Written by Mike Still
In a local hockey arena in Saskatoon, shortly after the conclusion of the 2021 Bisons football season – one that saw the Herd advance to the Hardy Cup for the first time since 2014 – head coach Brian Dobie sat back and reflected on the year that was.
There was a lot to take in. From losing his proven starter at the quarterback position in week one, to the tragic passing of a beloved coach in week two and much more, Manitoba had been through the ringer. But during it all, Dobie had an unwavering belief in his team. And why wouldn’t he? For the last 26 years, he’s poured his heart and soul into UM’s football program and his players have responded.
The ’21 campaign was no different. Through sheer grit, determination and a family-first approach, they’d handled the highs and the lows of a rollercoaster year, hosted a playoff game for the first time in eight seasons and made it back to the conference final.
“I've really thought about this over the last few weeks. I've been a head coach for 47 years. In my whole career, there wouldn't have been a team I've ever coached that would've gone through what this team has gone through. I'm so proud of them. They're just fighters. They just believed that they would find a way to win and they did it almost all of the time,” he noted with his textbook smile after the Hardy Cup.
"Honestly, I kind of can't wait for next year. Now that this is now done, and seeing who these guys are and what they are, I really can't wait for next year. This team is going to be really, really, really good. They already are."
At the fresh age of 68 (69 this February), Dobie – who, spread between the Bisons and Churchill High School, has been a head coach for close to 50 years – has plenty left in the tank. He once joked that his final breath before kicking the bucket would be made on the field on campus. It’s a fitting statement for someone who’s given everything he has to the Bisons football program.
Being the head coach for Manitoba was his dream, it’s the job that he wanted his whole life. It took him three tries to get it, but in May of 1996 he was finally rewarded with an interim contract. Since then, he’s become the all-time winningest coach in program history (101 regular season victories), has won five Canada West Coach of the Year awards, was the U SPORTS Coach of the Year in 2001 and in 2007, he led the program to their first Vanier Cup victory in over three decades. Through the highs and the lows, he rejuvenated a program that was searching for someone to right the ship and cemented a legacy that will never be forgotten.
CHAPTER 1: TAKING THINGS NATIONAL
(1996 and 1997 seasons)
The position Dobie stepped into in 1996 wasn’t easy. He was inheriting a program that, while showing promise at times, had recorded just four winning seasons since last claiming the Vanier Cup in 1970.
Year one was “disastrous” according to the well-respected coach, who was still adjusting after being fully engaged at the high school level.
“I very quickly realized I didn’t know what happens next or where things are going to go,” he remarked.
“In all honesty, it was overwhelming. The thing that stands out the most from that season was not really understanding what had to be done and not really knowing how it worked. I’d been coaching high school ball, so I wasn’t immersed in that culture. I was learning on a daily and an hourly basis.”
The team went 0-8 in 1996. That offseason, it became clear to Dobie that a revised recruiting approach was needed in order for the Herd to be successful.
“I had literally made a statement when I got hired that this team was going to be Manitoba through and through. I realized that in order to be successful, that verbatim couldn’t be the case. We’re a small province with a great football community, but in relative terms to the provinces where our competitors live, we’re very tiny. To do it with just Manitobans wasn’t going to go. I realized by the end of that 1996 season that I had to look elsewhere.”
It’s important to note that back at that time, there was very little national recruiting being done. Dobie, along with Blake Nill – a three-time Vanier Cup champion – both started going big around the same time.
Additionally, back in the late 90’s, you could play five years of junior football and then five years of university. Therefore, teams could have players on their squad that were hovering around 26 or 27 years old by graduation. Every team had the opportunity to take advantage of this rule, which officially changed in 2003. Thus, the 2007 season would see the last of the old guard.
Dobie had early recruiting success in BC, while Northern Alberta and Southern Ontario also became key areas of focus.
“I started, pretty much blindly, reaching for straws trying to make connections, and trying to work with some connections that I had around the country. Some of them really paid off, particularly in BC,” he says.
“Essentially the plan was pretty simple – it hasn’t changed to today. That was to do everything we could to retain and sign as many of the best players as we can that are Manitobans, and supplement those Manitobans with as many of the best players we could sign nationally. Our target group initially, and still is today, is the province of BC. Northern Alberta became a big target group and still is. Southern Ontario and Quebec for a while in the early days was a huge recruiting ground for us.”
Impact of national recruiting
In 1997, Dobie’s diverse Bisons showed promise, going 3-5. Two of his earliest out of province recruits played major roles, in Langley Rams alum Will Loftus (defensive back) and Craig Carr (running back), a former standout for Vanier College in Quebec. Both players were spectacular on the gridiron (Carr had received interest to play at the University of Houston) but had endured struggles in their personal lives that hindered them from continuing their careers at the post-secondary level.
Instead of counting them out, Dobie – like he always does – developed personal relationships with each and gave the pair a shot to accomplish their goals at UM. That core philosophy – with both players and coaches alike – has remained with the personable head coach to this day.
“Recruiting to me, and I think to everybody, is about relationships, for every reason. It’s 85 percent about relationship-building and 15 percent about everything else you’re going to sell about your program. Lots of people have good programs, so if you can’t build that relationship you probably don’t have a chance.”
In the case of Carr, the relationship Dobie built wasn’t with just him. It was also with the team’s offensive coordinator Sean Dougherty, who became a great friend and connection for him in recruiting in Quebec.
“I didn’t know about Craig, and the head coach didn’t want to talk to me about Craig. Craig was a big superstar and they were trying to get him back to the [NCAA] D1 level. He was supposed to go to the University of Houston, but there were a lot of things on his plate,” reflected Dobie.
“Sean connected me with a number of players, and one of them was Craig. He was a very outgoing guy. He kind of talks the way that I do, he talks a lot and he wants to engage. We just really leapfrogged at each other and developed a relationship very quickly. When things weren’t working out across the border, he immediately signed with us.”
Carr played for the Bisons from 1997-99, with his 2478 career rushing yards sitting third all-time in program history. He broke out in a big way in his first season, making plays as both as returner and rusher. He tallied 251 yards against Alberta midway through the year, and finished with 1015 on the ground overall. Carr was taken in the second round of the 2000 CFL Draft and played six seasons.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country it was Will Loftus out in Vancouver, another guy that “no one was giving a chance to.” Like Carr, he made an immediate difference for the Herd. The Montreal Alouettes took him in the third round of the CFL draft the following year, and he won Grey Cups with the Als in 2002 and Edmonton Eskimos in 2005.
“[Loftus] was a junior player at the end of his career, and like Craig, he came from a really disadvantaged background. I was more than willing to give him a chance. He committed almost immediately,” said Dobie.
“Both of them came out and both of them were First Team All-Canadians in their first year. I’m not saying I’m such a great recruiter, but how about that for hitting the nail on the head? They played huge parts in getting us on the map. By starting to bring in guys and go national, it got our name out there big time, it really did. I was very aggressive about it. I just hunted and hunted and worked at it. Pretty soon people were calling you and the network just grew.”
CHAPTER 2: THE KEY THREE
(1998-2002 seasons)
Despite the talent on the field, the Herd went 0-8 the year after. Having gone two out of his first three seasons without a victory, Dobie couldn’t help but feel that he was on the hot seat.
“The second 0-8 experience for me personally, was overwhelming. I can honestly say at that time when I was immersed in that darkness, that I didn’t know if I was going to be given the opportunity to continue to coach.”
Halfway through the 1998 season, Dobie was called into the office of then Athletic Director Walter McKee. It was a meeting that ended up being a critical turning point. Dobie, who was down on his luck and unsure if he was the right man for the job, was told “we have faith in you.” It was just what he needed to hear and helped give him the confidence to continue.
Despite this, Dobie still felt nonstop pressure in the “hunt to become competitive.”
“It felt like I was living in it and immersed in it. When I say seven days a week, I mean literally. I am literally sure there wasn’t a day, other than Christmas Day or something special like that that I didn’t work. I felt desperate for sure.”
The “go to guys”
At the beginning, Dobie was on his own for the most part. There wasn’t a paid assistant coach on staff and so he would sit in his office and deal with the stress on his own, as his counterparts had day jobs that they had to work.
But between 1997-98, his support system grew thanks to Vaughan Mitchell and Stan Pierre, two coaches who’ve been by Dobie’s side ever since. Add on Richard Urbanovich – who was already a coach on staff when Dobie was hired – and you have three key men who’ve offered stability and support to the bench boss for well over two decades.
“With our volunteer coaches, to this day I cannot say enough great things about them. At this level to be a volunteer coach, there’s no alternative but to immerse yourself in it. You really can’t be a good coach at this level, even as a volunteer, without really embracing the team and the program and for the most part that’s what those guys did,” noted Dobie.
“In particular, I brought in Vaughan Mitchell in my second year in 1997, and then the next year I brought in Stan Pierre. Richard Urbanovich was already there, but I had coached Richard when I was at Churchill High School, and then I brought him onto my coaching staff at Churchill. And then when Scott Spurgeon was hired, Scott asked me about some local coaches and I recommended Richard.
Those three coaches were my go-to guys. Guys that I could bounce things off, and guys that I could call at midnight or first thing in the morning and try to de-stress. At the time Vaughan was doing his masters in economics. Vaughan brought in his laptop to work and we would do all the football stuff off of his computer. I got him a key for the office so he could use it as a grad student.”
Mitchell and Pierre had both played Bisons football and that’s how Dobie knew them. Both were “really good players” and they were each coaching at Sturgeon Heights with former Herd pivot Brett Watt prior to coming onto staff at UM.
When Dobie was hired, he knew he was going to be looking for an offensive line coach and people were recommending Mitchell to him.
“They were saying he’s a young offensive line coach, but he’s such a smart guy. He’s already a good coach and he’s going to become a great coach. So I did my homework on him and talked to coaches in the Winnipeg High School Football League (WHSFL) and to Bisons coaches about him who had had actually coached him. Then I met with Vaughan and he was excited to come on board, and I was excited to have him.”
The pair hardly knew each other at the time, and Dobie was taking a “leap of faith,” trusting in people’s references and recommendations. They were “100 percent right” about Mitchell. Because he was there so much, he provided “so much support, quite honestly more than anybody at the time.”
“He’s been offensive coordinator here for what feels like 100 years. He’s had an amazing coaching career and yet he doesn’t get paid to coach, he’s a volunteer,” said Dobie. “Quite honestly I owe Vaughan Mitchell a great deal. We’ve been colleagues in this thing together. He was amazing through the toughest of times. He was my voice of reason for the longest time as a volunteer coach.
The following year, the team’s linebacker coaches Mark Erickson moved on, as he was a firefighter and just couldn’t commit to the coaching schedule. He recommended Pierre “through the roof.”
“He goes ‘Brian trust me, I’m not even in Stan Pierre’s league. I still remember him saying ‘if you can talk him into coming onto staff, he will end up being one of the best coaches you’ve ever worked with.’ Wow was he right.”
Pierre, who Dobie calls his “partner in this,” earned assistant head coach status after close to a decade working with the Bisons. It was a massive moment, as it meant that Dobie had another paid coach who could help him weather the storm during challenging times while also offering up different perspectives.
“There is no question that Stan is one of the best football coaches and football minds in the country of Canada. Stan and I are very different people, he and I both acknowledge that, and we see things most of the time the same, but sometimes we very much disagree, and I think the beauty of our partnership – because I was on my own for seven or eight years – to get Stan on board, first of all it was a huge relief,” said Dobie.
“I think our different personalities and our different strengths play to each other. It certainly worked. I consider him to be one of the best friends that I’ve had in my life. When the chips have been down, he’s been an incredible friend above all else.”
Urbanovich’s coaching philosophy and friendship were also key in Manitoba’s overall identity. He’s “a grinder,” according to Dobie, who’s grassroots in terms of being down and dirty with the players.
“He’s hands on and he truly cares about the young men that he works with on a very personal level. He coaches from the gut, he coaches from the heart and he brings so much of himself to the program. He’s very much the heart and soul of our program. From a coaching level, he kind of epitomizes what our signature is all about.
Like Stan and Vaughan he’s one of the best friends I have in my life. He’s going into I’m going to say his 30th year of coaching and his 31st year in the program. He’s 30-plus years as a volunteer coach at the University of Manitoba. This guy has sacrificed thousands of hours in the name of the program. People that immerse themselves into those kinds of volunteer situations so consistently and so intently for so long are the heart and soul of our society in many ways. They’re just great people and that’s Rich Urbanovich.”
‘Coe can’t be bought’
With a committed coaching staff and a few big-time recruits on board, Dobie and company continued to trust the process. Along the way, Manitoba secured the commitment of three athletes who helped transition the Bisons from a developing program into a national championship contender.
Leading the way was linebacker Scott Coe, an alum of the Kelvin Clippers who became Dobie’s first “giant stay at home recruit.” He committed to the program in 1998 and was a lynchpin on Manitoba’s defence over the next four seasons, earning Rookie of the Year honours in year one while amassing 111 career tackles during his university career. He was drafted by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2002 and played seven years in the CFL, most of which was spent with Calgary between 2004-07.
Coe’s commitment at the time was a massive statement of loyalty and dedication to the Herd. After all, he was highly sought-after all across the country and could’ve gone to a school with an immediate Vanier Cup chance. Instead, he stayed local, in part because of the spectacular relationship he and his family had created with Dobie.
“In my old office, I had a bulletin board above my desk. There was a very faded newspaper article that I cut out and put there, and it was inspirational to me, because it went back to the early days when people kind of spit on us. Manitoba had been the bottom feeder for a couple of decades and it was tough, and to recruit people was really, really difficult. The best players were gravitating to the very best teams,” Dobie recalled.
“My recruiting strategy was driving at their character. If you choose to come here, you’re taking a chance, but the reason I’m recruiting you is because you’re a great player, but you’re also a player with great character, and you can change this program. With Scott Coe, I had this newspaper article that was there forever. It was so faded and I would look at it so many times. The headline read ‘Coe can’t be bought.’ That was the big headline, and right below it the sub-headline was ‘choosing to stay in Manitoba.’
He was the Manitoba kid that had all kinds of national options. It was such a process recruiting him. I got to know him so well and his family so well and he took in a breath and committed to Manitoba. He was one of the people that built the bandwagon. Scott was our first giant stay at home, keep him at home Manitoba recruit.”
Anyone who’s seen or interacted with Coe understands that he’s one of one. Despite an 0-8 season in 1998, he offered a “pure and contagious personality” that brought life to Manitoba’s locker room and to the team’s practices.
“The right player at the right time”
Dobie also signed his “franchise quarterback” in ’98 in Shane Munson out of Thunder Bay. The coach had a recruiting connection out that way and heard Munson was an outstanding athlete that just happened to play quarterback.
“We talked on the phone and then I took a seven-and-a-half trip to Thunder Bay for one reason, to literally check this kid out. I went to Churchill High School, coincidentally and remember, national recruiting was very rare. They were pretty excited. They had two phys ed classes in this big gym, but it was divided. They literally stopped both classes and put everybody sitting around the gym on the stage. They pulled the curtain back and gave us the whole gym.”
Munson threw for Dobie, who was quite impressed by the velocity on his throw, and he also “looked the part” and had a “real swagger about him.”
“He was 18 years old, and he had it. He had swagger like nobody’s business and I just went oh boy, I was intrigued. After he finished throwing, the classes resumed and on one side of the gym they were playing basketball and I watched this kid hit three pointers and dunk the ball. This kid was an athlete. I ended up going out for dinner with him and his dad for steak and lobster, and I thought I’m blowing half of my recruiting budget on one guy that I don’t even know if we’re going to get. Of course, he ended up signing.”
Munson ran Manitoba’s scout team in 1998, and as the team’s defensive coordinator, Stan Pierre would get mad at him because he wasn’t running a play right for the defence. He would turn to Dobie and go ‘what’s that kid’s name again? Tell that kid from Thunder Bay to do this right.’ It’s funny how things work out sometimes.
Dobie found out three weeks prior to 1999 training camp starting that his starting quarterback was academically ineligible and was gone. With all due respect to the team’s backups, they weren’t going to be able to get the job done. With all this in mind, he made a phone call that changed the course of the team’s trajectory.
“I thought about it, and I picked up the phone and dialed [Munson’s] number and I got him. I wanted to meet with him the next day and he went ‘what’s it about?’ He obviously sensed what was going on and said ‘can we meet tonight?’So I left the house, drove across the city and met with him at his apartment and handed him over the proverbial football.
I’ve been asked if you could name one person that literally changed the program at Manitoba, if you had to name one, it would be Shane Munson. He did just amazing things as quarterback. He was the right player at the right time.”
Munson was a household name for the Herd over the next five seasons, and still holds many team records such as career passing yards (7474), completions (507) and touchdowns (62). Along with Carr – who had 1015 yards on the ground – and a complete receiving corps that included ’99 recruit Mike Faisthuber out of Okanagan, the program’s all-time receiving yards (2092) and touchdowns (23) leader, Manitoba began to build something special.
The same could be said on defence, where one year after securing Coe, Dobie obtained the commitment of another game-changing linebacker in Joey Mikawoz.
Coaching for Churchill, Dobie was well aware of Mikawoz. He’d been “a monster” while playing for Grant Park and when he got hired at Manitoba, he tried to bring the all-world player in. Mikawoz, however, didn’t want to go to school at the time.
Instead, he went out to Edmonton to live with his sister and play a few seasons of junior football. Dobie then re-recruited him. The pair had been been disconnected for a while, and then he got a call from Mikawoz wanting to meet.
“I thought okay, this is great. Again, building relationships over a period of time, because it took me about three years to recruit him. He came into my office and he told me that he’d been accepted into engineering at the University of Manitoba. With him, it was about a three year on again, off again recruiting process,” noted Dobie.
“Joey Mikawoz, when you break it down as a pure football player and a pure student, it doesn’t really get any better than that. He was an outstanding student who went on and did his masters in engineering at UBC. Joey is one of the best people I’ve ever been around. He’s an extremely sensitive person who really gets life and is just such a true person.”
Led by Mikawoz’s 49 tackles and a diverse cast of recruits, Manitoba made great improvements. They finished 5-3 and advanced to the playoffs.
“It was quite amazing when I look at the number of quality players that committed and agreed to come on board and play for an 0-8 team,” reflected Dobie. “The character of that recruiting class is what changed the course of the program.”
Moving in the right direction
In 2000, the program took another step in the right direction, posting their best regular season record under Dobie at 6-1-1. It was also the team’s best overall record since 1969, when they claimed their first-ever Vanier Cup. The back-to-back winning seasons also marked a first since 1968-69.
Individually, Mikawoz set a then Bisons record for tackles in a season with 65 (since broken by DJ Lalama in 2016 with 72.5). He earned the Presidents Trophy as the Most Outstanding Defensive Player in Canadian college football, pacing a dominant defence that led the conference in quarterback sacks with 25 while also allowing a conference-best 17 points per game. Mikawoz was joined on the All-Canadian team by 6’3” cornerback Darnell Edwards, another of the Bisons’ key 1999 recruits out of Montreal who led Canada West in interceptions in 2000 and 2001.
“I think our guys started feeling that they could win a Vanier Cup,” said Dobie.
“They weren’t far wrong, but when I look back on in in retrospect we really weren’t quite there. We might’ve had the players to win it, but we didn’t have everything we needed to win it. We didn’t have all the structure and intrinsic things that we’ve learned going through all the battles. We were moving in the right direction, but we didn’t know what the end of the tunnel should look like.”
The affirmation
It didn’t take long for UM to find the light at the end of the tunnel. In 2001, they rolled to a 7-1 regular season record with an unprecedented 11 players being named All-Canadians.
Among the crop was powerful defensive tackle Israel Idonije, a local product from Brandon who played over a decade in the NFL. His 16 sacks between 2000-2002 still rank fourth all-time. Coe, Edwards and Mikawoz were also selected, as was British Columbia native Jamie Boreham, an immensely tough safety who’d previously played in the CJFL with Abbotsford and in university for the U of S. He’d already been selected by the BC Lions in the 2001 CFL draft, but lent his services to Manitoba in a big way for the next three seasons.
On Nov. 17, 2001, the years of hard work, patience and strategic recruiting paid off, as the Bisons returned to the Vanier Cup for the first time since 1970.
Their path to get there was nothing short of memorable, as UM took part in an all-time classic against OUA champion McMaster in the national semi. The game was tied 6-6 until the 3:55 mark of the fourth, where Munson – a Canada West All-Star who threw for just under 2100 yards – broke the game wide open with a 57-yard rushing touchdown on a quarterback draw. That ignited a 21-point outburst and a 27-6 victory.
Dobie’s reaction at the end of the game was one of pure joy.
“I remember that the field was flooded with people. It was such an awesome experience, Manitoba finally breaking through and going back to the Vanier Cup. The last time around was 1970. I hugged my wife and kind of just moved away from her and looked at her and screamed Jackie, we did it! We’re going to the Vanier Cup!”
In retrospect, Dobie admits that in 2001, winning the national semi essentially served as the program’s Vanier Cup. It was an affirmation that his efforts on a national scale had paid off, and that there was a positive, and winning culture established.
“In my mind we had climbed the mountain. We’d taken the University of Manitoba to the Vanier Cup, and you know what, let’s see what happens next week. Win or lose, we were going to play in the Vanier Cup and that’s all that mattered.”
In the national final, the Bisons went up against the undefeated Saint Mary’s Huskies, who’d also gone close to three decades without a Vanier at the time. They went 8-0 in the regular season, allowing just five points per game defensively thanks to an aggressive defence that under head coach Blake Nill ran a number of different blitz packages.
The game was close at halftime, with SMU up 18-13. The Huskies took control in the fourth quarter, out-scoring Manitoba 17-0 en route to a 42-16 win.
“That 2001 team, wow. It was an amazing team. It was arguably the best team we’ve ever had. I’m using the word arguably so I can be politically correct, but I’m not kidding you. It was a great team,” noted Dobie.
“We did all the right things, we just couldn’t pull the trigger on it. There were just things missing that we at the time didn’t realize were missing. We hadn’t learned as many of the lessons that we needed to learn, and we hadn’t evolved to the point that we needed to be at to help a team win a Vanier Cup.”
Seven players from Manitoba’s 2001 roster were drafted the following spring, however the Herd remained a contender. Led by All-Canadians such as Mikawoz, Idonije, Munson, Boreham and former Vanier Cheetah Boyd Barrett, the Herd went 8-0 in the regular season but failed to advance to the Hardy Cup.
“We were really good in 2002, and certainly could’ve gone to the Vanier and maybe won it in 2002,” added Dobie. “We were undefeated. We’d already lost some players from 2001 though, and after 2002 we lost a bunch more of significant players, so we were kind of in a rebuilding phase.”
That rebuilding phase took place over the course of the next two seasons, as Dobie and his coaching staff continued to learn how to structure themselves and operate. The lead man also continued his national recruiting efforts, finding the quarterback that would lead the Herd to the promised land along the way.
CHAPTER 3: BUILDING A CHAMPION
(2003-05)
Back in 1996, John Makie was nowhere near superstar status as a quarterback. Instead, he was a heavier set kid playing fullback on his bantam football team. Fueled with passion, his end goal was to be a signal caller. His dad was taught by the legendary John Hufnagel and had previously trained him at the position, so he felt he had some of the necessary tools to be successful at the high school level.
“I really wanted to play the quarterback position. I talked to the coach about it and showed him my arm strength and gave him everything like that. He said ‘oh yeah you’re good, but you’re in grade ten right now so we’re going to stick you at tight end.’”
Moving into grade 11, Makie dedicated all of his training to being a quarterback. The hard work paid off, as he earned starting duties for Dr. Martin LeBoldus, helping the school to the 1998 6A city championship despite being one of the smallest high school populations in the division.
Makie’s progression as a pivot was aided by John Foord, who’s coached at the school for 30 years, while also winning a provincial title with the Golden Suns as a player in 1987. With the help of Foord and others, the school has moulded into a powerhouse, consistently ranked as one of the nation’s top ten high school football programs.
It was under Foord that Makie learned the value of film study, something he’d carry with him the rest of his life, both as a player and coach.
“Johnny Ford, I’ll never forget him in my path in the sport of football. He was a guy that taught me about film and about the extra work that you need to put in as a quarterback to know your opponent. He would keep me after school. I remember late nights even in the school going over VHS tapes. Once he showed me this film I was almost like well, this is almost like cheating. He would teach me a whole heck of a lot about what to look for in your opponent. It was the smaller details that did give me an edge, and not only that, it got me excited about prepping for a game.”
The Golden Suns threw the ball more than any other team, which gave Makie valuable experience and reps.
“There was one game where we threw the ball 40 times, and that was a big deal in high school football,” he chuckled. “That was my last game at Taylor Field against Winston Knoll.”
Destination 1: Valley City State
Makie’s senior year didn’t go according to plan, however his performance on the field had turned some heads. At the end of his grade 12 year, he was approached by Corey Goff, then the receivers coach and passing game coordinator for provincial champion Sheldon-Williams. Makie didn’t know it at the time, but Goff would go on to become a valuable resource and aid in his life.
Back in 1999 though, the pair’s main connection was the fact that they’d faced off against each other. Goff – who also helped the Golden Suns’ basketball team – had recently finished playing receiver for Valley City State University (VCSU) in North Dakota, and saw the potential in Makie. This was partly due to the fact that he threw for over 300 yards against Sheldon-Williams, despite Goff figuring out LeBoldus’ play calls.
“He stole our signals. We had a wristband where you signal in the numbers, and he figured out the number scheme, and sure enough, we never changed our play call. Our wrist band was the same from game one to game eight,” joked Makie. “He scouted our plays and knew what was coming, and we still threw for over 300.”
With Goff’s help, Makie was able to enroll at VCSU, a small NAIA school which has 249 member institutions spread out across North America. Makie was the backup quarterback in 2000, and was “in his glory” due to the amount of football-specific training that occurred down south.
“I traveled with the team and got to experience university football the way it is in America. And it’s true, I found out very quickly that it’s like a religion. I probably went maybe five days that year without throwing a football. There was always something to do with weights, with practice, with film, with throwing extra routes. It was just nonstop every day.”
Admittedly, Makie didn’t take school as seriously as he should have. The team also redshirted another quarterback that year that they were prepping to become the starter in 2001. With all of this combined, he saw the writing on the wall and chose to depart.
“At the end of the day I was just like okay, I’m not doing well in school, it’s the second semester. About one month left of school I made my decision to go home and play junior football. It was a mixture between I don’t think I was ready for university life, and I just didn’t put in the amount of work that was needed for university.”
Junior football success
Makie’s return home also marked a reunion with Goff, who brought him into the Regina (originally called Prairie) Thunder program. The Rams had moved up to the university ranks the year before, and joining them was quarterback Mark Anderson. Makie duked it out with Stefan Endsin – now the offensive coordinator for the club – winning the battle for the number one spot, a position he manned for the next three seasons.
Alongside head coach Randy Shaw, Makie lit up the Canadian Junior Football League. In 2002, he was the MVP of the Prairie Football Conference as the Thunder went 6-2. Shaw was also named the CJFL Coach of the Year that season after guiding a third-year program to new heights.
At the conclusion of the 2002 season, the Rams recruited Makie, which should come as no surprise. Typically, the top end players coming out of Saskatchewan and Regina – especially at the quarterback position – would choose to stay loyal to their province and commit to either the U of S or R.
The man with a cannon for an arm held off that year, as Shaw wanted him to come back for one last season in an attempt to make a run for a national championship. In a tragic turn of events, the team didn’t do as well as expected and for whatever reason, Regina wasn’t calling.
To make matters worse, Shaw was let go at the end of 2003 due to friction with the Thunder’s new board of directors. On top of that, the new head coach’s offensive philosophy didn’t line up with Makie’s. He wanted to run a two-quarterback system, which wasn’t going to help the pivot in his attempt to earn a university scholarship offer, and ultimately a degree.
“I was getting serious about going to university. That was the ultimate goal for me was to go back to university and get an education,” he said.
“That was the deal that I made with my grandma on my mom’s side. She said ‘don’t just be playing this game for nothing. You shouldn’t be spending this much time with the game if you’re not going to get anything out of it aside from fun. You make sure you get something out of this.’ My mom always said ‘university is the goal, if you can get a degree out of this sport then you run out and get it.’”
Once again, Goff stepped up. He’d accepted a new role as offensive coordinator with the Vancouver Trojans in 2004 and suggested that Makie join him out west. The Trojans had been the worst team in junior football for the last decade, but Makie stayed loyal to his roots and it paid off big time.
“What we ended up doing was something special. Corey Goff really recruited hard for that team, and we had some real big ballers, and some Bisons alumni too. Randy Simmons was on that team, and Matt Singer. There were a lot of Bisons that came from there.”
The Trojans made noise in the British Columbia Football Conference, advancing to the playoffs. Personally, Makie set a then junior football record for career passing yards, throwing for a total of 9370.
Bisons head coach Brian Dobie, who was doing his typical run of recruiting in the area, took notice. He’d seen Makie play years earlier against the Winnipeg Rifles and was interested, but didn’t expect him to be available.
“I’ll never forget. The first thing that came out of his mouth was ‘you’re a done deal with the U of R, right?’ I looked over at Corey, who was doing the introduction, and I was like oh coach no, we’ve got to talk. From that point, the rest is history.”
Building a championship base
After going a combined 15-1 in regular season play between 2001-02, Brian Dobie’s Manitoba Bisons entered a rebuilding phase, finishing 6-10 over the next two seasons. The team also said goodbye to the likes of Joey Mikawoz, Scott Coe, Israel Idonije and others who had helped turn the program’s defence into the best in the nation.
“They were pretty tough years for us I think because 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 we were kind of owning it,” recalled Dobie.
“We hardly lost any games over that period of time. That wasn’t the case in 2003 and 2004. I will say this. We were understanding what it takes to win. I don’t mean games, what it takes to ultimately win. We were growing towards that understanding.”
Dobie continued to attract top talent from across the nation as UM matured. Cory Huclack, a 2002 commit out of Oak Park, and Kenton Onofrychuk (2004) – who posted 53 tackles with the Winnipeg Rifles in 2003 – were key local additions at linebacker.
As usual, the BCFC also provided a huge pipeline. Abbotsford’s Bob Reist (2003-07) and Victoria’s Mike Howard (2003-07) were among the Herd’s commits at defensive back, along with Tri-City linebacker Jeff Alamolhoda (2003-07). Defensive lineman Simon Patrick (2003-07) also made his way to University Stadium following a successful career with the Edmonton Huskies.
Each of these athletes were present during an ugly, rainy practice in October 2004. The day in question was one of the key ingredients that started the team “culturally on a winning path to the Vanier,” according to Dobie.
“Our old practice fields were barely fields. They were mud patches when it rained. It had been raining for three days and on that day, it was pouring rain. It was a literal mud pile swamp. We were having a terrible practice. It was like people just weren’t into it. I stopped practice and lined them up and just berated them,” he recalled.
“The more I berated them, the angrier I became. I went okay, let’s go! We started near the golf course link fence and we started to run, do crab walks, push ups, sit ups and other “fun” drills, and we went the length of the field almost to the road. I’m going to say that’s 500-600 yards. Then, we turned around and did it again, and again and again.
I’m going to say that we did this for 45 minutes. Guys were throwing up and swearing and cursing. I said, anybody that’s unhappy and wants to leave, be my guest, just know that you won’t be here tomorrow. Nobody left. They all endured it and hated it. It was an angry team that night leaving the field.”
“I’m not that guy, but it’s one of the best things that I personally did as a head coach in my career,” Dobie added.
“It was a group of players that we didn’t know at the time would become the base of our Vanier Cup championship team. I’m telling you, I believe it in my heart that it started that October day in all that mud and rain on that field that night by doing that. Our team became closer. All of us became closer. Everybody realized that we were in it together and that it wasn’t going to be easy. It was going to be tough and ugly at times.
When you think back on it, that night in the mud and rain symbolizes all those words I just said. That’s kind of what that group became. They became tough and they became closer teammates. That was the building of a Vanier championship team. You could see it really get rolling for real in 2005.”
Adding key pieces
The Herd went 4-4 in 2005, returning to the post season for the first time since 2002. They fell 33-24 in the conference semi-finals, but were confident heading into ’06, as a solid core of the team – including most of the defence – was returning.
Manitoba’s aforementioned recruits played a huge role. Reist began his first of three straight years as a team captain in 2005, while Patrick was an All-Canadian. Additionally, Huclack was a conference all-star after registering five interceptions.
Offensively, Manitoba was supposed to have as many as six pivots entering training camp in 2005, however that number got trimmed significantly. Ryan Zahara – a former Edmonton Wildcat who learned under program record-holder Shane Munson – earned QB1 duties. His backup was John Makie, a Regina product who’d set a CJFL career record for passing yards the year before.
He didn’t know it at the time, but two seasons later, Makie would help the Herd reach the pinnacle of university football. That year though, he was the understudy, someone who Dobie had immense trust in, because, as usual, he’d done his research during the recruitment process.
“He called my mom, my dad, my girlfriend. Even my godparents I think he had a conversation with,” chuckled Makie.
“This guy was everywhere in my internal network with the people that mattered the most to me. He was recruiting them, as well as myself, as I just said well, this is the guy that I want to be around with. I want to link myself up with a coach who cares about his players. Not only that, I wasn’t really being recruited by the U of R at that point. They said come over if you want, but they weren’t giving any scholarship money. It was their loss.”
Neither Makie nor Zahara were gifted with game-changing athleticism. Instead, they used their football IQ and work ethic to achieve success alongside veteran offensive coordinator and former NCAA pivot Jeff Stead.
“I’m no athlete. I’m the slowest guy on the field in the quarterback group, but I just always said how much do you want it? You’ve got to always be putting in the work,” Makie said.
“Ryan wasn’t a physical specimen either. I think he was 5’9” on a good day and not very athletic, but he was smart as a whip. He had me looking at things completely different from what I’d already known. It enhanced my game being in the film room with that guy. A lot of the success I experienced in 2006 was from learning from Ryan Zahara, as well as Jeff Stead. Jeff was there with me the whole time. I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about coach Stead and the way he ran his offence.”
Another first-year Bison in 2005 was offensive lineman Ryan Karhut. A five-year member of the Edmonton Huskies who’d also spent a year down south, he’d been on the radar of Dobie since 2001, when he first started recruiting him.
“[Dobie] started contacting me pretty early. I remember it was 2001 and 2002 because they were on TV playing in the big conference championship games. It was kind of a fun time to be outside of the program, because the program was so visible,” said Karhut.
“I ended up going to the University of Central Florida. Coach Dobie and I, we stayed in touch, because he’s such a good relationship builder. I felt like he was more than a coach trying to recruit me, so we stayed in contact and stuff. After I left Central Florida, I met with a couple of other coaches from Canada West programs, and I honestly had no interest whatsoever. If I was going to play anywhere, it was going to be Manitoba.”
Manitoba didn’t have a lot of depth on the offensive line, but they were massive… for the most part.
“In 2005 it was pretty shocking. We were enormous. I was by far the shortest guy on the o-line and I think I was the lightest as well,” noted Karhut.
“We were just gigantic. We had Riley Clayton who’s 6’5” and about 310, we had Terry Watson who’s 6’6”, we had Stephen Fedus, who’s 6’5” and Tye Smith, who was about 6’7”, and then there was me at 6’3.”
Karhut’s well-rounded knowledge of the game is what set him apart. He was a conference all-star right from the jump, helping running back Darwin Thompson rush for 788 yards.
“I always knew I wasn’t going to be the most physically gifted person out there. There’s not a lot of Division 1 or CFL teams drooling over a 6’3”, 290-pound offensive lineman. They can find those guys everywhere. I just pride myself on learning and understanding and developing my mental side of the game as much as I could.
It started in high school. I got super into the idea of coaching, simply to learn more about the sport, because I felt like I had a very sheltered scope or knowledge of the game at that point from only playing o-line and d-line pretty much my whole career. When I was in high school I started coaching peewee football and going to all the practices, and it taught me a tonne super quick about the game.”
It also helped that Karhut was lined up against Simon Patrick at every level. The former Huskies star, who was “built like a grizzly bear” earned All-Canadian status in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and sits seventh in program history with 13 sacks. His unrivaled determination on the field forced those around him to get better.
“There is no difference between Simon Patrick and a grizzly bear,” joked Karhut.
“The other crazy part about Simon Patrick was that he never changed. I played high school football with Simon and he looked the exact same as he did in junior football, where I also played with him, and then in university. He was the worst person to practice against, because there was no such thing as taking a play off. He gave you everything he had on every play.
I literally think he put me on the right plane and projection for my own football career, because in my first year of high school, I played centre, he played nose tackle and we ran a 30 front. We had like 27 guys on our high school team. We didn’t have a scout team offence or defence, so I practiced against him every single day and every single rep. It made me go from an okay player to a somewhat better than okay player.”
CHAPTER FOUR: ALL BUSINESS
(2006-07)
The battle-tested Bisons entered 2006 with a focused energy, and it paid off. They went undefeated in the regular season, outscoring their opponents 363-143, the latter of which was a league low. Dobie was also named Canada West Coach of the Year for the fifth time.
“When I first came in 2005, it was a lot of energy, a lot of excitement, but not really a lot of sureness or awareness of how to point that energy or how to guide that energy to be the most productive way it could be,” said Karhut.
“In 2006, we came out with so much energy and so much emotion behind us, and we just steamrolled everybody, because that energy was finally pointed in the right direction, and all in the same direction. You could see the whole locker room transform. It was like everyone had suddenly seen the path that we needed to take to be really good.”
In his first year as starter, Makie led an incredibly efficient Bisons attack which complemented a stout defence.
“It was an explosive season. I think it took some of us by surprise, like me with how dominant games were. A lot of it is in due part to our defence. Our defence was extremely good in 2006. Our offence, we got the ball quite a bit and our stats were gaudy. The number one job I had was to not turn over the football. That was the mantra. In that 2006 season I only threw two picks I think.”
Alongside Patrick, fifth-year Huclack also earned All-Canadian status after posting a team-high 47 tackles, two sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. He was among a leadership group that fostered a culture of toughness on the field.
Another difference-maker was Bob Reist, a three-year captain from 2005-07 who was among the fiercest competitors in the nation at safety. He’d been an All-Canadian and the BCFC’s top defensive back between 1999-2002 and brought an intensity that rubbed off on everyone around him.
“Bobby Reist kind of exemplified who all of them were. He was just so blatant,” reflected Dobie.
“In 2006, we were decimating Simon Fraser out in Vancouver. It was halftime and the score was 45-0. We got locked out of our locker room at halftime, so we had to wait. When that happened, Simon Fraser, who left the field after us, had to go right in front of our guys to go to their locker room. It was relentless.
What I remember more than anything – and all of our guys were doing it – Bobby Reist was spitting venom. He was screaming at them, it was like sharks to blood. That was Bobby. He was a guy that I would have to go all the way out to the hashmarks when the other team was being introduced and literally grab him by the collar, and he would be angry at me. He was emblematic.”
Despite a dominant regular season, Manitoba’s dream for a perfect campaign fell short in the Hardy Cup, as they were upset 32-15 by Saskatchewan. There were over 900 yards of total offence in the contest, with the Huskies racking up 300 yards rushing.
“My best friend, and my mom’s godfather, Terry Watson, that was his last year. I lived with him, and we had to watch the rest of the playoff run while the Huskies were making it all the way to the Vanier Cup,” commented Makie.
“Watching that game I just remember how upset Terry was, and how upset everybody felt.”
Many players on the team took the loss to heart. In the offseason, they made a decision as a team that spearheaded them towards greatness.
“Traditionally that’s when we all kind of go home,” said Makie. “After the 2006 season, I’m certain that none of our guys went home. It was business in the weight room, it was business on the field.”
Reaching the pinnacle
At the beginning of the 2007 season, quarterback John Makie made a bold statement, informing Joe Pascucci of Global News that he believed his team was on the way to winning a Vanier Cup.
When he was confronted about the declaration, he was unapologetic. He knew in his heart that Manitoba’s 2007 team was building something special. The memory of last year’s loss in the Hardy Cup had lingered, and never in his life had he and his teammates been more motivated to win. The proof was in their work ethic, both before and during the season.
“We knew the talent that we had, and that’s the reason why I made those comments to Joe at Global,” recalled Makie. “I know it’s like oh, you shouldn’t say that, but it was felt from everybody that went to those workouts, that came together.”
It was a roster that had been battled-tested, a group of older (29 players on the roster were 25 years old or older) like-minded individuals who were hard-working, blue-collar football players. Specifically on the offensive line, the top eight guys were all junior football alum who were a bit older and had similar experiences.
“There’s so much stuff off the field that comes to mind first when I think of the 2007 year, and it always comes back to being with the o-line. It’d be the breaks within the practice, whether it was our warm up or our cool down between drills. We were a tight-knit group and we had way too much fun with one another,” noted Karhut, who started at guard and was a captain.
“I think that helped drive that culture quite a bit. We could all relate to each other so well, even though we were from all from across Canada. A bit part of that was our similarities in age and in talent level.”
‘We had each other’
But more than that, this group was a family who had fought through adversity.
One example involved 6’4”, 220-pound receiver Randy Simmons, who made up one third of one of the nation’s most athletic receiving corps, alongside Terry Firr (first all-time in program history with 152 receptions) and Simon Blaszczak.
Simmons was a native of Michigan who’d come to Canada to play junior football because at the time, it didn’t use up any of his five years of university eligibility to participate. He first met Makie when the pair were both members of the Vancouver Trojans.
“He comes onto the Trojans, and I meet him at the house we were staying at in Vancouver, and sure enough here comes this guy from Michigan, and I know how Americans treat their football. He shakes my hand, and it’s almost twice the size of mine. Now all of a sudden I’m looking at him like competition,” commented Makie.
“Sure enough, Corey [Goff] put him at quarterback, and he took the majority of reps that day to get him sped up, because I was the only quarterback on the roster. Corey would drop us off and I was quiet on the ride home, and he’s like ‘what’s the matter with you?’ I’m like am I seeing the writing on the wall here? Am I getting my job replaced?”
Makie didn’t get replaced. Simmons ended up playing receiver, where he formed a potent combination with the Regina native due to each’s understanding of ball placement.
“It really helped both of our games, because we worked off of each other. He knew angles and where to put the ball and how to catch it, and we always spoke to each other in that sense. He knew what I was looking at, and I knew what he was doing.”
Following Vancouver’s loss in the 2004 playoffs, the dynamic duo stuck together.
“Randy was like ‘hey Makie, what are we doing next year?’ I’m like let’s go to Manitoba. He was like ‘alright, let’s do it,’ and that was it. All of a sudden he came to Manitoba and he’s like ‘hey where are you living?’ I’m like well, we’ve got a spot here. You can crash on the couch. We had an extra room then and he was always with me throughout.”
On the field, the pair had an unspoken connection. Simmons had 469 receiving yards during the 2007 regular season, averaging just under 14 yards per catch as a security blanket for Makie. Off the field, Makie was there for his receiver and friend following the death of his mother.
“I was with Randy Simmons when he heard that his mom died. I’ll tell you I never saw something so sad and heartbreaking and I was right there with him. I was patting him on the back saying it’s going to be okay, we’ve got each other. I’m sure it goes for every kid in university where they go through these lows in their life, but if you have a brother or a family member that you can count on or talk to or be around, it makes it a lot easier. We had each other.”
Sacrifices
On a roster as talented, and experienced as Manitoba’s, there were bound to be sacrifices that needed to be made.
“In 2006, I think we needed to have a better grasp of us, of we and I think we developed that through some hard lessons such as losing that playoff came to Saskatchewan. It was a real gut check and a reality check,” mentioned Dobie.
“In 2007 we went over the edge as a true team. It was literally one for all and all for one. There were so many guys, guys like Riley Shogan who was a really good linebacker, but wasn’t necessarily going to be a starter because we were so loaded. He didn’t blink an eye and killed special teams. They were happy for our team and didn’t let the me overtake the we.”
Another major sacrifice took place in the backfield. Prior to 2007, the duties had been handled by former Victoria Rebels standout Karim Lowen. He entered his third season with the squad as the oldest member of the roster at 29-years-old, but took a back seat at times to Matt Henry, a second-year player who’d come to UM straight out of high school.
“You look at the running backs we had, Karim Lowen is a great example. He was the oldest guy on the team and he was playing behind this Matt Henry kid, and Karim was very good unto his own right, but he’s playing behind some kid. Not once did he ever come to my office to challenge it,” said Dobie.
“He supported Matt, and when he got his chances he ripped up people too.”
Young guns
Speaking of Henry, the impact he had for UM cannot be understated.
Standing at 5’11”, 215-pounds, the Mississauga man was highly recruited out of high school, thanks to a dominant career where he racked up over 1000 yards each year for Applewood Heights. He also had 18 total touchdowns in his grade 12 season, and epitomized second effort.
Raised by a single mother named Janet, Henry understood the value of hard work from a young age.
“She’s the one who instilled all the values that I have now, just to be kind to people, and be patient and honest,” said Henry. “As a single mom doing it on her own raising myself and my sister, it kind of forced me to grow up faster than I wanted to, but it’s shaped me into the man I am today, and for that I owe her everything.”
Janet was present during Matt’s entire recruiting process, and like many others, she was impressed by the approach and attitude taken by Dobie.
“When it got time to get serious, coach Dobie came to my house. He sat with myself and my mother and did his pitch like he always does. That week, my mom probably sat with five or six different coaches, but she loved him the most. That was the determining factor, because at that point, what she said was pretty important to me.”
Henry was a model of consistency at UM, rushing for over 600 yards in each of his university seasons. He had a combined 16 rushing touchdowns between 2006-07 and was named a Canada West All-Star in the latter year, while his 3,171 rushing yards also ranks second all-time in program history.
His running style, along with Lowen’s helped Manitoba’s offensive line develop a never say die attitude up front.
“The best part about Karim and Matt Henry was just their ability to break tackles. They were never down, and you could never assume that they were down,” commented Karhut.
“We had backs before that who were fast guys, but they weren’t guys who would stay on their feet, whereas both of those guys – even though Matt was more well known for it – Karim was every bit as good in that sense. It was super hard to bring them down. As an o-lineman, we learned that we could never give up on a play, because these guys were never giving up on anything. They were a lot of fun to block for.”
Manitoba’s defence was loaded with senior talent, but there were also some rising stars in their midst. One such player was lineman Eddie Steele, a constant for the Kelvin Clippers from grades 9-12 who played every snap except for three in his senior year.
He found a role with Manitoba team fairly quickly, churning out 5.5 tackles and a sack during Manitoba’s playoff run.
“I came into college as an 18-year-old and I was playing against guys that were 26 and 27, guys with full-on families and kids, and here I am, this young puppy. It forced me to grow up really quickly, and to really take the game seriously because those guys weren’t joking around,” said Steele.
“It was a job honestly, it was kill or be killed and only the strong survived. I really credit the guys for passing on their knowledge and experience. They really took me under their wing, because the reality was that they realized I could play ball at this level and I wasn’t your typical high school kid coming out who’s going to be redshirting for a few years and then maybe get on the roster. I think I had an impact instantly. It’s a credit to guys like Simon Patrick, Justin Shaw and Justin Cooper. They were great mentors to have.”
Shaw and Cooper both got drafted in the third round of the 2008 CFL Draft, while Patrick was widely regarded as one of the hardest working men on the roster. Along with those three was Don Oramasionwu, a former teammate of Steele’s at Kelvin who was a starter in 2007 and got drafted the following year as well.
“Shaw, he was that cool guy. He looked a certain part and was a jacked-up body. He was definitely one of the guys on the team where when he spoke, you listened,” noted Steele.
“Cooper, we called him the manimal because he was just a beast. He was a flat-out beast with his work ethic and his motor on the field. He wasn’t overly vocal, but he definitely led by example. Simon Patrick, I cant’ say enough good things about him. He’s probably one of the best football players I’ve ever seen. It was amazing what he could do.”
Unstopppable run to the Vanier
All of these elements combined made Manitoba unstoppable in 2007. Once again they went undefeated in the regular season, but this time, they weren’t going to be denied in the playoffs.
“It was just a steamrolling,” recalled Makie. “We were all kind of reminded of the sting that was felt in 2006 and we stomped on teams.”
The score line in Manitoba’s Hardy Cup and Mitchell Bowl victories was absolutely ridiculous, as they out-scored their opponents 100-25. Amazingly, prior to a Western touchdown in the third quarter, the Bisons’ defence had gone a total of 245:28 without allowing a touchdown, and they also finished at over plus 30 in the turnover department.
“I look at Stan Pierre our defensive coordinator. I think forming that defence was part of his evolution. He had a lot of really good pieces to the puzzle to work with and a lot of super high achieving players,” said Dobie. Stan was able to take a lot of his concepts, and because so many of them were students of the game, they 100 percent bought in. He was able to expand his concepts, which made us a nightmare for opposing offences.”
Manitoba’s 48-5 blowout over Regina in the Hardy Cup hit differently for Makie, who’d been passed on by his hometown team prior to the 2005 season. He had a stellar day, throwing for 253 yards and three scores, with 98 of those yards as well as two majors going to Firr.
“Regina, I’ll never forget that Hardy Cup. It was awesome. Everything worked out. They tried different stuff on the defence but it just didn’t work. Terry Firr had a game. All of our receivers just showed up, and I don’t think there were any drops in the playoff run that we had. It was just amazing,” he said.
“Winning the Hardy Cup was like taking the monkey off our back, and we slammed Regina, which felt good to everybody. Any time the Bisons went on the field with the U of R, it was personal. As much as I didn’t want to admit it then, I’ll admit it now. It was straight personal and I wanted to put up as many points as I could. At the end of the day, we did not lose to them when I was behind centre.”
A business trip
When Manitoba departed for the Vanier Cup in Toronto, they had one thing on their mind, and that was snapping their 30-plus year championship drought. The experience for Dobie was much different than in 2001. His program had developed a culture of success and knew they had what it took to win.
“After the national semi, of course we rejoiced and of course we were excited to go to the Vanier Cup, but it was not the same feeling, not even close. It was very much just another game, because we were going this time to win the Vanier Cup, not to be in it. It was a different culture, and it takes time for a culture to develop and it takes successes and failures. It’s an evolution. A culture is an evolving, living being and our culture had to grow to make us champions.”
Prior to the game, Dobie delivered a passionate speech where he highlighted the experiences of each of the team’s graduating seniors. It was a powerful moment that helped the team lock in.
“I think people know me quite well, and that I talk a lot, but I don’t plan speeches very often. I feel that if I do and my emotions aren’t tied into the speech, then it doesn’t fit. I don’t think you can be an actor. When I talk to the team, whether it’s a pre-game speech or anything, I know that I want to say something, but I try to word it in a way that suits how I feel. The message remains the same, but the deliverance of the message is different,” Dobie said.
“I did plan that speech. Not that I memorized it or wrote it down, but that speech was very much from the heart. What it was about was honouring our graduating players. I called each of them up one by one and hugged them. What the speech was about was that everyone had something different in their past, and in their present that they brought to the table and was unique to them.
Every single person on our team did that. They all had something to bring, and everybody respected and embraced each other’s differences, which was us the team that we were: invincible. It was very emotional. I’ll always remember the feeling in that locker room. I can’t explain it to you, it was a feeling that this was our moment and that it was undeniable.”
“When we brought it in, you could hear guys sniffling and crying,” added Makie.
“There were tears there prior to the game where you’re about to go win a Vanier Cup championship. On an emotional level we were ready to run through a brick wall. We had each other, and that’s what coach Dobie was saying, at least that’s what I gathered from his speech before the game. We were so close with each other that we were family.”
Playing for Matt
The Vanier Cup moment that’s entrenched in the minds of many occurred late in the first quarter with Manitoba down 7-3. Henry had just busted off a 30-plus yard gain deep into Saint Mary’s Huskies territory, but was taken down from behind, resulting in a broken femur. Henry’s leg flew above his head in a gruesome injury that gave his side one more reason to bring home the hardware.
“When we saw it happen, it only stoked the fire that was already ready to go. I’ve watched that game quite a bit, and you watch the momentum and there was never a moment where you were like oh no, we might lose,” recalled Makie. “There was never any type of momentum shift or anything. It was just let’s get out of this game, we’re winning. When that happened to Matt it was like okay, well now we’re doing it for him.”
Lowen stepped into Henry’s starting spot and didn’t miss a beat. He finished with 88 yards on 19 carries, while Making threw for 261 yards and a score en route to being named the game’s Offensive MVP.
The story of this one came on D however, where fifth-year veteran corner Mike Howard – who was also the Mitchell Bowl MVP – went off. He tied a Vanier Cup record with three interceptions, two of which came on-back-to-back drives. Makie helped turn Howard’s second pick into a score, which gave the Bisons a 13-7 lead. They never trailed the rest of the way, winning 28-14.
Howard’s performance was a testament to his work ethic. Standing at 5’9” he wasn’t the tallest or biggest guy on the field, and the Huskies had intended to isolate him all game with a bigger receiver. That plan didn’t work out as intended.
“Mike Howard was so unbelievably competitive,” said Dobie. “Nothing about Mike physically said that he was going to be a capital G great player, except who he is, and who he is is the most important thing. Mike’s character is what made him a great player. He epitomized the absolute over achiever. He was relentless.”
Relentless is a great word to describe Manitoba’s 2007 season. They put their egos aside and came together day in and day out with the common goal of bringing a Vanier Cup back to the 204.
“It was a great group of guys,” stated Dobie.
“I’ll love them until death. It was such a ride to be immersed with people like that, who had the same feelings towards each other as they worked together towards a common goal, not knowing if they would succeed or fail in that goal, but living for the moments. They weren’t playing for the results, they were playing for each other. The results took care of themselves as they went along their path.”
Legacy
Manitoba’s victory in 2007 had a lasting impact. Makie and Karhut have continued to give back to the game to this day, both settling down in Winnipeg while continuing to coach.
Karhut has been the bench boss for the Winnipeg Rifles as well as Team Manitoba’s U18 squad and is currently the offensive line coach for UM. Makie also served on Manitoba’s staff for a while, was the technical director for Football Manitoba and currently coaches for St. Paul’s High School.
“That was a lot of fun. It gets me back on the gridiron every fall, just looking back and thinking of the path that I took,” said Makie.
“If you can influence kids in any way to keep on treading forward in the sport, those things can help you out in life if you just create those habits at an early age. That’s the beauty of the sport. I’m pretty proud of everything that’s happened since the time that I’ve come here in Winnipeg. It’s awesome to see.”
Steele was drafted 22nd overall in the 2010 CFL Draft by Hamilton, the same team that’d selected his father decades earlier. He played pro for nine years, and brought home a Grey Cup in 2015 with Edmonton, where he currently lives.
“When we won that Vanier Cup it was such a surreal moment. I didn’t really know how to win, and it taught me a lesson that way and how to handle yourself,” he said. “Fortunately in my pro career, I was able to win a lot of games, and that’s because of the little things that you do. You don’t win a game on a Saturday or Sunday, you win it during the work week. It worked out pretty well for me in my pro career, because I did do a lot of winning. I was only on one losing team, so that was pretty special.”
Henry’s legacy is about far more than football. Instead it’s a message of perseverance. He tirelessly rehabbed his broken femur and was back on the field as Manitoba’s starting running back a year later.
“On the surgery table I won’t lie, I asked the doctor will I ever play again? The doctor said ‘you’re lucky you didn’t sever your femoral artery, there’s no internal bleeding, you’re going to be fine as long as you do the work.’ I said okay.
During the rehab I had doubts, because I was scared. It was so painful. Two-a-days and just the massaging and the stretching, everything put together I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it. At a certain point it was like well, I’ve come this far, I’ve gone through this much pain already. I might as well keep going and see what happens at the end of it. After the year I was able to come back, and start at running back again. It was pretty crazy. It took two or three games for me to get back into the right head space, and then after that I was good.”
Along with Karhut and Makie, Henry has made Winnipeg his home. He helps coach running backs for the Manitoba Fearless of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League (WWCFL), and runs the sales department at Eastern Chrysler where he shares is story of resilience with his colleagues.
“Football is obviously a contact sport, but for my job now, it’s how you prepare yourself, how you get ready and what you do after you face adversity. I know coach Dobie would always say to the team ‘it’s not what happens to you, it’s how you respond.’ I compare that to my guys who work for me now at the car dealership. Do you want to prepare like an amateur, or do you want to prepare like a professional? Sports and business, they intertwine. If you put the work in, you’re going to get the results.”
CHAPTER 5: BUILDING BACK UP
(2008-14)
Much like in 2003, Dobie and his staff had to rebuild their roster following their Vanier Cup championship. The Bisons missed the playoffs each of the next four years, however a strong crop of local recruits – some of the best to ever grace high school football turfs – all chose to commit to the Herd.
That group included future Grey Cup champs Anthony Coombs (2010), Thomas Miles (2010), Evan Gill (2010), Kienan LaFrance (2011) and Nic Demski (2011). Each athlete was critical to the Herd’s long-term success over the following three years, which saw Manitoba advance to the playoffs each season.
“We’d gone through, I think, some really good recruiting years. I remember sitting in a room over across campus, and having people come and present to my top 12 recruits in Manitoba. That room was unbelievable,” Dobie recalled.
“That room had [ANAVETS Bowl champion] Evan Gill [from Churchill], [ANAVETS Bowl champion] Thomas Miles [from Churchill] and [Free Press Bowl champion] Anthony Coombs [from Sturgeon Heights]. That room was filled with all of those players, and they were finishing their grade 12 year and we thought if we can get most of this group of grade 12 kids, we’ve got a big piece to the puzzle solved. I believe we signed 11 of the 12 over the coming weeks and months. And then you start looking for pieces.”
Demski, Coombs and LaFrance – all of whom ran the rock in high school – formed a particularly dangerous combination for the Bisons. Demski was shifted to receiver, where his 3910 all-purpose yards, 15 majors and 1577 yards receiving and rank first, second and seventh all-time respectively in program history.
Coombs and Lafrance were dangerous in multiple facets as well. The former’s 29 total majors rank second all-time in program history, while his 3827 all-purpose yards are also second all-time. LaFrance isn’t far behind, with his 1997 all-purpose yards sitting sixth all-time. Defensively, Gill’s 91.5 tackles are in the top 20 all-time for the Herd, as are Miles’ 88.
But as Dobie mentioned, the team was still looking for other pieces to complete the puzzle. One of the major question marks was at quarterback, where the team was searching for a game-changer to anchor a Manitoba squad that’d lost in the first round of the playoffs in 2012. Prior to 2013, the Bisons had been through three different starters in three years in Khaleal Williams, Cam Clark and Ryan Marsch, and while each was solid, the Herd were looking for some stability.
Cue Jordan Yantz. The 6’1”, 213-pound multiple-time CJFL national champ with Vancouver Island was a proven winner and could get it done with his powerful arm or his legs. Dobie wanted him bad, and that desire increased after witnessing him orchestrate a game-winning drive against Langley in a game that would determine who finished first in the British Columbia Football Conference standings.
“I’m out there in BC a lot, and I’m watching this dude play. It’s third and ten and VI has got the ball with 13 seconds left down by two at about their 33-yard line needing to complete a pass of about 25 to 35 yards. [Yantz] gets some pressure from [defensive end] Evan Foster, who set a CJFL sack record and I’m also trying to (and did) sign, and he steps outside of the pocket because he had to buy time. He hits a receiver almost literally to the spot of the line,” reflected Dobie.
“That thing had money on it. It was like a bullet. He hits the receiver in stride, two strides later he steps out of bounds and the clock stops. On goes the field goal team and they hit it right down the middle. That was Jordan Yantz, He was like Shane Munson and John Makie. He was an absolute consummate winner. He would find a way to run through a brick wall to win a football game. That’s how I would describe him. Shane Munson was the same way, John Makie was the same way. That’s why quarterbacks change programs.”
After the game, Dobie and Yantz stood by their cars and “talked into the darkness.” The head coach felt in that conversation that they were so close to signing him. They met for dinner the following night and shortly afterwards, Yantz called Dobie up and said “I’m all yours. I’m a Bison, let’s go win us a Vanier Cup!”
An upward trajectory
The 2013 season, Yantz’s first with the program, featured a number of exciting changes, the most notable being Manitoba’s new home. They said goodbye to the rusted tin shed of the Butler Hut and hello to Investors Group Field, a new 33,000 seat stadium which was shared with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. All of a sudden, the Bisons had their own weight room, locker room, meeting rooms and much more along with an enhanced level of swagger.
Manitoba’s inaugural game inside of IGF, which saw more than 10,000 fans attend, was an all-time classic and offered up a taste of what was to come in the era of Yantz.
A total of 106 points were scored, 65 of which came from the Bisons’ high-powered offence as they began the 2013 campaign with a 24-point victory over Alberta. Manitoba had eight touchdowns, five of which came from the trio of Coombs, LaFrance and Demski, while Yantz threw for four scores and Coombs rushed for 223 yards.
Led by Canada West All-Stars Yantz, Coombs and Demski, along with offensive lineman Alex McKay and Gill on defence, the Bisons hosted a playoff game for the first time since the 2007 Vanier Cup season. It was yet another classic against consistent rival Saskatchewan, with Yantz finding Demski for his third major of the game with 1:23 left to give the hosts a 37-36 lead.
The Huskies drove for the potential game-winning field goal on the following drive, but it was blocked with two seconds left, as the Herd beat the U of S in a playoff game for the first time since 1973.
The week after, Manitoba travelled to take on Calgary in the Hardy Cup. The Dinos had won the title every year since 2008 and that didn’t change in ‘13 after a 43-28 win which saw Mercer Timmis rush for 279 yards. It was also the 11th straight time the Dinos had topped Manitoba One thing was for sure though, the Herd had redemption on their mind, and a roster that was more than capable of returning to the post-season.
Unfinished business
In order to re-write history and cement their legacy in 2014, Manitoba needed get past the roadblock that was the Dinos, who’d won each of the last six conference titles.
“I remember at the beginning of the 2014 season in meetings, coach [Vaughan] Mitchell, he said it pretty bluntly. He said ‘listen guys, we’re going to have to play Calgary three times,” noted offensive lineman Tyler Fabbri, the team’s veteran centre who was in his final year of eligibility at the time after being recruited in 2010 from the Winnipeg Rifles.
“We have them twice in the regular season and we’re going to have to play them in the playoffs, whether it’s the semis or the Hardy Cup. We have to win two of those games.’”
There’s no doubt that the Bisons had the weapons on offence to make Mitchell’s statement a reality. First off, Yantz was back for his second year (fifth-year eligibility) and he had more than enough firepower to distribute the ball to. Demski (589 yards, five scores, All-Canadian in 2014), as well as Yantz’s long-time VI teammate Matt Sawyer (451 yards, five scores, CanWest all-star) and the big-bodied Alex Vitt (489 yards, four scores) were just a few of the impact receivers that returned to the lineup.
And while the team graduated one of the best players in program history at running back in Coombs, there was no need for concern as LaFrance stepped in with ease, earning all-star status along the way.
“[Coombs] was so fast and so quick, but then transitioning to Kienan, he was more of a one-cut downhill running back,” Fabbri said. “He’s not going to make 16 guys miss in a phone booth like Coombs could, but he’ll make somebody miss, he’s going to run hard and he’s going to finish all of his runs.”
Just as important was the team’s consistency on the offensive line. Along with Fabbri, McKay, Nevin Gamblin, Geoff Gray and Rob Smith all returned up front, as did hybrid tight end/h-back Matt Hallock. The 2014 season also marked the first time that all five guys started all 11 games.
“Coming into 2014, that was the first time that all five of us were coming back, which was huge. We had bonded so much just from the beginning of 2014 all the way through that season. There’s things that we started doing. Like Rob, the first huddle of every series, we’d always dap up and throw our hands in the middle, and then Rob would say ‘o-line’ and we’d go ‘dominate.’ That always set the tone for us going into those games, especially in the playoff run, we just became so close,” recalled Fabbri.
“Geoff was still super raw, because he was the young one in the group, but even then, I didn’t have to worry about talking to all four guys when we broke the huddle and I saw a certain look for the defence. It was just well, okay, Calgary is in their base 30 defence, they’re probably going to blitz. Alex is okay out there at tackle and so is Rob, and Nevin and Geoff knew what their responsibilities were. I knew if nobody blitzed I’d be getting help from somebody somewhere else. There was a lot of non-verbal communication that I think really helped us become closer.”
Defensively, the theme in 2014 was professionalism. The year prior, the team was filled with playmakers who could change games in an instant, however there were also some lapses in judgement which resulted in big plays. Entering the new season, a change in attitude was necessary for a squad that was packed with stars, including future NFL draft pick David Onyemata, and Gill and Foster all on the defensive line.
“We became a lot more physical,” noted linebacker Mitch Harrison, another 2010 commit from Dobie’s strong local class who was in his fourth year of eligibility in 2014.
“Throughout the season, you could feel a professional vibe coming from the defensive side. It was less about being athletes and making plays are more about doing our job and focusing collectively. It was nice to see it not just from the guys in the starting group, but also the backups.”
Look no further than Harrison for a textbook example of the team’s adeptness. He’d made the transition from defensive back to strong side linebacker in 2013, and was prepared to stick there in 2014. After a 44-24 loss to Saskatchewan in week one however, plans changed.
“The whole offseason I was focused on trying to keep my weight down a little bit, because I didn’t want to get too heavy. [Strength coach] Matt Barr really helped me transition properly and do the things I needed to do to be able to play. I got to about 215, and then we got absolutely destroyed by Saskatchewan in the first game, and coach [Stan] Pierre was like ‘we have to completely change the linebacking corps’ and I moved to WILL. My whole game plan completely changed.”
Harrison was under-sized on the weak side. Well known for his football IQ, he made it work and got better week by week.
“It’s not the same technique playing SAM as it is WILL. I didn’t know how to destroy blocks properly, I just relied on running around linemen and shooting gaps until finally coach Pierre talked to me. On campus I would walk up to poles and pretend they were linemen just so I could learn my technique faster.
Eventually I started to get it. The blitz game I got before, but it was more of what gap I was in and how it fit. I needed a game-and-a-half and I think I got it pretty quickly. From there it was the most fun I ever had playing football, plus I was playing beside [halfback] Jayden [McKoy], and we’re best friends so it was ideal.”
Along with Harrison, the rest of Manitoba’s linebacking corps was the main point of interest defensively. Jonathan Jones, a teammate of Yantz’s at VI with gifted athleticism, had secured the starting spot at strong side, but was still getting a grip on the playbook, while DJ Lalama – a future Presidents’ Trophy winner and CFL Draft pick – moved into the middle linebacker spot previously held by Miles.
“We got along, but early on there were some mistakes and we had to have some tough conversations to get things sorted out. I think those tough conversations really helped in the long run and we were able to have open conversations from that point on,” noted Harrison.
“DJ was also more of an emotional leader than myself. I’m not a yeller or anything like that. It was cool dynamic to be able to have him be that guy, while I was able to focus more on the mental side of things. Those other two could just fly around. You saw how many plays they were making. Coach Pierre gave me the freedom to make checks as often as I needed to and that gave them the freedom to fly around and make plays. I’ve never had more fun in a season with a group of linebackers.”
Overcoming adversity
The regular season was filled with ups and downs. Dominant wins over Regina in week two and Saskatchewan in week five were leveled out by heartbreaking defeat, such as a 42-41 loss to Calgary in week four which also saw defensive leader Gill go down with a severe knee injury. The loss was Manitoba’s 12th in a row to the Dinos, who kicked the game-winning field goal with just 53 seconds left.
Instead of frustration, there was hope as the Bisons went shot-for-shot with the nation’s best. Entering the final week of the regular season at 3-4, the team needed a victory over the No. 2 ranked Dinos to secure their spot in the playoffs. They marched into the home tilt with confidence, despite Yantz being unavailable due to a concussion from the week prior against Saskatchewan.
Cue Theo Deezar. The former St. Paul’s standout had joined the Bisons roster following a successful stint with the Okanagan Sun of the BCFC, and was prepared. Despite the importance of the game, Deezar didn’t let the moment overcome him. He followed the game plan to a tee, throwing for 210 yards and three majors while Alex Christie and LaFrance also combined for over 100 yards as Manitoba snapped their losing streak against Calgary at the perfect time in a 50-31 win.
The defence also did their part, with McKoy, as well as roommate and former Langley Rams standout Jordan Linnen both recording fumble recoveries for touchdowns.
“My ritual before the game, I would always dap up the quarterback before the coin toss. I just remember giving Theo a hug and I saw that he was ready. He gave me the confidence knowing that we were going to do this,” Fabbri recalled.
“We came out with a good game plan and ran the ball for the majority of the game with double tight ends. Calgary, for whatever reason wasn’t ready for it and our defence started to put things together. From start to finish, that was probably the most complete game we’d played against Calgary.”
Defence takes it to another level in the conference playoffs
Manitoba’s high-powered offence received plenty of attention, and rightfully so, all season long. The Canada West playoffs were no different, with LaFrance rushing for more than 100 yards in both games, while Yantz threw for an average of 313. It was the Bisons’ defence however, that helped the team get over the hump.
In two games, they combined for nine interceptions, led by Linnen and McKoy, who each had three.
“The dominance came just from being confident in our system and knowing what the other team was going to do. It was never a matter of can we do this, it was how much effort do we need to put in collectively to make it happen? We were all near the end of our careers, except for Jayden basically, but he’s such a hard worker too and he did what he needed to do,” said Harrison.
“We were tired about hearing about 2007, we were tired of hearing about all these other teams. We wanted to put our stamp on it. It was a confidence thing. We just felt confident in every matchup.”
The defence saved the best for last in their 27-15 Hardy Cup win over Calgary, forcing ten turnovers while helping fulfill Mitchell’s pre-season statement by beating the Dinos twice.
Everyone stepped up for Manitoba, as Linnen and fellow defensive backs Cam Teschuk and Tyler Fong all recorded interceptions. Jones also had a pick, which he took back to the house to tie the game at seven just under five minutes into the game.
Uteck Bowl an all-time classic
Riding the momentum of the school’s 11th Hardy Cup victory, Manitoba headed to Montreal to do battle with the No. 2 ranked Carabins in the Uteck Bowl. Due to U SPORTS rules, both sides only had two or three different game tapes to work with for the national semi. Offensively, the looks that the visitors had prepared for, compared to the looks they got in the front seven were different.
“They just played a base 4-3, but we got to the game and [future CFL draft pick Byron] Archambault was on the line every single time, whether it was on top of me or on top of either of the guards. They were in this weird, essentially 50 front and they were doing a tonne of stunting and looping. It took us essentially until halftime to make the adjustment to figure out what was going on,” said Fabbri.
“It felt like it was a blur at the beginning and then it all started to slow down and make more sense. It wasn’t even crazy. They were crashing two guys and looping one guy around. It was like okay, we can figure this out.”
Defensively, Harrison and company had to adjust to the speed of a Carabins offence that featured multiple CFL draft picks, including Mik Davidson who was a problem on jet sweeps. The hosts jumped on the Herd early, taking a 20-7 into the second quarter.
“It’s a completely different playing style from the CanWest to the RSEQ. It’s a faster game, whereas at the time, we were a lot more smash mouth with bigger and bulkier players. They were trying to stretch us to the sideline with super quick guys. I felt like their schemes were a lot simpler, but their athletes were so good that you had to just cover them.
I remember because coach Pierre would be like ‘you have to get out there. If [Davidson] got the jet sweep I was the guy who had to go, and I had to see it early. All I remember thinking was if they ran any inside zone off of this, that guy is probably gone, or if I can’t get out there I’m going to be in man. I was just petrified by that one guy’s speed. Outside of that I knew the playbook inside and out.”
On top of on-field adjustments – which included a shift from man-match coverage to zone in order to deal with over-under drag routes – Manitoba also had to deal with a ferocious crowd.
“That stadium, they’re right on top of you. We didn’t know that until the game obviously. Our big crowd games were always in Saskatchewan on Friday nights in Saskatoon. Their military games, they’d get 8,000 people, but at the U of S, their fans are 50 metres behind you and in the bleachers. In the game against Montreal, our bench was underneath the stands essentially,” recalled Fabbri.
“It was like a dugout. We had to practice a silent count, which we’d never put in. That was the first time in my career that we put in a silent count. I remember we tried the first play on a regular cadence, and I think I heard Jordan say one word, so we were just going on muscle memory. It was good that we’d worked together so much, because I knew the rhythm of his cadence and I timed up it well enough. But after going back to the huddle, we realized we couldn’t go on a regular cadence. That atmosphere, to this day was something special to play in.”
As the game progressed, so did Manitoba’s offence. Yantz connected with Sawyer for a 30-yard major and also ran one in himself from ten yards out as Montreal entered halftime up by just six at 27-21.
Both defences stood their ground in the second half, with just seven combined points scored. The game came down to the final possession, with Manitoba taking the ball with 1:32 left, needing to drive the length of the field to advance to their first Vanier since 2007.
Calmly, Yantz – who threw for 320 yards and two scores – marched his team into the Carabins red zone with just 30 seconds to play.
Unfortunately, the Bisons’ dreams were dashed courtesy of a sack and forced fumble by Anthony Coady.
“We got the ball to the 11 and we had called our classic red zone play, and unfortunately one guy ran the wrong route,” noted Fabbri. “I remember Anthony Coady came down from free safety, and the defensive tackle was on top of me and he wasn’t really coming super hard and I was like, what’s going on? I turned my head and I see Coady get through the line. Jordan did what he could to get away, but Coady made a play that sent them to the national championship. Montreal made one more play than we did that game.”
A lasting impact
Despite coming up 11 yards short of a Vanier Cup appearance, the 2014 Manitoba Bisons cemented themselves as the best team of the decade, demonstrating exceptional resolve in overcoming multiple injuries, as well as the Dinos. In a testament to their overall skill, 11 alumni from the 2014 roster eventually made it to the CFL in some form.
“All throughout that season, coach Dobie was always comparing us to the 2007 team. Almost daily we were hearing something about the 2007 team. I think a lot of guys took that to heart. We’re like okay, we’re not the 2007 team. We’re the best team since the 2007 team,” stated Fabbri.
“We want to be the big, bad Bisons. We want to be the best Bisons team this school and province has seen in the last eight years. With all the rule changes, this team is finally back. We have the core guys, we have everything. I’d be comfortable to say that the 2014 team was the best Bisons team in the 2010s.
We can’t say we’re the best team in Bisons history because of the 2007 season and also 2001, but I think since the rules changed in U SPORTS and it kind of filtered out the older guys for lack of a better term, I think that was the best Bisons team since the Vanier. I don’t know if there’s been as good of a team since. Nothing against the program now, but I would like to say we’re definitely in that argument for sure.”
CHAPTER 6: ESPN TAKES NOTICE
(2015-19)
Manitoba reached the playoffs three times between the 2015-19 seasons, but were unable to advance past the conference semi-finals. That’s not to say that there weren’t a number of memorable contests.
Included amongst the list were a 7-OT win over Alberta with former ANAVETS Bowl champ Theo Deezar at the helm in 2016, as well as a 17-point comeback in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter on the road against Saskatchewan the year after. That game was the coming out party for prized 2016 recruit Des Catellier, who Dobie later referred to as one of the hardest working players in the history of the program.
Without a doubt though, the game that everyone remembers from that five-year span was a 47-46 loss to Calgary in the 2019 Canada West semi-finals. At the end of January, ESPN.com put out a list of the 100 best college football games from that season, and on a list that included countless NCAA classics was the pair’s tilt, which ranked 41st overall.
In looking back at the game, it’s not a surprise at all that both teams earned such high regard. Let’s set the stage.
Manitoba – the road team who were 4-4 on the year but had beaten 6-2 Calgary just two weeks prior – entered the fourth quarter down 33-16. At that time, the Dinos had scored on five straight drives, including four majors and had momentum on their side.
But anyone who’s followed a Brian Dobie-coached Bisons team over the years knows that his side is never out of the fight, and that rang true here.
Weekes creates ‘shock value’
Third-year UM defensive back/returner Shae Weekes helped to get the fireworks started in what was an epic 44-point fourth quarter.
Just under two minutes after fifth-year Manitoba kicker Matt Riley nailed a 38-yard field goal, Weekes took a punt 97 yards to the house, going literally untouched as he flashed the speed that earned him a spot on Manitoba’s 4x200 relay team in the anchor leg.
Weekes – an All-Canadian for the second year in the row in 2019 – finished the contest with 226 total return yards while also adding a massive red zone interception with 1:50 left in the opening quarter when the Bisons were up 3-1.
The takeaway was a textbook example of Weekes’ awareness and burst.
Seeing that the deep third on his side of the field was taken care of, he booked it from a few yards deep in the end zone to jump in front of a pass intended for Dallas Boath.
Weekes also had two bass breakups and allowed just three receptions on eight targets.
“I think the Calgary game summarized and spoke volumes about him being an All-Canadian,” Dobie noted of Weekes’ performance in the contest.
“He plays a position that is integral and so significant to our defence at boundary half, and he’s been one of the best that we’ve ever had. That interception at the end of the quarter, that was a great interception. That was an interception that only elite players can make.
And then of course, later in the game, that punt return was probably the single-biggest spark. The timing of it, the explosiveness of it, it almost created shock value.”
The celebration was short-lived however, as Dinos returner/receiver Jalen Philpot took the ensuing kickoff 97 yards to the house to give Calgary back a two-score lead at 33-26.
Clutch Catellier engineers long drive from the five
The following drive offensively for Manitoba showcased fourth-year Manitoba pivot Des Catellier’s “competitive switch,” a term Dobie used when describing the Calgary native’s performance in the final 15 minutes of play.
Manitoba took the ball at their own five-yard line, with Catellier throwing for 63 yards, including a one-yard major to fourth-year conference all-star Macho Bockru to narrow the deficit to 40-33 with seven minutes to play.
“Coming out at the five is never a great feeling. A lot of times it’s like okay, let’s get it to the 50 and flip the field, and make sure we do that first, but that was not the focus on that specific drive,” noted Catellier.
“We needed to go down and score.”
The drive included completions to three different receivers, including two receptions for 50 yards by second-year receiver Colby Kyliuk, who entered the game after an injury to Riley Harrison. Third-year wideout Kai Madsen also helped to draw two penalties, which set Manitoba up at the one.
“I remember the whole team stepping up and making big plays,” says Catellier.
“The first catch was AK [Gassama], the second catch was Macho on second down. Then we hit Colby. It was a team coming together down the stretch on that drive.”
Offence feels ‘unstoppable’
Right after the Bockru major, Manitoba’s defence came up huge, recording a two-and-out including a sack. The Bisons started the ensuing drive at their own 45 with 5:58 to go, with Catellier and company marching the ball 65 yards in five plays.
Bockru had the biggest grab, a 42-yard reception on a free play, while Gassama had two catches, including the 12-yard major on a crossing route which marked his third straight contest finding the end zone.
“That drive was where our offence felt unstoppable,” commented Catellier.
“It didn’t really matter what they were going to do against us, just walking on the field, our offence had that confidence on that drive. They went offside on that play to Macho, so I just tossed it up to my guy and he went and made a play.
On AK’s role, he had a tough season throughout the year injury-wise, and early in the season felt like he was still trying to get his foot in the door and feel out the process. When he came back from those injuries you could see how comfortable he was. I think you really saw his growth in that game and it really excites me for next year.”
Pandemonium in final four minutes
Calgary answered back on their next drive, courtesy of the legs of eventual Vanier Cup MVP Adam Sinagra. He had 27 yards rushing, including a nine-yard major as the hosts re-took the lead at 47-40 with a minute to play.
The game looked to be all but done right after that, as Catellier’s intended pass for Bockru at the Manitoba 47 fell in and out of his hands and into the waiting arms of Dinos defensive back Patrick Pankow.
“We just lost the game. That’s kind of the first thought that came to my mind, and I know that’s the first thought that came into Macho’s mind too, as he was visibly upset on the sidelines,” noted Catellier.
“I think our coaching staff did a very good job of re-grouping us. I just remember [quarterback] coach [Cory] Waldbauer saying ‘hey, you won’t remember that when you get the ball back. Just keep up, we’ve got two timeouts, we can do this.’ I think then I could just relay that message and start rallying the troops a little bit.”
The defence did their job, forcing another two-and-out, giving Catellier one last shot to hit pay dirt.
Manitoba re-took the ball at their own 14-yard line with 31 seconds to go, finding Gassama and Bockru for a combined 46 yards. Those three completions helped set the stage for a 50-yard hail Mary touchdown to fifth-year receiver Trysten Dyce with no time on the clock to make the score 47-46.
Redemption feels sweet for Dyce
Manitoba’s most sure-handed receiver not just in that game, but most of his career, Dyce had struggled a bit on this night. He had a few uncharacteristic drops and also took big shot earlier in the fourth, but bounced back when it counted.
“I’ve never really had a game like that before,” he says.
“I was frustrated, but still trying to do everything in my power to help us win.”
Dyce ended the contest with 126 yards on four grabs, including the 50-yarder on a play where he stayed back slightly, catching the ball a few yards short of the goal line and running in untouched after a tip from Gassama in a sea of bodies.
His reception came on a play that Manitoba had prepared for in practice situationally, with Catellier successfully executing the throw in the lead-up to the contest.
“We honestly practiced that hail Mary play every week,” added the gunslinger.
“That was part of the play design. There were specific locations for all three receivers trying to tip the ball back, but it was planned for Dyce to trail and try and watch the ball and get a tip back. That’s something that I’ve always liked about [offensive coordinator Vaughn] Mitchell. He’s very situationally aware.”
Added Dyce: “I was astounded that it worked for the second time. We all made the joke that we used up our one hail Mary in practice. I was astounded that it worked, because it was one of those once in a lifetime kind of plays.”
Game ends on failed two-point convert
Again, anyone who knows Dobie’s coaching style knows he’s not afraid to make a gutsy decision.
His choice to go for the win on a two-point convert from the five instead of taking the contest to overtime was a no-brainer, as it meant that the Dinos potent offence didn’t have a chance to respond.
Dyce was the target at the goal line, however his timing with Catellier was off just slightly and the ball was intercepted, giving Calgary the win.
“It just didn’t work out,” says Catellier.
“You can break down little details if you want. My throw could’ve been a little bit better, but there was also a linebacker getting in the way. I knew it real time how hard of a catch it was. I put a bullet behind [Dyce] to the back of his head. That’s a hard ball to catch.”
Regardless of the finish, this is a game that will be talked about for years to come.
“When the ESPN thing came out, a number of people commented on it, but one of the best comments was from my daughter, who called just out of the blue that night,” Dobie says.
“She said’ dad, I just wanted to call you, I feel really proud. When you look back at all the years, there’s been a lot of really good things, but this was just different. It actually put you in the exact same narrative as the Clemsons and the Alabamas and the USCs and the Georgias. You guys were part of that conversation.’”
CHAPTER 7: A PANDEMIC, A TRAGIC PASSING AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN
(2020-21)
When the Bisons football team wrapped up their 2019 schedule, they had no idea that it would be the last time they’d see their teammates in the locker room for 16 months. In March of 2020, a global pandemic was declared due to COVID-19.
“In the early stages, we didn’t want to overwhelm the guys. That’s the truth,” noted Dobie.
“I think everybody's got different approaches. A lot of my colleagues, they took the same approach. I think a lot of it has to do with the culture of your sport. When you're talking about one hundred guys in the football locker room, that changes dynamics a lot when it becomes non-visible, non-contact and everything's virtual. We certainly wanted to do things to keep in touch, to keep each other in touch with each other, but we definitely did not want to have meetings just for meetings sake.”
For 88 days in the fall, Manitoba took to the practice field, a luxury that other provinces didn’t necessarily have. In order to do so, they had to address four different entities in Football Canada, Football Manitoba, Manitoba Public Health and the University of Manitoba.
Because there was no game-planning or “micro-cycle” from week to week, the emphasis shifted to teaching. Dobie and his staff also cut down the number of practices per week to two, with a third focused on conditioning. Additionally, practice length shortened from two hours to 90 minutes, resulting in high-energy team sessions.
“Throughout my whole career, it was certainly one of the most interesting years. I think refreshing is a good word to use. It was a whole different process for us once we were on the field,” the head coach says.
“Vaughan Mitchell and Stan Pierre got to experiment with a lot of things that they’ve been working on through the offseason, and different concepts that they wanted to look at on the field. We wouldn’t have the luxury to do that in a normal season. That was a real advantage. If you look at it that way, there’s silver linings to everything and that’s an example of a silver lining.”
Made in Manitoba
After waiting close to two years, the Herd returned to conference play in 2021 with a roster that was 74 percent local, the largest number of Manitoba-bred athlete since Dobie started recruiting across Canada in 1998.
“Credit where credit is due. I’ll say it like it is. Football has really escalated and elevated throughout the province over the last 8-10 years. You can just see it climbing and climbing and climbing,” stated Dobie.
“Who deserves credit for that? The people that are running those programs and the kids who have responded to what’s being offered to them in those schools. They’ve eaten it up, they love it and they embrace it. It’s a positive evolution. We are really small compared to the BCs, Ontarios, Albertas and Quebecs, but look at what Manitoba football has been doing. Per capita, it’s as good as it gets. None better in the country.”
The 2021 Bisons football season was unlike any other in the 26-year tenure of head coach Brian Dobie. Right off the hop, the Herd, like every other team in Canada, had to find their identity after a cancelled season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Questions arose about who would and wouldn’t be back for 2021, including a number of game-changers who were just a two-point convert away from knocking off eventual Vanier Cup champion Calgary in the 2019 conference semi-finals.
When push came to shove and training camp began, the Herd’s familiar faces came back to finish what they’d started. Identity-wise, the squad adopted the mantra of One Heart, One Herd. As local quarterback Jackson Tachinski out of Vincent Massey said best, “everything we do, we do as a team. If one of us is playing poor, the whole team is playing poor. It just really means a lot to have that family in the locker room believing in you, because we all have confidence in each other and we’re all ride or die.”
With an unwavering belief in each other, the Bisons stormed out of the gate, going 3-0 for the first time since 2007. They finished the regular season at 4-2, hosted a playoff game for the first time since 2013 and advanced to the Hardy Cup for the first time since 2014. It was a remarkable season, one that was even more impressive considering the adversity that the team had to overcome.
Ritchott, VSP keep on churning
Take veteran running backs Mike Ritchott and Victor St-Pierre Laviolette as examples. The former had every reason to hang up the cleats during the pandemic. After all, he was passed up in the CFL Draft that year and with his five-year-old son Andre growing more each day, he had a valid reason to shift to the next stage of his life. But if you thought Ritchott was going to let his career end that way, you simply do not know the man.
The 5’10” 190-pound back has been doubted his entire career and has always let his play do the talking, while finding a way to change games in the process. That didn’t change in 2021 for the former All-Canadian, who provided a veteran presence amongst a running backs group with tons of potential for years to come.
St-Pierre Laviolette also endured an uphill battle during the pandemic. Late in November 2019, around the time that the Vanier Cup was being played, the fourth-year ball-carrier was left reeling due to the death of his mother — a single parent who'd raised him and his four other siblings. Understandably, he needed to take some time for himself.
The man they call VSP came back to school in the summer, fully intent on re-upping the six-credit hour course required to remain eligible. As he was doing this, his life flipped upside down yet again as his brother committed suicide. He was forced to quit school and had to figure out how to move forward with his life despite two huge pieces missing.
The speedy back spent many nights alone during this time. He considered quitting the sport entirely, but when his mind started shifting to negative thoughts, he was brought back to grade eight – when his football journey in the wheat city started. The game offered a sense of normalcy within occasional chaos and was an opportunity to grow and mature as a person.
"The one constant I had was football," he reflected prior to the start of the 2021 season.
"I would not be where I am today if I didn't play ball. it just took sitting there one night realizing that I left Brandon, I left my family to come chase my dreams. If I didn't pursue this, then I missed all that time with them for nothing. I just don't think I could sleep right at night knowing that I wasted all of that time that I had left with them doing something that didn't even end up mattering."
The duo, along with former Canada Cup standouts Breydon Stubbs and Noah Anderson combined to form one of the most versatile units in the nation. Manitoba rushed for over 200 yards four different times, including a character-building 28-20 win in week three at home against the Dinos, as well as a 22-3 win in the final week of the regular season against Regina, which secured the Herd their first home playoff game in eight years.
The pair of fearless veterans set the tone, and the young stars also rose to the challenge in what was a character-building season for the group.
“Our team has built the bullets, handled that adversity and we strike back,” noted Ritchott shortly after his squad amassed more than 200 yards on the ground once more against Alberta in the conference semi-finals.
“I don’t think we crawl down for anybody. I think that’s one of the strongest things about this team. I’ve played football for a very long time and I haven’t seen people handle adversity quite like this.”
Rising to the challenge
Ritchott’s comments were a microcosm of the group’s attitude all year. When faced with obstacles, they didn’t fold. Instead, they rose to the challenge and countless players stepped up, doing so as one unit all the way.
Let’s start with week one. Late in the third quarter, Manitoba lost starting quarterback Des Catellier to a season-ending lower body injury. It’s tough for any team to lose their top signal-caller in the season opener, but it hit especially hard for a player who’d done nothing but work his tail off for the prior five years, and who’d rightfully turned into a locker room leader and bona-fide QB1 for the better part of the prior three seasons.
Despite the loss, Manitoba rallied together. The defence pitched a second half shutout, outscoring the Regina Rams 13-0 to open the season with a 21-17 win. Critical to the team’s victory was fifth-year defensive end Brock Gowanlock, a CFL Draft pick of Montreal who had seven-and-a-half tackles, one-and-a-half sacks and the game-winning touchdown on a 31-yard fumble recovery.
As a veteran on the team and close friend of Catelliers since both entered the program in 2016, the captain took it upon himself to change the momentum of the game, just like leaders do.
It was a fitting performance for the eventual All-Canadian, who chose to come back for his final season with Manitoba. He’d had a successful stint at training camp with the Alouettes, but knew he wanted to finish what he’d started with his brothers.
Gowanlock – whose 177 total tackles rank fourth all-time in program history and are the most of any defensive lineman – set the tone all year on defence for the Herd. They finished in the top ten nationally in almost every key statistical category, playing for each other every step of the way.
“I’ve been here since 2016, and our leadership group has dealt with adversity all of the time,” noted Gowanlock shortly after the Hardy Cup final against Saskatchewan. “I just feel like on this team, we’re resilient, we’re tough and we follow the direction that our leadership group goes with. No matter what goes on, we focus forward and grind it out.”
There are countless examples of the team’s grit and determination on D, such as defensive tackle Tristan Bredin, another veteran who fought through depression and a severe car accident to make his way back onto the travelling roster despite two years away from the game.
Or there’s fifth-year defensive lineman Samson Abbott, one of the smartest players on the roster, who despite tearing his elbow to shreds while in training camp with Ottawa, came back for his last ride with the boys and was the squad’s emotional and vocal leader on a top-rank special teams unit.
Another example can be seen in defensive back Marcel Arruda-Welch, who earned All-Canadian status despite playing in just three regular season games due to a lower body injury. The boundary corner essentially locked down one side of the field all year and showed his determination in getting back to UM after being away from the program in 2019.
Even when Arruda-Welch went down, the next man stepped up, including true freshman Jake Nitychoruk, who confidently took his place amongst a Bisons roster that allowed just 200 passing yards per game, good for eighth in the nation.
In the linebacking corps, veteran Brody Williams – whose mom made cookies for the team on every road trip – had an incredible season, finishing with a team-leading 32 tackles while playing in every contest at middle linebacker. He’d previously endured an upper-body injury, but was relentless with his work ethic and positive attitude, and it rubbed off on every single player around him.
Those are just a few examples of the character within Manitoba’s locker room on the defensive side of the ball. It was a true ‘we’ and not ‘me’ attitude that speaks volumes about the group’s love for each other. The same can be said offensively, where an unfathomable tragedy brought the group even closer together.
Playing for Scott
In week two, Manitoba played through pain following the unfortunate passing of beloved coach, friend, mentor and brother Scott Naujoks to cancer. It was, without a doubt, the most difficult week that many on the roster have ever endured.
“[Naujoks] told us about his treatment and he said he was going to be fine, and I believed him. Just hearing the news about Scott, I didn’t believe it at first,” recalled first-year receiver Nathan Udoh, whose recruitment to UM was due in large part to Naujoks.
“We get in the meeting room and I see coach Dobie’s eyes, and I’m like okay, what is going on? He told us that he passed. I didn’t know what to do. I just broke down. A couple of the guys were crying, I was crying. I just couldn’t believe he was gone. Sometimes, I’m here sitting in my locker at practice and I feel like he’s going to walk through with his big calves and tell me to finish the play, like he would do. I just feel pretty sad sometimes, knowing that the guy who took a chance on me isn’t going to be here.”
In such a dark time, the group leaned on each other to get through, and when they faced Alberta on the road, they had Naujoks on their mind.
Tachinski, making his first career U SPORTS start, was efficient all night long, combining for over 250 all-purpose yards and three majors in the team’s 31-17 win. Two of those scores came in the first quarter, and the recipient was fourth-year receiver Gavin Cobb, a 2020 transfer out of Simon Fraser University in the NCAA and another key leader for a composed Bisons group.
Cobb’s efforts were successful, not only as a pass-catcher but also on special teams, where he earned conference all-star status. In the second quarter, the former NCAA Division 2 All-Star who had 1,041 kick return yards as a sophomore, took a punt back 91 yards to the house.
Cobb had over 200 all-purpose yards in the contest, and was sure to throw one up to the sky following his first touchdown grab of the game.
“It was a very emotional week. I’ve never been a part of anything like that before. Prayers out to Scott’s family and our family here. It was a really tough week, and to be able to get in the end zone, I know that coach Scott was watching us and watching me score that touchdown,” he said.
“I dedicated that whole thing to him, just because he put in so much time and effort and he was a great coach and a great guy. I started to get to know him pretty well here over the short time that I knew him. It was very sad, but he’s still here with us watching over us.”
Losing your starting pivot in week one is more than enough adversity for the average team to face. Combining that with the passing of Naujoks makes what Manitoba accomplished in 2021 even more impressive. But that’s not the end of the story.
Next man up at QB
The Bisons had to dig even deeper two weeks later, as Tachinski went down with a lower body injury. With Catellier already on the shelf and former Winnipeg Rifles pivot Riley Naujoks also out for the year, the Herd went with true freshman Sawyer Thiessen as their lead man in a pivotal week five bout against the eventual Hardy Cup champion Huskies.
The game would decide who finished as the top seed in the conference, and despite losing the contest, Thiessen flashed some serious potential. He threw for 179 yards and his first-career U SPORTS touchdown, showcasing the depth that Manitoba will have under centre for years to come.
He, along with Tachinski and fellow true freshman Jordan Hanslip – who also saw action against the U of S – combined for a ridiculous 27 wins at the high school level and will only get better as the years progress. And while Catellier’s season was cut short, he continued to support the group of signal-callers, offering a reassuring presence in the locker room and at practice every single day. His selflessness and courage, along with the rest of the roster, wasn’t lost on Dobie.
"Whatever the reason was, everybody showed up and everybody played a role. This was such a true team season. The culture of this team is as good as I've ever seen with a Bison team. It really is,” said Dobie.
“It's a true culture of family and caring. It's a true culture of buying in. They just bought in all the way. They bought in emotionally, they bought in systematically, they bought in physically. They've set a really high bar for us to move forward with in our program. It's awesome, because that should be our standard."
“The people and the relationships”
When asked about what stands out the most during his 26 years at the helm, the selfless Dobie was quick to reflect on all those who’d passed through the program, and how each proudly and uniquely contributed to the legacy of the brown and gold.
“To me, what I most appreciate and most value and cherish are the people, and the relationships. Probably most people say that about their job and their life experiences, but as a coach, that’s what you’re doing. It’s all about the athletes you’re working with and the coaches you’re coaching with. What I really am most proud of is the experiences that these student-athletes have gone through within our program,” he said.
“There’s 180 degrees of experiences out there. When I started, we literally had nothing. My office was a converted storage room, the Butler Hut was literally a rusted tin shed, and two thirds of it was our locker room. The old university stadium was run down, and that was the experience that for most of my career, our athletes had. They didn’t complain about what they didn’t have. That was theirs, it was their experience and they embraced it and represented Manitoba proudly.”
More than that though, Dobie thinks back to alumni who were given a second, third and sometimes a fourth chance when others had written them off. Countless examples – including many players who may not have gone to school if not for football – can be referenced, such as defensive lineman Justin Cooper, a member of Manitoba’s Vanier Cup roster who previously struggled in class and was looking for a gridiron home. Dobie brought him in with open arms and many years later he was an All-Canadian whose GPA was just shy of Academic All-Canadian status.
“The bottom line to it all is that I’m most proud of our university and the way that our student-athletes in Bison football have represented that university proudly, and to be able to find their way through and move forward with their lives. I am proud that our university doesn’t have an elitist attitude in terms of academics, and gives opportunities to people. In our program, I think we magnify that,” added Dobie.
“There are a lot of players that we’ve brought in over the years that were rejected, or nobody wanted to take a chance on. We did, and in most cases, they appreciated those opportunities and they embraced them. I think it’s much more valuable to give people opportunities. It’s their opportunity and experience and they’re responsible to run with that, and when they find that reason and an avenue to make positive change in their lives, that’s amazing. It’s certainly made the adventure broader, and at the end of the day, I think we, as coaches are most importantly educators and I think we have a responsibility to not take the easy way out and to give a chance to all that come our way.”