Right across the country there are football-career hopefuls—Canadians currently logging lengthy lonely hours cutting practice film in a small dark room, picking up jerseys or coaching minor football interior linemen—who can draw inspiration from this Tiger-Cat trio.
All three of the Ticats’ coordinators who manage the game’s three separate but complementary phases—offence, defence and special teams—were born and raised in Canada.
The CFL stats department cannot find any previous examples of a team’s entire coordinator crew being Canadian (although they don’t always have full biographic details of all coaching staffs). And no veteran CFL journalists contacted by Ticats.ca could recall any such Canuck clean sweep.
Special teams coordinator Bob Dyce grew up in Winnipeg, has coached the three-down game for over 30 years and started in the CFL in 2003. Defensive coordinator Brent Monson is a Hamilton native who played at St. Thomas More and worked his way up from volunteer coaching as a teenager to defensive coordinator with the Calgary Stampeders for five seasons, before Scott Milanovich brought him back home to his staff last year. And Jarryd Baines, the longest consecutive-serving member of Ticat football ops, grew up in Ottawa and started his off-field career as an intern with CanadaFootballChat, and the Ticats, in 2013. This year he added the coordinator nameplate to his quarterbacks coach job, a role he assumed in 2024.
All three describe themselves as coaches, rather than “Canadian coaches”, but recognize that this is a milestone worth publicly acknowledging.
At training camp this week, the veteran Dyce spoke for the trio.
“What it shows is the advancement of the game in Canada,” said the former Ottawa Redblacks head coach. “I look at it as working with Jarryd and Brent, two guys I’ve admired from afar, and they’re great coaches. They focused on whatever their positions were before this and they advanced. It was recognized by the people around them and obviously recognized by Scott.
“I don’t think it was a plan to have three Canadian coordinators. I think Scott looked at getting the best coaches in here and I think it says something about Canadian coaches as a whole: given the opportunity, you step in and seize it and you just focus on what your job is: you lock in and maybe it’s going to be recognized.”
Monson coached local teams while he finished studying at McMaster and then sent emails to every football-playing college in the US, and was willing to work for free. Eventually one of the emails was forwarded to Calgary and the Stampeders took a chance on him as video coach.
“It’s at the very bottom, it definitely wasn’t a highly-paid job,” he said in a Ticats.ca interview last season.
“It ended up working out really well for me, though. I had some great people there to learn from. I would do my video stuff and I was trying to show up first and leave last. I would try to get there early so I could be with the coaches earlier than when the video responsibilities started.
“I was filming practice and you had to be locked in the whole time. It didn’t matter the job, I said yes to everything and did it to the best of my ability.”
He advises others to do the same, as does Baines.
“It’s definitely been a long process, but I never wanted to rush it,” Baines said when he was promoted to offensive coordinator. “I was always understanding of my role, trying to be where my feet were. I think having Scott pushing me to become a better coach really helped me realize that I was ready to do this.”
CATS CLAUSES
Athletic Therapy, Ice Cream, Music and Family
Ted Goveia gave Cameron Benninger his first guitar.
The late Ticat general manager, whose fingerprints are still all over the team’s roster, was the 19-year-old Benninger’s uncle … and godfather.
Besides his incomparable football resumé, Goveia was a student of music, and a proficient guitar player who was part of Burlington’s legendary punk rock scene of the 1980s and ‘90s.
Benninger, who just finished his first year of Kinesiology at Guelph-Humber, is spending training camp as an intern with the Cats’ athletic-therapy staff as he weighs whether to pursue physical therapy or athletic therapy as a career.
And he can sense the presence of his godfather, who died of oesophageal cancer on Sept. 12, the very day he was being honoured for his contribution to Canadian football, the Ticats and the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“We were pretty close,” Benninger said this week, during a brief break in the training staff’s very long workday. “It feels really good to be here with the Ticats. It was a bit weird at first because I knew this was his spot to be, and not having him here was odd, to begin with.
“But it feels like I’m carrying on something that he started. A lot of the players have been very supportive; they know who I am and what we went through together last season. It’s like a big family.”
During their 2025 “Team Ted” season, the Ticats wore guitar decals on their helmets to honour their ailing General Manager.
And every time the Ticats won a game, the following Tuesday Benninger’s family—who own a Dairy Queen franchise in Oakville—would bring Blizzards to Hamilton Stadium for the Ticat players, coaches and staff, and it quickly became one of those major moments that can help gel communal feeling. Returning players were quick to recognize him this week.
“All the proceeds would be donated to Mac Children’s Hospital,” Benninger explained. “My brother (Wilson) was born with a hole in his lung and his life was saved by McMaster Children’s Hospital, so it was perfect for us to make the donation there.”
Ted Goveia, who grew up in Burlington, will be inducted into the Burlington Sports Hall of Fame at a ceremony Tuesday, May 26 at Burlington Golf and Country Club.
First training camp cuts to get down to 75
To meet CFL first-week roster regulations, the Ticats had to release 10 players before midnight Tuesday, paring rosters to 75 plus “non-counters”, who are generally recent draft choices. Wide receiver Keaton Bruggeling, a second-year Cat and a member of Canada’s Olympic bobsled team, was one of two Canadians released, with defensive lineman Kail Dava being the other.
American defensive ends Dawson Scott and Maalik Hall; defensive backs Gabe Jeudy-Lally and Josiah Scott; linebacker Jayden McDonald, wide receiver Kelly Akharaiyi and offensive lineman Quinn Carroll were released, as was Global punter Fraser Masin.
Canadian defensive back Mack Bannatyne, the Cats’ third-round pick last year out of the University of Alberta, was transferred to the retired list. He played 15 games last year and made eight tackles on defence and another five on special teams.
Differences between NFL and CFL running backs? One is losing 30 pounds
Larry Rountree III is a punishing running back, as the Ticats look to improve their consistency in breaking initial tackles and he’s in a wide-open battle with the likes of fellow Americans Avery Morrow and returnee Shane Watts to join Canucks Johnny Augustine, Ante Litre and Daniel Bell in the backfield.
As the career rushing record holder at Missouri who played 16 games and scored a touchdown for the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers, Rountree was accustomed to carrying a heavy load in his four-down career. To handle that he weighed 235 pounds or more.
But there are more receiving and swing-wide responsibilities in the CFL so the solidly-built Rountree is down to 205 pounds, a dramatic 11.7 percent loss over the four months since the Ticats signed him.
“Being able to be back at this weight is amazing,” he said this week. “And I’m just ready to roll. I was looking at myself the other day and I was like, ‘Wow. I don’t even know who this person is. I’ve never seen myself. And I’m still just getting used to my body, being this light and being able to run and being able to carry the ball and not get tired.
“In the NFL, in the UFL, you would need (to be much heavier) for certain purposes. But up here in the CFL you’ve got to be able to run. So you’ve got to be in good condition. You’ve got to be able to actually move up here. I’m glad I dropped it and I’m glad I’m in the shape I am today.”
“Coach JB (Jarryd Baines, offensive coordinator) told me in a meeting, ‘Hey fellas, you got to be able to run.’ So coming into rookie camp I felt great.”
Shemar Bridges always handles it well
Head coach Scott Milanovich had some kind words for receiver Shemar Bridges’ character this week in a discussion about the tall and talented receiver’s role in a stacked pass-catching corps.
After being a finalist for the CFL’s rookie of the year in 2024, last year the 6-foot-4, 208-pounder who spent time with the Baltimore Ravens before coming north saw himself targeted less than half as often as the previous season.
He spent more time farther outside on snaps and had the ball thrown in his direction 51 times, after 120 targets the year before. His receptions fell, despite three more appearances, to 34 from a stunning 83 in 2024 and his yardage to 361 from 933.
But Milanovich said he got no resistance from Bridges about the changes to his positioning.
“Because he’s such a great person, such a great teammate,” the head coach said. “But, you know, there was an element of guilt that I felt because I know he wants the ball, just like they all do. So, it’s people like him that make a team. When I was talking to him, that’s what he kept saying: ‘It’s not about me. It’s about the team.’ That’s not just the right thing to say. That’s him. I mean, he’s as good of a person as you’re ever going to be in this business and still be competitive and still care as a pro.
“And that was his role last year. He’s got some different opportunities this year.”
While Milanovich’s fluid offence brings creative, unsuspected positioning, patterns are reversed from what they appear to be at the line of scrimmage and while it’s still early yet, Bridges has been lining up most often in an inside lane. But Milanovich cautioned, “We’ll see how it goes.”
“I just think it’s maybe a little bit better spot for him where he can use his size, the physicality, a little bit. We need to get better blocking from our receivers. He brings a little bit more physicality to the inside and we’ll see how he takes to it.”
Competition is healthy…and widespread
Milanovich also emphasized this week that there are major competitions for jobs all over the field with a few obvious exceptions. Stars such as Bo Levi Mitchell, Kenny Lawler and Brandon Revenberg are unlikely in any danger but the head coach said bluntly that there is a battle for No. 2 quarterback between Tre Ford and Jake Dolegala and that competition is wide open at field-side corner and halfback. The Ticats are also looking for a punter and ditto at American running back and there’s a plethora of promising talent challenging for roster spots at most positions on offence and defence. In many cases, the ability to elevate special teams could be a contributing factor.
The intensity and speed of practices so far has underscored Milanovich’s message that jobs are there to be had.
