OverDrive - Dinwiddie on the Argonauts' coaching mentality, the altercation with the Elks and the Alouettes' matchup

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

Toronto Argonauts Head Coach Ryan Dinwiddie joined OverDrive to discuss the matchup against the Alouettes, the mindset in the significant showdown, the altercation with the Elks, the coaching perspective on the team, Jarret Doege taking the quarterback role, the schedule mentality for the team and more.

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For the first time ever at Budweiser stage, October 4th and 5th, featuring Renee Rapp, Casey Musgraves, and more. Stream now, online, on your smart speaker, and on the free IHeart Radio. app. Brian Dinwiddie joining us around the table. How are you doing, Ryan?

I do well. Thanks for having me on. Great to see you, man. Is this okay with you? I know it's a game day prep. We're not throwing you off. All good as long as the receivers don't have patent go. We know we're getting one right off the bargain.

We're waiting for that. I told one of our quarterbacks to make sure one flies by, gets you guys right in your deal. That's our concern. If someone's going to come out here and see us and be like, we've got to take a shot at these guys. But it's great to see you. and you can't ask for anything better than this man the weather's beautiful it's a big one for you guys tonight yeah absolutely i think you know it's a opportunity for us to get back in the standings right uh we obviously haven't played our best football early in the year we're starting to get going um you know building confidence

and uh understand the team that we can be so game day prep right now you're i mean we're interrupting it pretty much i mean as a coach are you just kind of relaxing before the game or do you is it all systems you have systems meetings everything like that talk to the players individuals Yeah, so I just got done. I put the call sheet together, right? I like to put some of our one-word footballs. You know, we always write it in this one word, right? We go fast.

It's our fast football stuff. So we put that down on the call sheet, got that in there as far as down the distance. And, yeah, the player is starting to circle in and, you know, get in the building. So, yeah, I think we're ready. I think we're ready for Noel to be aggressive offensively, right? And then Jason is going to take shots. We don't Mac can throw the ball down the field. so our corner is right going to have a big game and uh you know we got to stop the run so

looking forward to it um you know it's been a tough stretch but i i think that now we're kind of growing into the football team that we believe we were at the start of the season you wheel out there in the field now you all oftentimes see coaches like little pump up sessions with all the guys while they're stretching or whatever do you do that or you just stay away from that i really don't right now i know last week's in a different yeah we're going to get to that yeah so i normally don't i don't you know go shake their hands i did a few different times we always lost so i i feel like our work prep throughout the week and you know certain players you talk to a different way as far as motivating those things but i think at this stage you know

let's go out play football and and and feel comfortable going out there and and playing with confidence so what were the elks doing last week that was was it bothering you were you getting fire you're getting fired up with that team man it was a big win for you guys but take us through the whole kind of process of going back and forth with the elks and then what happened at the end of the game there well i I'm emotional guy, right? And my players know that, right? Throughout the week, like, you guys get to see it on game day when it's on TV, but I'm like that all the time.

So, you know, ownership gave us the opportunity, especially with me to be the leader of this franchise, right? Very appreciative of the opportunity. Want to win more great cups, right? Like, you know, we want two here, but, like, every day if you don't go out to win one, you know, as far as your process each day, right, to give you your opportunity to do that.

That's very important to me, especially the city of Toronto, too. I really love the city. You know, I think there's a lot of different cities across Canada that you really want to work for, but this one really, you know, takes onus with me. And, you know, I have the opportunity. And our players, you know, really feel that too. They want to rock for the six, right? So, you know, we stubbed our toe, like I said, early.

And, you know, now we're trying to get back to where we normally were, right? So a lot of hard work to do. In terms of the interactions with other players, like the Alouettes. If they're going at you tonight, how do you respond to players during the game? We're in the other jerseys. Yeah, I don't think I have to expect that too much. Obviously, learn from that, right?

Like I said, I live my life a certain way. I'm emotional, you know, I have my heart on my sleeve. I think our players, you know, like that as well. Some of my players didn't even know what happened after the game. They came out to be a coach or crazy. I know. But I think they understand that, right? they appreciate that but at the same time we got to be respectful for our opponents um you know jason

does a great job uh no does a really good job right so uh no thorpe on defense he's going to give us some headaches so we got to be ready for that but you know it's gonna be a hard fought game it's be a very physical game and uh you know i hope both sides talk with their pets is that the biggest challenge too like we we've had luke on quite a bit talking about the cfl and talking about him being here but he said one of the biggest things he's noticed which was difference from where he came in the NFL was both teams are on the same side and it's literally you know a little not even a divider so obviously plays happen guys you know run by there's a little chirp and there's always trash talking in pro sports so i think as you mentioned the emotions get high all of

that type of stuff but the fact that you're so close makes it probably a little bit easier to interact in a positive or negative way yeah sometimes it's positive sometimes it's negative right um you know i think both sidelines is tough but we obviously make that decision as a league as far as advertisement and those things and you know um you got to understand that going into it but yeah i think the you know the the tempers and the motions of the football game can get the better of you especially towards the end um you know and again i i got to do a better job at that but uh you know i think at the same time let my players know like we're in here to win it and um you know we're in a tough spot right so each day is more important for us um collectively to you know the details and the things we

has to do as far as our process to be better each day to find a way to be successful on game day. If somebody went up to you and said, you got to find a spot for the three of us to go on the field position, like where would you put us, you think? Well, I think we'd have one kicker, one holder, and then you'd be our long snapper. Yes. The long snapper are grit grinders, aren't they? Like, they're just. That's a quad XL uni, right?

Just a massive helmet with one bar. The holder. that's you that's laces up isn't that i know he's a hockey guy right and i'm learning hockey as i go yeah being uh in canada well get slapped you know um the brother obviously the hockey player yeah of course amazing great player well chris used to run routes like he had skates on it was just so amazing to see so uh you know i got to give him some uh respect as far as the way he ran routes i'm like dude were you on hockey skates yeah no kid he was a good player man the get slap brothers they're they're true true athletes Ryan dinwiddie with us head coach

the Argos Alouettes tonight here at Bimo Field. You guys have won now three in a row, and you mentioned it since you've been here, you've won two great cups. You've got a third string quarterback now, Knicks out. Obviously, Chad hasn't been available to you all year. How would you compare in contrast, you know, how much you've had to coach this year in terms of inspiration, in terms of, you know, hitting the tape room, in terms of trying to get your guys up off the mat, because there's been years where you guys have been cruising.

I mean, a couple years ago, you had one of the greatest regular seasons of all times, maybe the greatest, you've won multiple great cups. Again, this year, almost since day one, it feels like you guys have been grinding a little bit more. Have you felt that in terms of your own coaching experience? Well, I think each week's different, right? I think even the 16 and 2 year, you know, maybe I could have had a better job to get us, you know,

through the East Final in that week. You know, those ones always live with you, especially with the opportunity that you had with such a great team, right? But, you know, I think, you know, where we're at this year, we're just grinding, like trying to find ways to win. Maybe we were a little bit more confident in the early weeks thinking we can get it done. So it's been a progress, right, and a process for us. And I'll tell you one thing about a locker room.

I think some people, you know, listen to what I say in the post game stuff. And, you know, like I said, I'm an emotional coach. But those guys have never, like, wavered, ever. And I have a great relationship with them. But they know I'm going to push them hard. And, like, if I wasn't push them hard, how are we going to win football games, right? Like, how do you make it back when you push them hard and you lose your mom? and you go crazy in the media like how do you get back to kind of level to kind of make things

right again or you just don't bother you move on no i did the first time right i said look guys i mean i know it's a big leagues you're not going to say sorry i said that but no but like it was um it was in the media right and that's one of the things i say we don't you know we keep everything in house right and then i went out of house with that one trying to send a message and i always tried to right but it probably wasn't the right message at that time but then those guys responded they They understood it, and they know who I am. I'm pretty authentic, I would say, with them each day, you know, and I like to go to work in this building.

I mean, it's fun. You know, I know, I know we've had some tough times. We're, you know, we're struggling, and we're not where we've been the last four years. But, you know, you get a chance to play professional football and coach professional football, right? And those guys understand who I am. So tonight you got Jared Deggie playing quarterback for you. As I mentioned, Arbuckle has been great this year.

Chad hasn't been available to you. When you're dealing with a quarterback who's coming in in a situation like this in a big, big game, how do you balance between letting them play, you know, letting it loose but protecting them? How do you handle that tonight? Yeah, so we were talking about it yesterday. So the one thing I like to do is a play caller is let our quarterbacks play, right? So now we might have to shrink the package a little bit. I can't ask him to be Nick, right?

Knicks to the, you know, playing an MOP level, moving the pocket and different things, right? I think, you know, Degie can as far as using his legs. But, like, we got to get the ball of his hand. We got to do different things. We got to run the football. You might have to screen a little bit early. We can't, you know, put it all on his shoulders. You know, when you run the ball first down, you're stuck in second and long forever.

That's the hardest thing for young quarterback, right? So, you know, every coordinator wants to do that. Let's run the football. Let's run the football. Well, every defense coordinator is going to stop the run. Right. right let's get him a second long so if you you want to live in that mindset and i'm not going to handcuff him by any means we're going to let me go play football well it's a big one tonight again

you're right there with the aloettes next week you're at bc you kind of compete with teams in the west as well in terms of possible crossover this year then you got hamilton at home and you finish at saskatchew and at calgary it's tough schedule um do you allow yourself to look ahead or you know every coach is going to say we stay in a moment but i mean this one feels like it's about as big as it can get well it is i haven't you know try to tell our players that right i just want them to go play football you know it's another football game let's go compete right um you know you never know i mean you know still got five games left right um we got to probably win three at a five um potentially four out of five um that's just where we're at so i just want those guys go have

fun play football you know compete you know understand the down and distance some of the you know stuff we teach all week and you know i mean laid on the line you know i don't want i'm playing tight by any means i want them to go out there if we're going to make a mistake let's make it you know full speed and we also got to understand we're going to make mistakes right it's a full 60 but then in the 60 let's stick together let's find a way to win the football game love it we've got winnt uh wintmanis coming in in about 10 minutes anything we need to be prepared for no he's one of my uh one of my favorites you know we get after winton you know and we always make fun.

He thinks Memphis football is the best. I think boys is a better football club than Memphis. So that's about it for him. All right. We'll make sure he knows that when he joins us. Great seeing you coach. Thanks for doing us. Good luck tonight.

Yeah. Appreciate it, guys. You got it. There is Ryan Dinwiddie, head coach of the Argo. TIF 2025 was star-studded. And IRR radio was on the red carpet for all of it. Love that. Angelina Jolie, Scarlete, Scarlet, Jolie,

The Rock, Tony Collette, Sidney, and Matthew McConaughey. Plus, an exclusive conversation you'll only see on IHard Radio. Sarah McLaughlin and Rachel Botted in a powerful True North talk. Relive the Magic of TIF. Watch every interview now on the IHR Radio Canada YouTube channel.