Jason Maas’ message will not change in second season coaching Alouettes

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There’s nothing like a Gray Cup championship to silence the critics who followed Saskatchewan and Edmonton’s Jason Maas before, when he was named head coach of the Alouettes last season.

In his first year with Montreal, Maas arguably found it easy to get the players to listen and believe what he was preaching. But it will be essential for Maas to evolve, without becoming boring or too predictable, as players inevitably take on the personality of his coach.

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However, Maas insisted that the message will not change in its second season.

“To be honest, it’s an easy sell this year,” Maas said last Friday, concluding week-long organizational meetings with his assistant coaches at the Olympic Stadium. “It is going to be sold throughout the group… due to the success. They can’t just be words. It has to be through action.

“I say what I feel,” added Maas, a former Edmonton head coach who came to Montreal after being fired as the Roughriders’ offensive coordinator in 2022. “What we come up with, what we talk about with our team, is authentic. We don’t sugarcoat anything. Will there be tones similar to what we believe? Yes. Fundamental beliefs. I never had a set plan of what I was going to talk about week after week. It’s organic. “Every day I walk into the room I don’t know what I’m going to say.”

The Als exceeded outside expectations last season, winning their final eight regular-season and playoff games, capped by their 28-24 comeback victory over Winnipeg in the Gray Cup. But the team had a 6-7 record and was on a four-game losing streak in mid-September before altering course.

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“Last year, in the middle of the year, we weren’t where we needed to be,” Maas said. “It was obvious in our history. But many lessons were learned along the way. Our guys made up for it in the end.”

While the CFL consists of only nine teams, no club since the Blue Bombers in 2019 and 2021 (the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19) has captured back-to-back titles. And no team since the Als in 2009-10 managed these consecutive seasons. While Winnipeg is the barometer by which all teams are measured, having played four consecutive title games, they have also lost the last two.

Repeating is never easy. And Maas is aware that the team now goes from being the hunter to being the hunted, and expectations are rising exponentially.

“We won’t know until we get into the heat of the situation,” Maas said. “If it took someone saying you couldn’t do it, look elsewhere for motivation. People discounted you. Now they count on you. Don’t worry about what other people think.

“Much of last year’s success came from facing adversity and learning to deal with it. Now you have to learn to have stability. How is that?

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General manager Danny Maciocia retained many of the top defensive players who were eligible to become free agents and led the team to a title, although defensive end Lwal Uguak signed with NFL Tampa Bay, tackle Almondo Sewell earned his release and defensive back Ciante Evans signed with BC defensive linemen Dylan Wynn, Derek Wiggan and Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund, all added via free agency.

“Obviously we’re excited about the pieces we were able to add,” defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe said. “We didn’t have many holes to fill. All three fit us and embody what we do defensively. They are physical workers, tough, aggressive and love to get after the quarterback. They play with extraordinary effort.

“Each season offers different challenges in different ways. Coaching is about solving problems. Some dynamic within your team is going to change.”

The biggest departure on offense is receiver Austin Mack to the NFL’s Atlanta, while running back William Stanback signed with BC Receiver Tevin Jones was added from Saskatchewan via free agency and Reggie White Jr., who missed all of 2023 with a knee injury, recovered and should be in the mix. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound White caught 53 passes for 722 yards in 15 games in 2022.

“I feel like we have a very good team,” Maas said. “It is a new team with the same mentality and feeling. And with people who have done it and obtained it.”

Training camp begins May 12.

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