How about never running the ball or throwing down field? That’s his rep anyway. I don’t get the hire since he has been a failure everywhere else and fans of teams where he has coached have little positive to say about him. Hogan had to go, but not getting this hiring.
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While i am far from a Condell fan he was the architect of the Tiger Cat offence that went to two Grey cups in a row. They did lose both those games but both were very close games and i would pin the losses more on the play of QB Evans and a ferocious Bombers defence, especially in the first matchup with the Bombers.
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Maybe there were some conditions to his hire just like there were likely assurances given to some of our players to re-sign. One can hope.
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Well then you’re a ham too damnit.
Anyway, you would both be correct with your predictions if the Bombers were to finish second or third in the west.
Now I guess you two will simply have to hash this out perhaps in a mediaeval battle of catapulting hams - preferably still in tins of course.
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“FETCHEZ LA VACHE!” (Fetch the cow)
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Jake Thomas is signed! Replacing retiring Darrell Patterson as the D-Line coach.
Tommy Condell is confirmed to be the new OC, Jason Hogan being relegated back to RB coach.
I have a weird feeling about seeing Hogan back after being criticized by Oliveira in particular.
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The current Bomber program is permeated by a system of overt loyalty. So there’s no question Hogan retained a lower rung position with the team. Loyalty. Only explanation.
Obviously, with high paid RB stating he wasn’t happy with the offense last season, the team had to shuffle some shoes. Hence, Condell arrives.
Decent move for Old Jake taking off the cleats and beginning a new era as a coach. He might even make a head coach in less than 10 years if he plays his cards right. Jake, at 37 battled all comers - just didn’t have the strength, power or agility to be a sack man. Just a good grinder, a B- to B defensive lineman who was granted a couple extra years because of, get this - - - LOYALTY!
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Welcome aboard Coach Jake Thomas! 
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Great that O’Shea woul add another “Mountain Man” to his coaching group. I bet O’Shea has his eyes on that Sasquatch RB in Regina, he’d be another mountain man for hire - when he retires!
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Also, congratulations on your new position here already after clearly ditching that clown show!
Nasty good!?
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Nasty’s nastier than ever.
He ditched the evil clown avatar and went full ‘country western’ on us… which means that from now on all our cows will dry up, our chickens won’t lay, our crops will fail and our youngens will be dumber than a bag of hammers.
It’s a good thing that I stopped worrying about Junior getting out of the 4th grade when he turned 30.
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Hey now hold on there buster, though I think that sounds about right on Junior though I have no clue, but hey now you are being a bit too harsh again here on Nasty Nate ya varmint, even though you were prudently and toothily fierce and mean with regards to that bygone clown act, gnaw, gnaw, shucks.
Aye as it is a new forum during the Common Amnesty phase, we are fond of and prone to such mixed reviews ye matey, but I digress.
Indeed we are very tolerant and accepting in these parts as you know, including of BOTH KINDS of music, country AND western.
It’s been that way since at least 1979 you know, so c’mon now give him a break here ya galoot!
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You said a mouthful Jeb… I’m all choked up… give me a minute… I need to blow my nose into my hanky and stuff it back into my top pocket even though it’ll be sopping wet… HONK!
Aw dang it… it’s all over my steel toed stompin’ boots. I had them shined up nice too.
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This was supposed to have paragraphs but I think I did it wrong. If you click on the text I think you can see the article
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I’ve had issues with paragraphs and block quotes. I don’t really know what the solution to that is. Thank you for the article though. It’s always nice to get player (and ex-player) insights.
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I’ve never been one to criticize or hate on JT.
There are “other” Bombers hang-outs on the interweb where he (unjustly imo) took a lot of unwarranted crap, especially in recent years.
A bit of a late bloomer, as far as when he played his best football, between 2017-2023 he was pretty darn good.
It’s not the DT’s job to put up 8-10 sack seasons (awfully nice when it happens though), & during that span of years, I can recall less than a handful of outings where the Bombers run defense gave up 100+ yards to a runningback.
I do remember James Wilder Jr. going off on the Bombers in the late stages of the 2017 season on his way to a rookie-of-the-year & Grey Cup Championship season.
Other than that — I’d be surprised if there were even three other individual 100 yard rushing performances against the Bombers defense from 2017-2023. Totally solid player that JT.
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Nice. Thanks for posting that article @Aaron and don’t be too hard on yourself about the formatting. I promise not to make fun of you or your hairy armpits.
Just a side note fellow Bomber fans: If you want to copy a page of text and have it paste as one huge paragraph then just copy and paste. If you’d rather break that page into paragraphs then copy and paste as plain text. Those paragraphs will magically appear in pretty much the same spot as in the original article.
After you’re happy with how the formatting turned out you can highlight your masterpiece and hit the quote button at the top to make it obvious to the us readers that we’re reading a quote:
Bombers’ Jake Thomas takes unexpected turn to coaching
Paul Friesen Dec 23, 2025 Updated 2 hrs ago
When the Winnipeg Blue Bombers season ended prematurely, Jake Thomas was ready to head home to New Brunswick for another typical off-season and return to play a 14th season for the only CFL team he’s ever known.
A few weeks later, a phone call with head coach Mike O’Shea revealed his defensive line coach, Darrell Patterson, may be retiring.
At 35, Thomas’s ears perked up.
“It’s one of those jobs where if you don’t take it now, it’s not going to be there forever,” he told reporters on a Tuesday conference call. “I had a few days to talk it over with my wife and I was shocked at how supportive she was, and here we are.”
Where he is: the Bombers new D-line coach. From aging vet to raw rookie again, nearly 14 years after Winnipeg drafted him out of Acadia University.
“At the end-of-year meeting when I was talking to you guys, this wasn’t a plan,” Thomas said. “But I’m very happy how it worked out. And usually the best things in life aren’t overly planned.”
Nobody planned for Thomas to have the kind of playing career he had, not even him.
Considered a long-shot to even make the team in 2012, the fourth-round pick defied the odds.
“I was just hoping to play one game,” Thomas said. “In all honesty, that first year I would’ve been very OK to have been on practice roster for the first month or two, to get sent back to school. I was very fortunate at the time they didn’t have a plethora of Canadians that we have now.
“I’m very fortunate to have had the career that I did.”
Thomas parlayed his smarts, hard work and a physical punch that even surprised some teammates over the years into the No. 4 spot on the franchise’s all-time list for regular-season games played, with 223.
Now he’ll face the awkward prospect of telling players like Willie Jefferson what to do.
“It will definitely be unique,” Thomas said. “It’ll probably be more awkward for him. I’m sure if there’s anything that I say that he doesn’t like, he’ll treat it with respect and we’ll talk about it afterwards. But, yeah, that’s part of the job.”
As soon as O’Shea told him he had the job, Thomas called three of his longest-serving teammates – Zach Collaros and O-linemen Pat Neufeld and Stanley Bryant – to let them know. He didn’t want them to see it on social media minutes later.
“It was a tough conversation,” he said. “I felt bad telling them. It was almost as if I was letting them down, that I wasn’t staying to go on one more run.”
Thomas has been unusually durable, playing every game the last eight seasons and missing just two in the last 11.
“A lot of luck. I would say I always prided myself on two abilities whenever I have to give a speech. It’s accountability and durability.”
Thomas hangs up his cleats with two Grey Cup rings on his fingers and enough experience to begin passing it down to the next generation, the same way Patterson and all his other coaches did for him.
Unlike that fuzzy-faced, 21-year-old, he hopes this gig can last a decade or more.
“I say it all the time to Zach: ‘If we didn’t win all these games once you got here, my career would have been over a long time ago,’” Thomas said. “It was a great place for me to become a man. I spent my time from 21 to 35 there. It’s a great city to raise a family. There was no reason to ever leave.”
paul.friesen@kleinmedia.ca
X: @friesensunmedia
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Well it looks like the Bombers are legit throwing spaghetti on a wall in regards to their QB future next year.
Bryce Perkins, Payton Thorne, Taylor Elgersma potentially down the line, and Diego Pavia on the negotiation list.
Hope something turns out!
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