Saskatchewan Roughriders' offensive assistant Josh Donnelly is the youngest coach in team history at 24 years old, he'll turn 25 in May, and still has difficulty believing he is living out his dream.
"Every once in a while, I have to pinch myself," Donnelly told The SportsCage. "You pull up to the stadium every day for work and I'm putting on Rider gear to wear to work. Every once in a while, I meet somebody like Craig Reynolds, then you meet somebody else -- this is the big time."
Donnelly was the University of Regina Rams offensive coordinator last year. He initially joined the Rams coaching staff in 2023 as the team's pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Previously, Donnelly worked with the Riders as a guest coach during training camp in 2024.
"I was working at the university, started the off-season with the Rams. I was in the office, a random Wednesday or Thursday night and got a phone call from an unknown number," Donnelly recalled.
"I wasn't totally sure if I was gonna pick it up or not, and I was like: 'You know what? I might as well.' Then there's Corey Mace on the phone, I said to him that I didn't have your number. I was surprised, he gave me heck for not already having it and not keeping it from training camp last year. He gave me the call and it was a surprise. I hadn't really known or interviewed or applied or anything. It was something they were looking for and they said that they had a spot.”
According to Donnelly, the Roughriders called Regina Rams' head coach Mark McConkey prior to offering him the job.
"They called him first, they were respectful. I know [Marc] Mueller has a relationship with McConkey, they played together," Donnelly explained.
"They gave him the call first, letting him know, and then I called him pretty much right after. He was like: 'I'm sad you're leaving, but I understand, and I'm happy to see you go.'"
Ultimately, when it comes to advancing his career, Donnelly does not want to think about the future but rather stay in the moment.
"I think making a career out of coaching has always been the goal, at least since I stopped playing," Donnelly said.
"I want to say that the long-term end goal is to climb the ladder, be a coordinator and a head coach. Honestly, I'm really excited to be in the role that I'm in now and trying to do the best I can for this team this year. It's been such a big jump going from the university ranks to a professional league, looking past that I'd be getting ahead of myself."
Both Donnelly and Mueller, Saskatchewan's offensive coordinator, are former Rams quarterbacks. Donnelly played for Regina from 2018-2022 and Mueller from 2007-2012.
"It's been pretty cool getting to know him better the last couple months. Prior to this, I had met him a couple times through the connection with the Rams. He was a former quarterback, I was a former quarterback. Not really until last year at training camp when I was able to guest coach with the team I started to get to know him. The last couple months, it's been super cool being able to learn and really pick his brain about football specific details of what he's trying to accomplish with the Riders."
Donnelly is eager to work with the team and help in any way possible.
"I joke with my buddies all the time: 'I'm not coming here to try to coach Trevor Harris.' By no means do I think I know more than him or anything like that," Donnelly said.
"Take some tasks, some jobs off Marc's plate and other coaches' plates so they can do more high-level thinking. A guy that's willing to work and do the nitty-gritty jobs at the start. I look to build their trust. My goal is to be able to start contributing in different ways, and hopefully, that will continue to grow as the season goes on."
Even though Donnelly played quarterback, he did not hesitate about who he would say is his favourite Roughrider of all time.
"I was big on the Andy Fantuz, [Weston] Dressler and [Chris] Getzlaf era; those are all receivers," Donnelly said. "That crew of guys was who I remembered growing up. Fantuz flakes and all that sort of stuff. Those would be the top guys that come to mind right away."
