WINNIPEG - Mike O鈥橲hea鈥檚 mom didn鈥檛 try to convince him to move closer to his hometown.
O鈥橲hea spoke to the media on Tuesday and explained why he signed a three-year extension last week to remain head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers through the 2028 season.
鈥淭here's obviously a whole pile of reasons, but we've built something pretty damn special here, so you'd like to continue that,鈥 O鈥橲hea said.
鈥淭he season didn't work out the way we wanted, but I think there's still a lot of growth to be had and a lot of legs left in it, so that, family, all sorts of things, but I wanted to be here.鈥
The father of three adult children, two of whom live in Winnipeg, just finished his 11th season with the Blue Bombers and leads the franchise in coaching wins (117-77 record).
A native of North Bay, Ont., O鈥橲hea met early last week with Toronto Argonauts general manager Mike (Pinball) Clemons about that team鈥檚 head-coaching vacancy after Ryan Dinwiddie moved on to the Ottawa Redblacks.
O鈥橲hea, 55, wouldn鈥檛 get into details about the meeting or say if an offer was made. The Bombers had given the Argos permission to speak with him.聽
鈥淚'm on an expiring contract, I've got a few opportunities to explore, I should explore them,鈥 he said.
O鈥橲hea has strong ties to the Argonauts, Clemons and Ontario.
The Hall of Fame former Toronto linebacker played with Clemons, whom he described as a 鈥減retty special human being.鈥
O鈥橲hea鈥檚 widowed mother, who鈥檚 in her late 70s, still lives in North Bay. The parents of his wife, Richere, also live in southern Ontario.聽
He said his mother doesn鈥檛 need his help 鈥 she drove to Winnipeg at the end of the summer 鈥 and she never tries to influence his decisions.
鈥淔rom the time I was very young there were a lot of decisions I was in charge of making,鈥 he said.
鈥淭hat's just the way my mom and dad raised me. 'Here's the information, you've got to make a decision.' A good conversation, always, but you're in charge of making your decisions.鈥
The CFL鈥檚 longest-serving head coach was asked if he鈥檇 ever want to be a general manager, a title Dinwiddie also has with the Redblacks.
鈥淚'm always interested in growth, but I've never been interested in power,鈥 O鈥橲hea said. 鈥淧ower is not the be-all and end-all.鈥
He鈥檇 rather make decisions with input from knowledgeable people.
鈥淗aving absolute control of something has never been anything I'm interested in,鈥 O鈥橲hea said.
鈥淲hatever the titles would be would be irrelevant. No matter what we were doing, it would always be a team effort, a group of people trying to advance our team.鈥
The Bombers also announced last Friday that GM Kyle Walters signed an extension. He鈥檚 meeting with the media on Wednesday to talk about his own three-year deal through 2028.
Winnipeg reached the playoffs for a ninth consecutive season with double-digit wins (10-8), but had to cross over to the East Division and lost the semifinal to the Montreal Alouettes.
It halted the club鈥檚 string of five straight Grey Cup appearances, which included victories in the first two in 2019 and 鈥21.
O鈥橲hea noted one appeal to staying in Winnipeg was its fans. The team sold out every home game this season, extending that full-house run to 14 games dating back to August 2024.
鈥淚t's a great sporting city, the fans are unbelievable,鈥 O鈥橲hea said. 鈥淚've always said they're highly educated, they show up in droves.鈥
DISAPPOINTED IN ONE FAN
O鈥橲hea wasn鈥檛 impressed with one CFL fan, who took a photo of him in the Toronto airport when he was about to fly back to Winnipeg.
It was posted on social media last Wednesday, sparking speculation about O鈥橲hea鈥檚 future.
The team announced that O鈥橲hea and Walters were staying two days later, but without contract details.
O鈥橲hea said the fan actually came up to him in Winnipeg, which hosted the Grey Cup on Sunday, and said he was the one who snapped the photo and it went viral.
鈥淣ot my favourite thing,鈥 O鈥橲hea said. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 understand how much of an issue they can create for their own self-serving purposes. It鈥檚 kind of sickening, really.鈥
Those issues are on the personal and professional level, he said.
鈥淎cross the board,鈥 O鈥橲hea said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no thought when somebody snaps something and posts something. They have no thought for somebody else鈥檚 sanity. It鈥檚 all about themselves and you鈥檇 like that to change.鈥 聽
This report by 好色tvwas first published Nov. 18, 2025.
Note to readers:This is a corrected story. A previous version incorrectly stated that three of O'Shea's children live in Winnipeg, instead of two.
