Greg Marshall’s middle name might as well be “Yates.” In 14 seasons as a head coach in Canadian university football, Marshall’s teams have won the Yates Cup eight times.
While it’s clear he has no problem getting to the top of the class in Ontario, it’s been a whole different story when Marshall faces out-of-conference opponents, and the 54-year-old is still chasing his first Vanier Cup as a head coach. That said, the 2013 roster of players he has brought together at Western just might provide him with his best opportunity at a national championship to date.
Marshall’s CIS head coaching career began in 1997 when he was hired at McMaster. He was tasked with turning around a program that had gone 0-8 the previous season. Over the next three years Marshall overhauled the Marauders, transforming them from cellar dwellers into title contenders. And as the century turned, McMaster was ready to ascend the OUA throne.
Not only did Marshall lead the Marauders to their first Yates Cup championship, he built an OUA dynasty that ran off four Yates wins in a row. Over those four seasons, Marshall’s club lost one game in 43 contests—regular season and playoffs combined—against Ontario competition. But as great as Marshall’s record was in conference, it was the complete opposite outside.
McMaster was loaded with talent all over the field, led by Hec Crighton winners quarterback Ben Chapdelaine and running backs Kojo Aidoo and Jesse Lumsden. The latter and a number of other Marauder players would go on to play in the CFL, but the Marauders under Marshall’s watch never advanced to a national championship game—let alone win one. Marshall went 0-4 in national semifinals at McMaster, and three times his Marauders lost to the eventual Vanier Cup champions.
After spending parts of three seasons as head coach of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Marshall returned to a CIS head coaching position—one he had been dreaming about for years—at Western, his alma mater. Now in his seventh season as Mustangs head coach, Marshall has taken his team to the Yates Cup final every year except for 2012, winning four times—ho-hum for Marshall in Ontario—and coached in three national semifinals, compiling a 1-2 record.
In 2008 he won his first ever CIS Bowl game, a 28–12 victory over Saint Mary’s to advance for the first time to the Vanier. However, Western just couldn’t gallop with Laval, and the Rouge et Or went on to trample the Mustangs 44–21. Michael Faulds (the CIS’s all-time leading passer), John Surla (one of the best linebackers ever to put on a Mustangs uniform) and Vaughn Martin (a fourth-round pick of the San Diego Chargers in the 2009 NFL Draft) could not provide enough horse power for the Mustangs. And Marshall was again denied his first national title.
Marshall is undoubtedly hoping the 2013 team is going to change all that, and he has more than enough reason to be hopeful. Record-setting second-year quarterback Will Finch has been the best pivot in the country this season. He has plenty of arm strength and delivers the ball with precision to all of the Mustangs offensive playmakers. Matt Uren, Brian Marshall and fellow sophomore George Johnson, provide plenty of mismatch problems for opposing defences. Shade coverage towards one or even two of them and the receiver left in man coverage will hit you for a big play. And that is just the Western passing game.
On the ground Finch sets the tone as well. He makes all of the decisions in Western’s read-option, zone running game. Finch has become adept at choosing whether to give the football to the running back or pull it and run himself. And when the Mustangs go to their power-run plays, it doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s Garret Sanvido, Yannick Harou or some other young horse carrying the ball—Western runs the ball almost at will.
The Purple Ponies’ prolific offence has garnered most of the headlines this year, but the defence has been championship calibre, too. Western held Queen’s, the second-highest scoring offence in the country, to five points when the OUA final was still in doubt—the Gaels mustered 17 points in garbage time. The Mustangs held Queen’s to just 94 yards on the ground, and did so with versatile linebacker and top CFL prospect, Beau Landry, on the sidelines. When Landry is healthy, alongside 2013 OUA Defensive Player of the Year Pawel Kruba, the pair might be the best linebacker tandem in the CIS. The Mustangs’ front four meanwhile is as strong and athletic a group as you will find in the country, and Western’s secondary has avoided giving up chunk plays.
All of Marshall’s horses seem primed and ready. And even though he won’t come right out and say it, you can tell he believes this is the most complete team he’s ever coached. However, without a Vanier Cup it will be just another impressive Marshall-led group that can’t be mentioned among the all-time best ever in Canadian university football.