Former Winnipeg coach Mike Riley is thriving at Oregon State, but the Bombers miss him

Mike Riley is a CFL coaching legend. The son of long-time NCAA and CFL coach Bud Riley, Mike played at Alabama, then coached as an assistant in the NCAA and CFL before becoming the youngest head coach in CFL history when he took over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (a team his dad had also coached) in 1987 at the age of 33. It was a serious gamble by the Blue Bombers, but one that paid off in spades; the team finished first in the East Division in his first season, made it to the East final in every one of his four seasons, and won Grey Cups in 1988 and 1990. Riley has since gone on to coach in the World League of American Football, almost the CFL again (he was the coach of the expansion San Antonio Texans, but they folded before playing a game), the NCAA and the NFL. As Riley tells Yahoo!'s Pat Forde in this excellent profile, though, he's now very happy to again be at the helm of a program he's long been associated with (and currently one of college football's most surprising success stories) the Oregon State Beavers:

Riley may be happy with where he's landed, but fans of his old team may wish he was still around. Since Riley left the Blue Bombers for the WLAF following his 1990 Grey Cup win, their fortunes haven't been as stellar. Yes, Riley's regular-season record was only a moderately-impressive 38-32 (.543), but winning two Grey Cups in four seasons is amazing, as is making it as far as the East Final in every single season. The Bombers haven't been close to that level since. Here's a list (built using these pages) of the coaches they've had since Riley left, along with their regular-season records, winning percentages and notable post-season accomplishments. (Spoiler alert: none of them won a single Grey Cup, much less two in four years.)

There have been some impressive coaches since Riley's day, including Murphy (who was the general manager during his tenure) and Ritchie, but the team's fortunes overall have been in sharp decline. They've made it to five Grey Cups (one each under Bowman, Murphy, Ritchie, Berry and LaPolice), but have lost them all. Of course, not all of that is on the coaches; as we've seen this year with the team's lack of success following the switch from LaPolice to Burke, roster construction has a lot to do with it as well. Still, while many Winnipeg fans are probably happy to see Riley doing well at Oregon State, it would be hard to blame them for being nostalgic for the days when he was leading the Bombers.