Today, we bring you prose about a “pro’s pro.”
That would be Trevor Harris, who has received an early, emphatic endorsement from the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ newly appointed Head Coach.
Although Harris is not a member of Corey Mace’s coaching staff, the 37-year-old quarterback will be invaluable in a mentorship role due to his exemplary leadership qualities and command of the CFL game.
“I try to identify players like that early — players who can be extensions of the coaches on the field,” Mace says.
“The players win the games. I’ll die on that hill. So if you can have a player-coach, so to speak, on the field, that goes a long way.”
Going back a long way, Harris nearly took a coaching job early in the 2010s after figuring that his opportunities in American professional football had been exhausted.
But then, right out of the blue, the CFL became an option. He signed with the Toronto Argonauts in 2012 and has been a part of the three-down loop ever since.
After playing for the Argonauts, Ottawa REDBLACKS, Edmonton Elks and Montreal Alouettes, Harris signed with the Roughriders as a free agent in February of 2023.
Saskatchewan had a 3-1 record last season when Harris was available for the entirety of a game. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in the fourth quarter of a July 15 home date with the Calgary Stampeders.
Now, Mace looks forward to Year 1 of his head-coaching career being a productive Year 2 in Saskatchewan for a healthy Harris.
“Sitting down and speaking with Trevor and giving him an idea of what I believe this team should look like and what I’m going to try to make it look like, we’ve had great conversations and meetings about that,” Mace says.
“Truthfully, I’m just excited that we’re going to be led by a pro. Trevor is a pro’s pro. I don’t believe anybody is going to outwork the guy. Certainly, he’s going to lead by example from that standpoint. I want the guys to see that — and mimic it, to be quite honest with you.
“Even understanding his experience and how long he has been in this league, to have him share his knowledge with the guys as well, I look forward to his leadership.”
And vice-versa.
“Ultimately, you can tell that he gets it,” Harris says of Mace. “He gets what a football team is about.
“Ultimately, if we’re an extension of their voice, then their message is being brought across every single day, more and more and more.
“If the players are not on the same page as the coaches, how can we execute what they want to do?”
Knowing the importance of being philosophically compatible, Harris appreciates the feedback he has already received from Mace and Offensive Co-ordinator Marc Mueller.
“If the players are extensions of the coaching staff and we really understand their vision and we really understand what they want to do, then you can really have an entire team going in the same direction and there’s no fracturing in terms of what the message is,” Harris says.
“A lot of times in pro football, and really in life in general, whenever you have voids in communication, that’s where the problems arise.
“That’s where I feel like Coach Mace has done such a great job already. Listening to how he likes to go about things, there’s very little room for voids in communication.”
Although the amiable Mace is a players’ coach, he is not someone who coddles people or massages the truth.
“He’s very direct. He’s very blunt,” Harris says. “He lets you know what he wants done.
“He’s going to listen to the players, but he has values, he has vision and he has energy. He knows what he believes is the right thing to do.
“That’s where the magic is going to happen — with us really, truly believing in his process and us being extensions of the coaching staff.”
All of that will ultimately contribute to an extension of Harris’s involvement in his favourite sport, long beyond his days behind centre — which aren’t anywhere close to finished.
“Everything that I’ve ever done in my playing career is a way for myself to grow as a future coach,” he says.
“I want to be able to help the next generation to learn from experiences. I want to be able to tell people that I’ve stood in their shoes before.
“That’s really what it’s about as a coach — being able to relate. The more you can relate, the better you can communicate and the more you can develop levels of trust, whether it’s ethical trust or trust for communication.
“I feel like the more experiences you have gone through as a player, the better you can really understand what it’s like to be in those shoes.
“When you do understand what it’s like to be in the shoes of the players, that’s when you can really do great things.”
