'I'm excited': Former Blue Bomber Andrew Harris joins Riders coaching staff
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Harris said his final few seasons in Toronto helped prepare him to be a coach.
Andrew Harris was one of the players Saskatchewan Roughriders fans loved to hate.
Now the former Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back is joining the CFL’s club’s coaching staff.
The team announced Harris would join the staff as the running backs coach. Anthony Vitale, who was announced as the running backs coach earlier in the off-season, is not returning to the club due to a personal matter.
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As a Winnipeg kid, Harris said he never expected to be in this situation.
“This rivalry goes so thick within Saskatchewan, but at the end of the day it’s football and I know football really well and I’m excited to help contribute to the success of the team this year,” Harris told media on Monday afternoon.
Harris said he was entering a good situation with the Riders.
He’ll get to see familiar faces like running back A.J. Ouellette, who he played with on the Toronto Argonauts for two seasons, and head coach Corey Mace who was on Toronto’s coaching staff.
After retiring in 2024, Harris said he wanted to step away from the game for a little bit while he re-evaluated what he wanted to do.
“Honestly, I wasn’t really missing football all that much until the playoffs started last year and that’s when things really get geared up,” he said.
“I just know how that intensity kicks in, and that attention to detail. That’s when I first started really missing football and was thinking maybe I want to get back into it.”
Harris said his final few seasons in Toronto helped prepare him for the transition from player to coach.
“I was almost like a player-coach anyway. My performance and dominance on the field had shifted, I wasn’t the main guy anymore and so for me, passing information and nuggets and tips to A.J. and kind of being in his ear on the sideline with the iPad, I was already kind of in that role,” Harris said.
Harris said he was entering a good situation with the Riders, and it was a first step in his ultimate goal of becoming a head coach or general manager.
Harris has many CFL accomplishments
In CFL history, Harris stands out with a remarkable 15 seasons, he won Grey Cups with the B.C. Lions (2009-2015), Blue Bombers (2016-2021) and the Argonauts (2022-23).
His first Grey Cup Championship was won in 2011 with B.C., followed by his hometown team Bombers in 2019 and 2021 and his last one in 2022 with Toronto.
According to the Riders news release, he retired with 10,380 yards and 51 touchdowns while recording 607 receptions for 5,489 yards and 32 touchdowns.
Since leaving the league as a player, Harris has been the Director of Football Operations for the Vancouver Island Raiders of the Canadian Junior Football League. Back in 2006, 208 and 2009 he won national championships with the junior football program.
Harris’ accomplishments include:
- In 2019, he was the CFL’s all-time leading Canadian rusher
- He is one of six players to eclipse the 10,000-yard mark
- He ranks sixth in Blue Bombers career rushing history, with 5,402 yards
- He was CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian in 2017
- He was CFL rushing leader for four seasons
- He was the Grey Cup’s Most Outstanding Canadian in 2011 and 2019
- He was also the Grey Cup’s Most Outstanding Player in 2019
- He was named All-CFL five times (2012, 2015-2018)
- He was namedWest Division All-CFL six times (2012, 2015-2019)
— with files from Daniel Reech, 980 CJME
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