The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ extensions with head coach Mike O’Shea and general manager Kyle Walters are for three years, keeping them both with the team through 2028.
The team announced on Friday that both men would be returning for next season, but had not specified the length of the contracts.
O’Shea has been the team’s head coach for 12 years, posting a 117-77 regular-season record. The 55-year-old native of North Bay, Ont. is the franchise leader in wins as a head coach, the seventh-winningest head coach in league history, and a two-time CFL Coach of the Year. He has also gone 9-7 in the playoffs, including 2-3 in Grey Cups.
The University of Guelph product was recently spotted in Toronto after the Argonauts were granted permission to interview him for their head coaching vacancy. Mike ‘Pinball’ Clemons, the general manager of the Argonauts, played alongside O’Shea for four seasons and coached him for seven seasons in Toronto. However, he elected to return to Winnipeg.
Walters has been with the Bombers since 2010, when he became their special teams coordinator. He was promoted to the role of assistant general manager in 2013 and became the team’s interim general manager after the firing of Joe Mack.
The native of St. Thomas, Ont. became the team’s permanent general manager in 2014 and hired Mike O’Shea as head coach. Walters has gone 119-87 as the team’s general manager, helping the team reach five Grey Cups with two wins.
Walters played seven seasons as a defensive back with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats prior to a six-year stint as a coach at the University of Guelph.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers finished fourth in the West Division standings in 2025 with a 10-8 record, qualifying for the playoffs as the crossover team before losing the East Semi-Final to the Montreal Alouettes. Zach Collaros threw for 3,048 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions over 13 regular-season games, going 6-7 as a starter.
The Blue Bombers ranked fifth in net offence, third in net defence, and eighth with a turnover differential of minus-eleven. The club’s leading rusher was Brady Oliveira with 1,163 yards, leading receiver was Nic Demski with 1,001 yards, and leading tackler was Tony Jones with 104 tackles. Winnipeg ranked first in attendance with average crowds of 32,343, which was a 3.7 percent increase from the previous year.
