Jeremy O’Day looking forward despite unknown future with Riders

When it comes to the future of Roughriders interim general manager Jeremy O’Day, there are currently more questions than answers.

The post-mortem on the Riders dismal 2015 season continued on Tuesday morning with a 30-minute question and answer period with O’Day. Most of questions fired at the former offensive lineman were about his future.

“We haven’t had a formal interview. I’m probably getting some of that interview process done the last two months,” said O’Day.

“There’s no doubt about it, I’ll have to go through the process just like all the other guys.”

Right now, O’Day remains the team’s interim general manager and will be in that role until a new full-time general manager is named.

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Even though O’Day doesn’t have a guaranteed job heading into next season, he does feel that he has the ability and green light to make some decisions.

“As far as I know I’m allowed to make any decisions. It’s no different than a full-time GM being in, if there’s any major that you’re going to make obviously I’m going to consult with the president,” noted O’Day.

Just what the plan is from the organizations’ standpoint will be outlined on Thursday when president Craig Reynolds meets with the media.

In the meantime, O’Day has been developing a plan of his own that he will be presenting to Reynolds when it’s his turn to be interviewed. O’Day wasn’t willing to get into specific details of his plan at this point but did suggest the team needed a different salary structure going forward and some change was needed in the scouting department.

O’Day has also been building a list of potential coaches, a list which includes interim head coach Bob Dyce.

“He would definitely be on my list. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Bob the last half of the season and the last couple of years. It wasn’t a coincidence that Bob was chosen as the interim head coach. He’s shown a lot of leadership going through a tough time,” he said.

“I’ve evaluated all of those things – salary cap, personnel, staff, all of those things are being evaluated. When I get my chance to interview, obviously I’m going to have to have those things in my mind and prepared.”

There’s no doubt that O’Day wants to be the Riders next general manager. The Buffalo, NY native has always had a keen interest in roster building dating back to before he was a professional football player.

O’Day sees the general manager’s chair as another competitive position in football. He also doesn’t mind crunching the numbers either to make sure that the team complies with the salary cap.

However, when asked if he would remain with the organization should he not get the job going forward, O’Day played it safe and didn’t lean one way or the other.

“I’d be hard pressed to stand up here and say I’d turn my back to the Saskatchewan Roughriders organization but I would also say that I’ve put a lot of time into (trying) to put myself into a position to be a general manager. I would hope that I would be given be a fair opportunity.”

News and notes

The CFL announced their division all-star teams on Tuesday. Two Riders made the final cut as offensive lineman Brendon LaBatte and linebacker Jeff Knox Jr. were both named to the team.

The Riders also announced the signing of five Canadians on Tuesday. Fullback Carl Fitzgerald, offensive lineman Matt Vonk, defensive lineman Levi Steinhauer, along with linebackers Nathan Kanya and Kyle Norris all re-signed with the club. Terms of the deals were not released.

jgasson@cjme.com
On Twitter: @JGasson_21, @homeofthefans