The torch has been passed to familiar hands.

Following Stefan Ptaszek’s departure to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, McMaster’s football program was in need of a head coach. And after a brief search, Greg Knox has been named interim head coach. Knox is a former McMaster defensive coordinator and the job is a realization of work that started two decades ago during his Canadian Football League playing days.

“Back when I was playing, I was heavily involved as a player out in Calgary. I ran a number of different camps at a time when there really weren’t high school camps available for kids,” said Knox.

Who is Greg Knox?

The new bench boss of the Maroon and Grey carries a stellar resume. The Peterborough, Ont. native was a linebacker for the Laurier Golden Hawks and won the 1991 Vanier Cup. In the CFL, Knox won a Grey Cup in the first and last year of his career, as well as earning nominations for Outstanding Canadian Player and the Tom Pate Memorial Award, recognizing players who show incredible commitment to both club and community.

In 2006, Knox joined the Marauder staff as a defensive coordinator and held the position until 2013. After a one-year stint with the University in Toronto, Knox returned to the McMaster sideline to coordinate the defence that powered Mac to its third Vanier Cup game in four years. Overall, Knox won three Yates Cups and one Vanier as defensive coordinator.

Now, with his children through high school and heading to McMaster, Knox has the time to be a CIS football head coach. By the sounds of it, he could not be happier.

“I believe CIS football, from a coaching perspective, is a sweet spot. Dealing with this type of student-athlete, I enjoy it a great deal. Being able to run a program is an obvious destination for me,” Knox explained.

The head coaching role will be different from his previous gig, though. When asked about what the defence will look like, Knox made it clear that he is not going to come in and overhaul the systems that current defensive coordinator Joe Sardo has in place.

““We’ll collaborate, as every head coach and defensive coordinator will do. We are going to build on what Joe put in last year,” said Knox.

That philosophy applies to “all three phases of the ball” – offence, defence, and special teams – as Knox believes strongly in the abilities of his staff, which includes Jon Behie as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator and Rob Underhill as special teams coordinator.

“I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by good people that I know can do a good job. My role will be to support them, to make sure we are all on the same page and we are playing our definition of Marauder football,” said Knox.

The future of the program

OUA and CIS football has changed since the time the former Calgary Stampeder standout started coaching in Hamilton. The Marauders are among the CIS football elite, but the competition has moved beyond the field of play. Now, programs are being built in boardrooms and through the bank accounts of wealthy donors. Programs like Laval, Montreal, Carleton and the University of British Columbia are leaning on private funding and creating a hierarchy. While they are still well-funded, McMaster lags behind the others. Knox knows how to make up the difference.

“It’s going to take a lot of elbow grease,” Knox said, with a laugh. “We’re going to have to work as hard and as smart as we can, be efficient with the resources we have.”

Realistically, Mac boasts an elite coaching staff with top-tier academics. The football program has experienced the most success during this financial arms race era, and money cannot solve every issue. Money is not be an issue until it is one, and all signs point to “confidence” about the programs future.

What’s up for next year? 

Training camp will open on Aug. 14, but in the mean time, there are broader questions around the program. A new coach means a different direction, even if its only slight changes.

One major question question with coaches at the CIS level, across all sports, is “how do you measure success?” Teams are dynamic, and competition – especially in OUA football – can be lacking. While the casual observer usually judges success by wins and losses, Knox plans to look beyond the standings.

“Success, to me, is being a champion on and off the field. That does not necessarily mean winning your last game. It’s playing to the best of your ability and reaching as close to your potential,” said Knox.

“They don’t say ‘any given Sunday’ for no reason. Any team can win a football game. [Success] is a sustainably successful program, that brings kids who are a good fit academically and athletically for our program, that get plugged in and come out the other end better for it.”

McMaster is already in the position Knox describes. Their on-field success is well documented and the squad just had a record tying six players drafted to the CFL in May. And the wins should keep coming next year.

When asked about what excites the former linebacker, he pointed to the potential for an explosive offence. Asher Hastings returns at QB following a record-breaking campaign, along with a stud receiving group, headlined by Danny Vandevoort. Last year, McMaster finished second in total points scored in the OUA.

The defence improved as the year went along. Knox said they have a “strong group up front” and he’s looking forward to watching the secondary’s continued growth. It was a young group that gave up big passing totals early in the season, but hit their stride towards the end of the year.

McMaster football is coming off the best decade in its history. The price of that success is losing Ptaszek, but with Greg Knox taking over and the rest of the assistant coaches returning, there is every reason to believe that success will continue when the 2016 football season kicks off later this summer.

 

The head coach of Marauder football, Stefan Ptaszek, is leaving McMaster to be the offensive coordinator for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The news originally broke on May 4 through the Hamilton Spectator, and the Ticats confirmed the news on May 5.

This news comes less than a year after McMaster signed Ptaszek to a "multi-year agreement" to continue serving as head coach.

“I just want to thank Glen Grunwald, the entire McMaster University staff, students and our players for an amazing 10 years. Marauders football will always be a huge part of who I am and I will never forget what we accomplished," said Ptaszek in a press release.

Ptaszek took the reigns of McMaster in 2006 and brought the program to new heights. Mac won the Vanier Cup in 2011 for the first time in its history and went to the national championship game three times in four years.

The Burlington, Ont. native finishes his head coaching tenure with a 73-29 overall record, including a 22-game winning streak spanning from the second game of the 2011 season to the Vanier Cup in 2012. He won the CIS Coach of the Year award in 2012 after an undefeated regular season.

In the Tiger-Cats release, Ptaszek explained his decision.

“To have a chance to support and learn from Coach Austin and the Tiger-Cats organization is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Ptaszek. “The City of Hamilton is critical to this decision because my family has zero interest in ever leaving this wonderful community. I am extremely motivated and determined to be a positive force that adds value to the entire Ticat organization.”

Ptaszek is no stranger to the CFL. After an illustrious career as a wide receiver at Wilfrid Laurier University, Ptaszek was drafted ninth overall in 1994 to the B.C. Lions. The man who drafted him - Eric Tillman, the current general manager of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

“Stefan is a smart, innovative coach with strong leadership qualities, integrity and a proven track record of success at the CIS level. He has a thorough understanding of the Canadian game, and his body of work with respect to producing top ranked, efficient and explosive offences at McMaster speaks for itself,” said Austin. “He and his family are committed to the area and already entrenched in the Hamilton community. We are excited to have him on board as we continue to prepare for the upcoming season.”

With the football program’s spring camp over, the hunt for a new head coach likely begins immediately.

McMaster football is taking a trip to the Donut Box.

On May 3, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats announced a Labour Day Weekend daylong football experience hosted at Tim Hortons Field. McMaster will open the Monday, Sept. 5th event with a noon kick-off against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. Following the OUA match-up, Supercrawl, the annual Hamilton arts festival, will host a concert with artists to be named later. At 6:30 p.m., the Tiger-Cats take centre stage with the Labour Day Classic against the Toronto Argonauts.

“Hamilton is a football town, and working with the Tiger-Cats to put together a gameday at Tim Hortons Field full of entertaining events for the fans is exciting,” said Glen Grunwald, McMaster’s Director of Athletics & Recreation in a press release. “This is a truly unique experience for our students, student-athletes and alumni.”

Part of that unique experience: alcohol. At Ron Joyce Stadium, liquor is not allowed in the stands. Tim Hortons Field is a licensed venue and McMaster Athletics and Recreation confirmed there will be alcohol for sale along with full concession options.

The event could also pay dividends for the team. Tim Hortons Field will host the 2016 and 2017 Vanier Cup and getting a game under their belt could help the football team feel a bit more comfortable should they make it back to the championship game.

This is the second home game of the season for the Marauders. While the game falls at the end of Welcome Week, the annual first-year game will be the Aug. 28 match-up against the Carleton Ravens.

Tickets for the McMaster game are $20 and only the East stands will be open for the game. Marauder season-seat holders get access to the game as part of their season tickets.

I knew nothing about OUA and CIS football at the beginning of the McMaster Vanier run. I tuned in to a Western-Queen's game if it was on the Score but that is about it. My high school didn't have a football team and my friends didn't play. I had no clue about the league. Like all first years, I went to that Welcome Week game and generally checked out for the rest of the season. Sure, it wasn't fair to bury the football program so early but they looked terrible in that opening game against Western. The Mustangs ran all over Ron Joyce, but literally and figuratively. Tyler Varga ran for 149 yards and four scores, plowing through defenders and doing whatever he wanted. Mac seemed average so, I moved on until the Yates Cup, and that's when things clicked.

Kyle Quinlan, Mike DiCroce and Chris Pezzetta just throttled Western. Quinlan threw for 275 yards, four touchdowns while rushing for 105. DiCroce took a pass 102 yards for a score and Pez ran for 151 yards. It was a thorough takedown, and you saw how good these guys were.

The Uteck Bowl was a little less convincing. Down 14-0, out East against a well-supported Acadia Axemen team, Mac seemed to be out of sorts before the offence executed long, tactical drives. Quinlan took the squad on drives of 63, 57, 90, 73, and 35 yards to put the Maroon and Grey up 31-14 at half. The drives were quick, too. The longest drive shaved only 2:25 off the clock. The second half was a formality and the Marauders were heading to the Vanier Cup for the first time since 1967, and they were playing a perennial powerhouse in the Laval Rouge et Or. As a first year, it is hard to understand what is going on. You can understand the historical significance of the moment, that is easy. But you can't really understand the accomplishment, because success is all you know as a naive first-year kid. Yeah, it was totally cool to see our team succeed, but when you haven't seen them really fail, it just doesn't feel the same.

I made a mistake, though. The weekend of the Vanier, I was going back to my hometown to see a friend who was home for Thanksgiving break. She was attending Mississippi Valley State University on a soccer scholarship and I wanted to hear about her experiences with Division I sports. The plan was to grab coffee at Starbucks. Instead, I ended up glued to my phone to get updates about a team I didn't really care about until two weeks prior. And you would think that the increasing lead for Mac would have deterred me from refreshing the Twitter feed, but it was so unbelievable, I had to keep checking.

At least I was vindicated in the disbelief. The Rouge et Or charged back through a punt return touchdown and a pick-six, making it a one-score game. My friend and I rushed home to watch the end of the game -- for better or worse. It looked like Laval was going to thrash us and validate all the talk before the game about how Mac's chances were incredibly low. Instead, we were treated to televised chaos.

Back and forth, the teams trade scores in the fourth quarter until Mac drives from their own seven yard line to set Tyler Crapigna up for a winning field goal. A 30-yard kick, even if it was on an angle, is well-within Crapigna's capabilities. Instead, he misses it and Laval escapes from the endzone to avoid the rouge. The teams head for overtime, and McMaster supporters likely make tracks to the fridge in search of liquor.

Agony was all I felt. I know Mac was hanging in there, but my pessimism took over. It was like watching a football team just bleed out and you thought that there was no stopping the Rouge et Or, a team that is no stranger to the grand stage.

Mac takes first possession in overtime and Brad Fochesato hauls in a 26-yard strike to give the Marauders a touchdown advantage. In a vacuum, that sentence reads positively. Football teams that score a touchdown on the first possession have a significantly higher winning percentage, for obvious reasons -- a touchdown is harder to score than a field goal. But Mac was hemorrhaging points and the Rouge et Or offence had already put up 31 points in the half. It seemed they had Mac figured out.

The Marauder defence had done everything they needed to in the possession. After a Laval penalty, it was second and 18. Laval went deep, to the endzone, and Adam Thibault -- now a Calgary Stampeder -- hauled in the catch after bobbling it a few times. After a half full of gut-punching plays, for Thibault to catch that felt like it was par for the course. It was a spectacular catch, but Laval was playing so damn well, it was hard to be surprised by their luck. Off to a second and final overtime.

Laval's first play of the second overtime went incomplete. Again, this is something that would lead a person to be confident but Mac had just conceded a touchdown in a more favourable situation. This time, Bruno Prud'homme telegraphed the pass and McMaster's Steven Ventresca picked it off. It was one of those interceptions where the defensive back read the play so well, he caught the ball in stride, running north-south and capable of gaining yardage. After an initial burst, he ran into opposing players and threw the ball across the field -- a brilliant play. In overtime, if you force a turnover, you don't get the ball back where the play ends. You get it on the opponents 35, unless you score a touchdown.

Joey Cupido received the cross-field pass and ran it another 27 yards, adding on to Ventresca's sizable 29 yard gain. Mac would continue to pass the ball, but the team would be held up at the Laval 31. Bring on the offence.

Quinlan runs the ball five yards, creating an optimal scenario -- second and five from the Laval 30 and a field goal would win you the game. That distance is still a little long for a field goal, so the team was gunning for a first down to get some more yards. Pezzetta takes the hand-off and only gains a couple yards. A makeable field goal but you would like it to be closer. Except, there was a flag on the play. Illegal procedure, Laval. Ten yards, Mac first down. The Marauders could run the ball for two plays and give Crapigna a shot at redemption and a spot in history. Quinlan hands it off to Pezzetta two times and they gain seven yards.

Crapigna lines up for the 20-yard kick, minutes after missing a 30-yard boot that would have avoided all this mess. The kick went through without a doubt. For the first time in school history, McMaster had won the Vanier Cup. If that summary feels brief, that's an accurate reflection of how it felt live.

If you were a student at the time, and that's rather unlikely considering it was three years ago, you remember where you were when they won. It was a watershed moment for the football program that had not been on the radar of casual fans since the early 2000's. This weekend, Mac has a chance to recreate that moment for a new generation of students. You aren't guaranteed to get a game as good as this one -- TSN dubbed this the "Best Game Ever." But you're going to witness something important, something worth remembering. Good luck finding that anywhere else on a Saturday afternoon.

Despite a revamped coaching staff, a fearless offense and heavy-hitting rookies, this season is proving so far to be no easy battle for the McMaster Marauders.

Although the team opened the season with a crushing 51-24 win against the Ottawa Gee-Gee’s last Sunday, the Marauders were shown that each game will be harder than the last after being handed a 31-24 loss in Kingston on Monday evening.

This loss now ends the Marauders untarnished 19-game-winning streak against Ontario university opponents.

The Marauders have been successful on the road in the past but this time learned that winning on the road isn’t always an easy battle.

The no. 2 ranked Gaels took advantage of playing at home and defeated Mac by a mere seven points.

With a scoreless first quarter Queen’s soon picked up speed, taking an 11-7 lead at the half then a 24-10 lead after three dominating quarters. Sadly, time was not on the Marauders’ side and Queen’s was able to cling to a win. Starting quarterback

Marshall Ferguson had a break out game for the Marauders last Sunday afternoon, as did newcomer Danny Vandervoort who returned six punts for 65 yards in his first start.

After speaking with Ferguson after the team’s home opener win, he looked to the future, understanding that the upcoming games would be no easy win.

“The Queens and Westerns of the world are going to be the teams we need to be ready for” Ferguson said of the top ranked OUA teams. “Maintaining our focus is going to be a key factor in ensuring we secure a W.”

Every game is a new battle and according to the team’s leader, staying focused no matter what will be crucial to the team’s success.

“We need to stay focused no matter what the scoreboard reads” mentioned Ferguson.

The game against the Gaels proved to be everything the team expected and a loss of focus ended up costing the Marauders a win on the road.

It was the turnovers and penalties that proved lethal for Mac’s hopes of a win.

The maroon men have some strategizing to do this season as some well constructed plays might prove to be a key component in the success of their season.

“We need to limit our turnovers and maximize our time of possession to keep our defense fresh so they can play at the high level they did in week one.” the QB stated.

“We really need to be having complete four quarter games with a high level of execution,” he added.

With a fresh knowledge of the game and a unique understanding of his teammates abilities, Ferguson will surely be more than capable to lead his team back into the spotlight.

The boys face their next tough battle against OUA powerhouse Western Mustangs this weekend at Ron Joyce Stadium.

The much-anticipated contest kicks off this Saturday, Sept. 7 at 1 p.m.

 

It was a beautiful day in London, Ont., but the McMaster Marauders found a way to rain on Western University’s Homecoming.

Mac, the No.1 ranked football team in the nation, took on the No.6 Mustangs in the biggest CIS game of the weekend. There were nearly 11,000 people in attendance to watch the football heavyweights battle, but the majority of the crowd would leave the game disappointed as McMaster won this round in the rivalry, 33-27.

The first quarter began slowly, with teams exchanging possessions early, trying to gauge each other’s defence. The Mustangs would strike first, forcing a safety from McMaster and then following up with a rushing touchdown from the league’s leading rusher, Garrett Sanvido.

But the Marauders would respond with their own scoring drive, putting together an 83-yard drive that was finished off by Kyle Quinlan on a one-yard rush.

In the second quarter, the Marauders would pull away from the home team and quiet the Homecoming crowd. The Mac defense was sending blitzes early and often against Western QB Donnie Marshall, and after back-to-back sacks; the Mustangs were forced to concede a safety.

Quinlan would march the Mac squad down the field and hit receiver Tyler Loveday on a post route for six points. The first of two passing touchdowns from Quinlan would give Mac a lead they would keep for the rest of the game.

The highlight of the game was a 67-yard rush from Quinlan, who finished the game with 145 rushing yards. The run would set up McMaster for an easy passing touchdown to Dahlin Brooks.

The second half saw the Marauders score only five points but the defense put together their best half of the season to seal the game. Western gave up nine sacks to the Mac defense, with Ben D’Aguilar picking up four sacks on the day.

Between the pressure from blitzing linebackers and excellent secondary coverage, the Mustang offence struggled to sustain drives throughout the game. Western was held to their lowest rushing game of the 2012 season, finishing with only 130 yards.

Western would put together two scoring drives fourth quarter but ultimately ran out of time. The Marauders remain undefeated with a 5-0 record.

With the season winding down, McMaster has three games left against mediocre opponents: York, Windsor, and Laurier. The Marauders will visit the York Lions on Thursday before Homecoming 2012 against the Windsor Lions on October 13th.