Leroy Blugh is entering his fifth season as head football coach at Bishop’s University and in his short tenure he has made his presence felt across campus and into the community. Taking over the Gaiters was a homecoming of sorts for Coach Blugh - arguably the greatest football player in Gaiters’ history, both in terms of his accomplishments as a student-athlete and through his very successful fifteen-year career in the Canadian Football League.

In 2007, Coach Blugh’s efforts started to bear fruit, as engineered a turnaround unseen in recent QUFL history. He took a team that had not won more than two games in a year since the 1990s, and was almost unanimously picked to miss the playoffs for a sixth straight year, to a 5-3 record and a ranking as high as #6 in the country. Blugh directed Bishop’s to their first winning season since 1995, gave the Gaiters their first playoff berth since 2002 and pushed them to within a hair’s breadth of the first playoff game at Coulter Field in 13 years. Coach Blugh has instilled in his team, the Bishop’s campus, and the Lennoxville community, the belief that a return to the Gaiters’ glory days of the 1980s and 90s is not just possible, but that it is inevitable.

2009 saw the first of Blugh’s protégés make an impact on the professional level, with Jamall Lee and James Yurichuk both being drafted in the first round of the CFL Draft by the B.C. Lions, and Lee signing with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.

Blugh enjoyed an exceptional career at Bishop's during the late ’80's. A linebacker, he was named a CIAU All-Canadian on three occasions and won the Presidents’ Trophy in 1988 as the best defensive player in Canada. Blugh was also named the Best Defensive Player in the OQIFC for three consecutive seasons. 

Coach Blugh was drafted by the Edmonton Eskimos in the first round (7th overall) of the 1989 CFL Draft. He enjoyed an 11-year career in Edmonton which included a Grey Cup championship in 1993. In 1996, Blugh was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian, and he was selected to the Western Conference All-Star team on two occasions. Coach Blugh finished his career with the Toronto Argonauts in 2003.  In 2005 Blugh was chosen, along with 27 former Edmonton greats, as a member of the Eskimos All-Century team.

Born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Blugh and his family moved to Napanee, Ontario when he was five years old. Coach Blugh still has strong roots in Eastern Ontario, but now proudly calls Lennoxville home.

Ray Gagnon became the Gaiters’ Defensive Coordinator, Recruiting Coordinator and Linebackers coach in 2007 after three seasons with the Concordia Stingers. The Montreal native has over 25 years of coaching experience, including eight as the Head Coach at Vanier College, where he went to three Bol d’Or finals and sent more than 40 players to NCAA scholarships. 17 of his players currently play in the CFL. He coached with the 2006 gold-medal-winning Quebec U-19 team, and has been a guest coach for the Toronto Argonauts, Montreal Alouettes and St. Louis Rams, as well as at camps at Northwestern, Michigan, Syracuse and Connecticut. He played seven years in the LaSalle minor football system.

Benoit Groulx was named the Gaiters' Offensive Coordinator on January 13, 2010. He recently completed five seasons as a quarterback with the Laval Rouge et Or, winning the Vanier Cup in 2006 and 2008, and was one of the most decorated players in QUFL history. He won the Hec Crighton Trophy in 2008 as the CIS’ most valuable player, and is a three-time winner of the Jeff Russel Award as the QUFL’s Player of the Year. He was a named a First Team All-Canadian in 2008.

Groulx, a native of Montreal, holds the QUFL record for career touchdown passes with 66 (6^th in CIS history), and is second on the league’s all-time list with 8,530 yards passing and 612 completions. He holds the CIS record for single season completion percentage (75.2% in 2008) and posted the second-highest percentage (73.2%) in CIS history in 2009.

Prior to joining Laval, he spent 2002-2004 with the Vieux-Montréal Spartiates, winning the Bol d’Or as league champion all three seasons. He was named the Cégep AAA league MVP in 2003 and 2004. In 2004, he won a silver medal as a member of Team Canada at the Global Junior Football Championship.

Groulx was the Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator of the Quebec Monarks of the Quebec Major Football League in the summer of 2009, and was an assistant coach with the Élites de Québec U-15 and U-17 team at the Wilson Challenge in 2007 and 2008.

After a stellar five-year career with the Gaiters, Joey Sabo joined the coaching staff as an Offensive Line Assistant in 1994, and became Offensive Line Coach in 1995 – a position he has held ever since. Sabo has been a part of the Gaiter Football program for 20 years. The Laval native became the Department’s Athletic Coordinator in 2000, and was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director in 2008.

Matt McBrine played five years as a defensive back with the Gaiters in the early 1990s, before joining the coaching staff in 1996. McBrine has spent nearly 20 years in Lennoxville, and has served as the Gaiters’ Defensive Backs Coach (1996-1998) and Receivers Coach (1999-Present). A native of Fredericton, N.B., McBrine is entering his tenth year as the Alumni Relations Coordinator at Bishop’s.

Kevin Mackey played in 2005 with the Gaiters as a defensive back, after spending four seasons at the University of Western Ontario. A native of Ascot Corner, Mackey is entering his third season as the Gaiters’ Defensive Backs Coach. He previously coached at Champlain College.

One of two members of the Etcheverry family to attend Bishop’s, Steve had a five-year playing career at Tight End with the Gaiters in the 1970s. He is currently in his second year as the Gaiters’ running backs coach, after having coached high school football in the Calgary area for the past 27 years.

Tony Addona moves to an Offensive Consultant role, after four years as the Gaiters’ Offensive Coordinator. The Athletic Director at Bishop’s since 2002, he served as the Gaiters’ Head Coach in 2004. Prior to joining Bishop’s, Addona, a native of St. Leonard, Quebec, won eight Bol D’Or provincial championships in 17 seasons with the Champlain Cougars.

Steven Mabee joined the Gaiters’ coaching staff in 2009 as an Offensive Line Assistant. Mabee was a pillar of the Gaiters’ offensive line from 2004-2008. A native of St. Bruno, Que., Mabee was twice named the Gaiters’ Lineman of the Year, and was a QUFL All-Star in 2007.

David Marticorena joined the Gaiters in 2009 as a Defensive Line Assistant. Prior to joining the Gaiters, he spent three years at the Cégep level as a defensive line coach, starting in 2006 with the Cégep Thetford Mines Filons and finishing in 2007 and 2008 with the Champlain Cougars. The Ste-Catherine-de-Hatley native played one season with the Sherbrooke Vert et Or before electing to pursue his coaching career.

Mike Wood enters his second season as the Gaiters’ team Manager. Wood, a fourth-year History major, is a native of Montreal. Prior to joining the Gaiters’ football staff, he played two seasons on the Gaiters’ Golf team.

Bill is returning for his eighth season as the Gaiters equipment manager. A graduate of Bishop’s, B.Sc. 68’, Bill was a teacher at Alexander Galt High School before joining the Gaiter staff.

Stephen King is in his 30^th season at Bishop’s. The Mississauga native is the Head Therapist for the Football Gaiters, as well as the President of Physio Sports Med King – who operate the Bishop’s Sports Medicine Centre. King has served as the Head Athletic Therapist for Team Canada at the last two Olympic Games, as well as at the 1991 FISU Winter Games.

Nathan King is going into his third season as the Gaiters’ Therapist. A native of Lennoxville, King is a graduate of Bishop’s with a B.Sc. and received a Masters in Physical Therapy from the University of Western Ontario.