New Concordia football coach returns home with his eyes on the prize
Brad Collinson stepped in to coach at his alma mater after the team lost two head coaches this off-season
Brad Collinson wasn't sure what he would be walking into when it took the job as the Concordia Stingers head football coach.
"I was expecting the worst to be honest," Collinson said. "It's never happened before. No team in USports history has lost two head coaches in six months."
The off-season was not kind to the Stingers. After reaching the playoffs for the fourth year in a row, their coach of the last four seasons, Mickey Donovan, abruptly left in January to take a job with the Alouettes.
The move caught the school off guard, but they thought they had a good back-up plan in promoting Patrick Donovan, Mickey's brother, to interim head coach.
But in June, plan B crumbled when the Alouettes announced Patrick Donovan was leaving the Stingers as well to become director of football operations for the CFL team.
Collinson was hired a few weeks later. He had only two months to prepare for training camp.
"I found the kids really resilient," Collinson told CBC. "When I sat down individually with each and every one of them, I was surprised by how focused they were on what they had to do. ... It was an easy transition."
Mentored by the Best
Collinson's connections to the Stingers run deep. His father was a coach with the team in the '90s and Collinson himself was a player on the team from 2000 to 2002.
His coaching career also began at Concordia when his professional playing career ended after he was released by the Montreal Alouettes in 2004.
Then-Stingers coach Gerry McGrath took Collinson under his wing and, in 2006, he became a full-time assistant on McGrath's staff.
In 2009, he left to work in Quebec City for the football powerhouse program at Laval University.
There he spent eight years as an assistant under legendary coach Glen Constantin.
"He definitely molded me to be prepared for this opportunity," Collinson said.
While at Laval, Collinson's team was a part of four national championships and won the Quebec conference six times. But he also learned what it took to win off the field.
"[Constantin] opened the door and let me in and shared everything with me. We did recruiting together. I did academics there with him, admissions and all of that."
He now hopes to take all that knowledge he acquired at Laval and apply it at Concordia, turning them into a legitimate threat to win the conference each and every year.
Plans to punch with the province's top teams
The Laval Rouge et Or and Université de Montréal Carabins have dominated the Quebec conference for the last 15 years, with Laval winning 13 titles and U de M taking the other two.
Concordia hasn't played in a final since 2008 and hasn't lifted the Dunsmore Cup since 1998, yet Collinson believes he has the formula to challenge the top teams.
CBC sports reporter Douglas Gelevan sat down with Collinson on home turf.
"It's about setting up a process, and I think that's what we've done here, is trying to create a winning culture. ... It's all those little things that if you do right over the years, you will have a successful program," he said.
He dismisses the notion that schools like McGill and Concordia have a recruiting disadvantage because they might not spend as much money on their football programs compared to schools like Laval and U de M.
"We do have a larger pool [of potential players] that goes all over the country, but for me it's about winning the backyard. If we can [recruit] 25 CEGEP players year-in and year-out we're going to be doing pretty good. But it's a process and we need to get out there," he said.
Collinson ties to the local football scene are also bolstered by his history coaching the under-19 Quebec provincial team for several seasons.
Hopes for the 2018 season
The Stingers have a veteran group of players taking the field for the 2018 season.
Their group of receivers might be the strongest in the conference and all of their starters on the offensive line tip the scales above 300 pounds.
"Our goal is a national championships. We have to go that way, it's how it is. If you don't believe in that then you're not in the right place. ... Throughout the year hopefully we get better and when it's playoff time we're ready to compete and maybe cause some upsets."
Collinson's first game as Stingers head coach will be a large test for his group as they travel to Laval for a showdown against his mentor Glen Constantin and the Rouge et Or.
Stingers fans will learn very quickly how much work Collinson needs to do before his team will be able to lift the Dunsmore cup for the first time in 20 years.
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