It is fitting that Jordan Greenly, who has booked innumerable flights for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, joined the organization shortly after making what proved to be a very timely airline reservation.
“This is a pretty crazy story,” the CFL team’s Director of Football Operations begins, rewinding to the first few hours of 2018.
At the time, the Edmonton-born Greenly was an assistant men’s basketball coach at Minot State University in North Dakota.
He never could have suspected how his life would soon change simply because, as luck would have it, his then-girlfriend needed to travel to Alberta.
“Flying from Minot to Edmonton was $3,000,” Greenly recalls, “and flying from Regina to Edmonton was $140.”
Hence the drive to Regina, from which a flight to Edmonton embarked.
Fortuitously, from Greenly’s perspective, Chris Jones was the Roughriders’ Head Coach, General Manager and Vice-President of Football Operations at the time. Jones and Greenly had worked together with Edmonton’s CFL franchise, sharing in its 2015 Grey Cup championship season.
Greenly contacted Jones, a noted early riser, on the morning of Jan. 2, 2018.
“I texted Chris and said, ‘I don’t think I’ll be able to stay in Minot beyond this year. I would love to work in the CFL again. I would love to work in Football Operations. If anything ever comes available, please let me know,’ ” Greenly remembers.
“I had just returned to the hotel from the airport, because it was an early flight. I was rolling over to go back to sleep, because I had to drive back to Minot that day and be at practice that afternoon.
“I put my phone on silent. I don’t know why I checked my phone right after that, but I’m glad I did, because I had six missed calls from Chris and he was calling me a seventh time.
“I said, ‘OK … hello?’ He said, ‘Is this a bad time?’ I said, ‘Other than the fact that it’s 6:30, no.’ He said, ‘I’ve got a job and I think you’d be perfect for it.’ I said, ‘What is it?’ He said, ‘Don’t worry. You’ll be good at it.’ I said, ‘OK … what’s next?’ ”
A whirlwind, that’s what!
Greenly was asked if he could drop by Mosaic Stadium and meet with Jeremy O’Day, who was then the Roughriders’ Assistant Vice-President of Football Operations and Administration.
The suggested meeting time was (gulp!) a half-hour after Jones extended the out-of-the-blue invitation.
“I certainly wasn’t planning on a job interview, so I had packed my Minot State sweatpants and my Minot State golf shirt, and that was it,” Greenly continues.
“It was blowing snow that day. I was standing outside an entrance to the stadium, knocking on the door.”
Greenly’s knees were also knocking, because the temperature was minus-30.
“I could see J.O. coming to the door and I could tell that he was thinking, ‘Who is this guy?’ ” says Greenly, who can laugh about it now. “I don’t even have a winter coat. I’m just standing out there in a golf shirt and trying to look as best I can, because I had 20 minutes to prepare.
“Thankfully, he let me in.”
Jones was already sold on Greenly, given their previous association, and O’Day’s first impressions were unsurprisingly positive.
It didn’t take very long for the Roughriders’ brass to conclude that, yes, Greenly was ideally suited for a position in the Roughriders’ Football Operations department.
Formal notification was provided while Greenly was en route back to Minot.
The phone, no longer on silent, rang while a sleep-deprived Greenly was passing an Esso station in Weyburn. He pulled over, took the call, was promptly offered a job by O’Day.
“That was insane,” Greenly marvels. “You can’t even write that book.
“I went from just passing by the stadium to being an employee of the Roughriders in about two hours.
“I hung up the phone and let out a pretty big fist-pump and prepared my life to come here.”
After honouring his coaching obligations at Minot State, Greenly debuted as the Roughriders’ Football Operations Co-ordinator on March 1, 2018.
“Two weeks later, we went to a mini-camp in Florida, and that was my indoctrination,” he says. “I booked about 100 flights in two days for everyone to come to Florida. That was my new norm.”
And his not-so-new norm.
Leading up to this year’s Coors Light Riders Training Camp, soon to begin in Saskatoon, Greenly booked flights for every returnee and rookie who was planning to travel to Saskatchewan via air.
“I would say that over four or five days, we get all the flights booked,” he says. “I know that sounds like a gargantuan task, but this is the seventh year I’ve been doing it, so it’s kind of old hat.”
Before reserving all the flights, Greenly needs to touch base with all the players and get passport information.
That is in addition to securing accommodations in the dormitories at the University of Saskatchewan, lining up all the buses, and performing myriad other functions that aren’t noticed by the public but are greatly appreciated by everyone in the organization.
“The biggest part of it is being prepared and staying on it when there’s snow on the ground and it doesn’t look like we’re ready to play football at all,” Greenly notes.
“You have to continue to work toward it and make sure that every day, even if you just talk to four or five guys, you’re chipping away at it and making sure that you are putting this big Christmas tree together. First you’ve got to get the branches and then you can start hanging the decorations.”
Spend a few minutes chatting with the affable Greenly and you will notice a yuletide theme.
“Every single day that I walk through those doors, it’s like Christmas morning all over again,” he says with a smile. “It’s choking me up, just talking about it.
“I’m living the dream.”
As long as he has been alive, all signs had been pointing to a career in the sporting industry and, especially, the business of football.
His Prince Albert-born mother, Linda, used to babysit for legendary Edmonton football players Tom Wilkinson and Dave Cutler.
Gary Greenly, Jordan’s dad, was a fan of all Edmonton sporting teams until, one fine day in 2018, he was instantly, unavoidably converted into a Roughriders rooter.
Jordan was born on Aug. 16, 1989, during what proved to be a championship season for the Green and White.
“That year, my parents took me to a game in the first week of September,” he says. “It wasn’t an option.
“Football has been a part of my life from Day 1.”
The same applies to sports in general.
As a basketball coach, Greenly was involved at the high school and provincial levels well in advance of moving to Minot.
Greenly also catered to his love of games people play while earning a diploma in Radio and Television Broadcasting at NAIT in Edmonton.
He eventually combined his passions for broadcasting and the inner workings of a sporting organization by joining the Elks as their Co-ordinator of Communications and Broadcast.
“I’ve always wanted to work in an environment where you kind of ride the wave,” Greenly says.
“I was a TV reporter and I enjoyed that side of it, but I always wanted to get on the operations side of it. I worked in Edmonton in the business office and we won a Grey Cup.
“In the CFL, you ride the 18-game rollercoaster. It’s ups. It’s downs. It’s a full loop. I’ve wanted to contribute and be a part of an organization and play my part and take pride in being really solid at what I can do.
“I wanted to be on the inside. I wanted to be right there. It was just one of those things where I was going to take the first opportunity I got.
“Luckily, it ended up happening here. It was just a no-brainer for me. It was a dream come true and here we are seven years later.”
After serving as the Roughriders’ Football Operations Co-ordinator from 2018 to 2021, he was promoted to Manager of Football Operations in 2022. The following year, he assumed his current role — Director of Football Operations.
In that capacity, he is responsible for the preparation, submission and registration of player contracts as well as Football Operations logistics, including team and staff travel and accommodations and (whew!) the organization of training camp.
“I don’t do it alone,” emphasizes Greenly, underlining his appreciation for O’Day — who succeeded Jones as the Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager in 2019. “Trust me, it’s a total team effort.
“Jeremy is such a great support for me. If I ever have a question or I ever need anything or I’m unsure of anything, he’ll drop everything and help, which you can’t speak enough of.
“I’m very thankful to Jeremy and for his faith in me and his belief in me. We’ve just continued to work through things with each other. He’s such an awesome guy to work for and he makes my job so easy.
“It has turned into this crazy, wild partnership, and here we are. People say that getting into this field, it’s always going to be an unorthodox entrance, and I think I’ve probably got the most unorthodox entrance of anyone.”
