Winning football games is the top priority for Morreale

Not surprisingly, winning football games is at the top of the To-Do list for new Ottawa REDBLACKS president Mike Morreale.

But Morreale, who spent 12 seasons as a CFL receiver, knows that to fix and stabilize the franchise in the nation's capital, more than victories are needed; it goes deeper than that. Way deeper.

The REDBLACKS won a 40-39 thriller over the Toronto Argonauts last Friday. It was the team’s first win of the season, ending an agonizing 22-game losing skid that went back to Sept. 5 of 2025 (a 34-33 decision over the BC Lions).

The goal for the 55-year-old Morreale, named the REDBLACKS’ president Tuesday, is to turn that around, as quickly as possible.

“We’re not happy; I’m not happy with the state of the team,” he said. “The reason I'm here is that I care; I’m here because I give a crap and I truly believe that there's a really big light at the end of the tunnel.

“Part of me says the past is the past, and we're going to move forward. This is not a one-year issue. This is probably a six- or seven-season compounded issue. It got away from them. My job is to get stuff corrected and to get into the community to make sure we're listening to people and proving to them we're serious about this.”

Ottawa Sports and Entertainment group president and CEO Mark Goudie said the list of candidates for the job as team president was initially more than 20, including legendary REDBLACKS quarterback Henry Burris, who made it to the final three in the interview process.

“I don't want to get into the many personal conversations I had with Henry, but he was a very strong candidate,” said Goudie. “The conversation I had with him this week was that we'd love to find a way to bring Hank home and have him as part of the REDBLACKS. What that means, we'll figure out down the road. But he is Mr. REDBLACK.”

“There’s a role for Henry Burris in this organization,” said Morreale. “The REDBLACKS are not the REDBLACKS without Henry Burris. I hope he is open to it. The door won’t close on Henry Burris. You build teams and franchises around individuals like that.”

Morreale has a resume that stands out, a work history that includes plenty of hands-on work in the CFL, but there are many more layers to him than that. The decision to hire Morreale was based not only on his football background, but his experience away from the field.

“I love the fact that Mike ran a chain of restaurants and has the scars that you only get from being in business,” said Goudie. “I’m looking for Mike to roll up his sleeves and go to work with the football club and get that to where we need to be - and that’ll be the majority of his time. But there will also be time spent on the business side of it, reconnecting with our community, with RNation and getting us back to sold-out stadiums, bringing back that swagger.”

Morreale says he’s coming into the job with a lot of ideas and an open mind. It looks like everything is on the table; everything is up for evaluation. Beginning immediately, Morreale will lead a review of Football Operations, establish the club’s permanent football leadership structure and strengthen its approach to identifying, recruiting and developing players. He will also lead the development of a longer-term football and business plan to guide the club’s priorities and establish a clear path forward.

Look for changes. How deep those changes go will be determined in the coming weeks.

“If you read between the lines, there's got to be a shakeup,” said Morreale. “We don’t have a lot of time, there's not a lot of runway here. I have a good sense of how I can fix it. Will I be able to fix it immediately? I don't think you can fix anything immediately. Is there a way for me to hit a home run immediately or do I have to hit a couple of singles and a couple of doubles along the way? That's going to be what the next month and change are all about.”

Asked if it's fair game that a lot of people within the organization would be scrutinized, he said: “(If they’re not up for evaluation), then they're in the wrong sport, the wrong job. It's a performance-based job. I need to do some hands-on homework in addition to the stuff that I've already looked at. Nobody should be happy with what's happened here.”

Losing has resonated with the organization, its owners and a fan base that cares.

“This would be the worst summer of my life,” said Roger Greenberg, OSEG’s managing partner and executive chairman. “I think people stopped talking to me because I think they didn’t know what to say. It sucked the joy out of going out.

“Having a perfect season the wrong way is not a record I relish. As owners, we’re all competitive guys, so this really, really hurts. The money is one thing, but we were never in it for the money - I’ve said that since Day 1. We’ve lost a lot of fans over the past five years. I get it, I understand it. I don’t blame the fans. We’ve got to be a competitive team. The wins will come. I don’t quite believe what Ted Lasso (is talking about) when he says he doesn’t care about wins or losses. Today’s announcement is an important step forward, but it’s just the beginning.”

Sure enough, Morreale has been part of a couple of football teams that went from being mediocrity to champions.

“Early in my career, in 1995, I was on a 4-14 team in Toronto. That team was terrible; we had infighting and everything you could imagine. We shouldn't even have won four games. We grabbed a couple of people in free agency and (after a 15-3 regular season) won the Grey Cup the next year. My first year in Hamilton in 1997, we were 2-16. Changes came in 1998 and we were in the Grey Cup. We lost, but we won it the following year.

“At the root of all those terrible teams becoming good teams, there was a solid group of players that remained, that understood, that went through the dirt and got it, and were like, 'Oh, okay, now I can see the light again.’ It’s not fun to lose, but it can be fixed. It’s going to take some time, and it may take some difficult decisions. But that's my job to figure out.”

Morreale co-founded the Canadian Elite Basketball League (which includes the Ottawa Blackjacks) in 2017, then stepped away from his job as commissioner a year ago. He brings a unique combination of football credibility and executive leadership experience. As a player, he won multiple CFL awards to go with his two Grey Cup championships. With the CFL Players’ Association, he was a player representative, director of marketing and president.

Morreale had been working on a new project, an elite international high school basketball league called ATLAS. He was going to be the league’s commissioner.

But the lure of turning around the fortunes of the REDBLACKS was too good for him to turn his back on.

“I read an article in the paper, and Mark was quoted on what they were looking for (in a new team president)," said Morreale. "I sent a text to Mark, ‘Hey, Mark, your quote sounds a lot like me. He’s like, ‘You’re on my list.’ From that point forward, we spoke on a regular basis. I thought I could identify some of the problems, and I thought I could solve them. This is an opportunity that is going to be difficult, but it's also going to be a hell of a lot of fun when we turn this thing around.”

Asked about getting back to his football roots, Morreale said: “There was a pull here that wasn’t just football. It was the opportunity and the people here. It just felt right. When my (CFLPA) presidency ended, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to be in the league. I’ve got all this knowledge; I know it inside out, and backwards, I know the financials and the collective bargaining. Then, guess what, it doesn’t happen like that. Twelve years has made me a way better leader. I’ve had to experience things that have tested me, so I’m kind of glad of how everything worked out because this is the perfect timing. There was a push and pull to maybe go other places or do other things. But, for me, this is the right thing at the right time with the right group of people.

"Sometimes, I feel like I’ve lived a thousand lives. That’s OK. It made me into a well-rounded individual and I feel like I can take this on and help solve it."

Asked how involved he would be in reshaping the REDBLACKS, Morreale said: “I'm going to be hands-on because a) I care about it. And b) I feel comfortable in my knowledge of what it takes on and off the field. But I will defer certain things to the people that are here that I trust. It's not going to be a micromanagement situation. With the best teams I played on, it was a family. You didn't want to leave the locker room. You wanted to show up early. You wanted to stay late.

“I'm not in a hurry to win at all costs. I'm worried about building a true identity and team and culture and framework that will extend far after I'm gone. If it fails, you can blame me, but I'm going to work damn hard to make sure it doesn't happen.

“Everyone's fallen into a rut. It's hard to get out of the rut when there's not a lot to cheer for. That goes for the fans, that goes for staff, and it goes for key people in the organization. We have to get better all around. We need to fix the current issue - winning football games - and how we are perceived in the fabric of the community - that is equally as important. We have to listen to our fans and figure out what's been missing or what needs to be done better. There'll be some lumps along the way, but collectively we can make it happen.”

Morreale said he would be moving to Ottawa soon.

“It’s a great city,” he said. “I need to be here, not just from a football perspective, but I need to be here from a fan perspective and be visible in the community. That’s really important.”