan on a pub crawl with the Grey Cup?
Corey Mace: This was all-time. You don’t really just pull up in those places and have 40 snowmobiles just parked outside ready to see it. You know what I mean. It doesn’t matter the weather. It was absolutely everything that I had thought it was going to be and then some. This is a unique place. I think people understand that.
THE GREEN ZONE: Does it further cement it for you on why you chose Saskatchewan?
Corey Mace: Who are we comparing it to? I’m not going to have the conversation with anybody else about it. From all four corners of the province, you’re talking Rider football.
As much as players, coaches, football ops, anybody who’s in professional sports, there’s so much time and sacrifice. To be somewhere where people care, it just validates it. It makes it feel important, because it is the most important thing to you while you’re in it, but you feel like it’s important to everybody else that’s a part of it as well.
THE GREEN ZONE: You did lose some pieces from that defence last year. I want to focus on the edge rushers, replacing Malik Carney, etc. What are you looking forward to on that position, specifically at camp? How important will training camp be to solidify those spots?
Corey Mace: I think it’d be extremely important. That’s what you love about training camp. Every year there’re going to be holes on every team.
Our football ops has done such an incredible job of compiling some really good players that we’ve signed to bring to camp. We’re not being shy about it – go earn your spot. It’s no different than anywhere else.
There are going to be some other spots that have competition at it. We’ve got guys — whether they’ve been here waiting their time or played for us a little bit and made some really good plays who deserve their shot — in the same conversations as some of the guys who came here for a couple years, and then they earned their spot and earned their names, and they got compensated for that.
We feel great about our coaching staff, and we feel great about the talent that we’re going to camp with. So shoot, it’s nothing but excitement.
THE GREEN ZONE: You bring in James Vaughters, who you know from the Calgary days as well. What are you expecting from the vet along that group?
Corey Mace: Having a veteran at that position and understanding the standard of which we expect defensive line play to look like. He can do it all. He’s been outside linebacker in the NFL. He plays with tremendous effort.
Whether he doesn’t say a word, which I know he’s going to speak, just spot the ball and let him do his work. You can point to that and say, “Hey, be like Vaught.” He’s going to work his tail off. We need a bunch of people to do that. It’s just a really good signing for us. I know he’s excited. We’re pumped too.
THE GREEN ZONE: As you became a head coach, the decisions land more on your desk than as maybe a co-ordinator or a defensive line coach. How hard is it to set almost monetary priorities on players when it comes to free agency?
Corey Mace: I think it’s part of the business, right? One of my old coaches used to say it all the time, “My job as a coach is to make you the best possible player and to get you the most dang money you can in the contract, whether that’s here or somebody else.”
If we’re not making these guys the best at what they do, we’re failing them as coaches. A lot of guys that we lost, many of those guys are the highest paid at their position. We love our guys, but, we have a salary cap that we have to put together. It makes it tough to sit down and some of it’s kind of a waiting game and saying, “Okay, how much is this guy going to get.”
You can try to guess but ultimately we put ourselves through so many different scenarios. At the end of the day, you’re looking at the team success. How are we going to put together the best team?
Sometimes it’s not about specific individuals; you have got to look at it from a wider perspective. I thought we did a really good job of that. Ultimately, you’re sad to see some guys go, but you’re extremely happy that you know that they’ve landed in a situation that’s really good for themselves, and they’re setting their families up a little bit better as well.
THE GREEN ZONE: Why the decision to hand off defensive co-ordinator duties to Josh Bell?
Corey Mace: I think being around Bell since 2014, he was the vocal captain back there playing free safety when we played together and transitioned into coaching in the same kind of process as I did back in our previous spots. Even together in the place we were before we got here.
Fast forward to our time here in Saskatchewan. Our defence is not like I just locked myself in a room and this is what we do. That’s not how I operate. We’re very inclusive and getting ideas from everybody that puts in the work.
Versions of what you’ve seen in “The Corey Mace defence” has a lot of influence from Josh Bell. We’re still working here together. He was a hot ticket for a couple other teams over the past two years of potentially being a defensive co-ordinator.
We just know each other so well. I’m excited for his opportunity and helping prepare him to take the reins on that. I know he’s ready. I know he’s excited. I’m excited as well to see what kind of different wrinkles he brings.
Read more:
