Bombers, O’shea closing in on new deal

As expected, Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’shea isn’t going anywhere.

With his contract about to expire at the end of the year, the back-to-back CFL coach-of-the-year is close to hammering out another three-year deal, keeping him in blue and gold through the 2025 CFL season.

TSN reported late Tuesday the deal was done, but the Winnipeg Sun learned some details still need to be ironed out.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see those cleared up by the end of the week.

While veteran players have been signing contract extensions – linebacker Adam Bighill (two years) on Tuesday joined defensive lineman Willie Jefferson and offensive lineman Pat Neufeld (both one year) – O’shea is seen as the key piece to continuing the culture that’s helped get Winnipeg to three straight Grey Cup games.

After winning the CFL title in 2019 and ’21, the Bombers dropped a 24-23 decision to Toronto this year, putting a blemish on a franchise-record 15-3 regular season.

While coy about his plans in his last session with the media last week, saying he needed to conduct exit interviews with his players before addressing his contract, O’shea has never given any indication he’d consider leaving Winnipeg.

“We’ve had a lot of success here and we’ve got a lot of guys back,” he said last Wednesday. “The group of guys we’ve assembled here is just so easy to be around.”

Asked how his success might make him attractive to other franchises, the 52-year-old deferred the credit to his players. Postmedia News/ Field Level Media