Riders hiring Corey Mace as their next head coach

Corey Mace is moving from the Double Blue to the Green and White.

The Green Zone has confirmed that the Toronto Argonauts’ defensive co-ordinator has agreed to terms to be the 45th head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

3DownNation’s Justin Dunk, The Green Zone’s CFL insider, and TSN’s Farhan Lalji reported that the Riders were hiring Mace as well.

Mace has been with the Argos for the past two seasons.

Both Dunk and Lalji previously had reported that the Roughriders also were interviewing Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive co-ordinator Buck Pierce for the head-coaching job.

Mace will replace Craig Dickenson, whose contract wasn’t renewed after the 2023 season. The Roughriders went 6-12-0 in each of the past two seasons and missed the playoffs both years.

Hearing #Riders have agreed to terms with Corey Mace to be their next head coach. The former #Argos DC has won 2 #GreyCups as an assistant. Really a home run hire for Sask. Not sure they could have made a bad choice between their two finalists. @CFLonTSN @TSN_Sports pic.twitter.com/ZYg764UKgg

— Farhan Lalji (@FarhanLaljiTSN) November 30, 2023

Dickenson had been the Riders’ head coach since 2019, compiling a 34-34-0 record. He led Saskatchewan to back-to-back West Division final appearances in 2019 and 2021; the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mace, a 37-year-old product of Port Moody, B.C., has been a CFL assistant coach since 2015.

As a player, Mace was drafted by the Bombers in the second round (11th overall) of the 2007 CFL draft, shortly after he signed as a free agent with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.

While he was in the NFL, his CFL rights were traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Argos and the Calgary Stampeders. After he was cut by Buffalo, Mace joined the Stamps in August of 2010.

The defensive lineman played 40 games with the Stampeders over six seasons and won a Grey Cup with them in 2014. He retired in 2015 and immediately joined Calgary’s coaching staff, and won the CFL title again in 2018.

He joined the Argos as their defensive co-ordinator in January of 2022 and helped them win the Grey Cup that season.

Mace interviewed with the Ottawa Redblacks last off-season for their vacant head-coaching position, but that job went to Bob Dyce. Mace returned to Toronto for the 2023 season and helped the Argos post a 16-2-0 record.

According to Dunk, Mace’s offensive co-ordinator in Saskatchewan will be Stampeders quarterbacks coach Marc Mueller, a Regina product who’s a grandson of Roughriders legend Ron Lancaster. Mueller was a quarterback with the University of Regina Rams before moving into the coaching ranks.