Greg Marshall, one of the top minds in Canadian university football, has had tremendous success as the Head Coach of the Mustangs. Marshall has taken his teams to the Yates cup 12 times and won seven (2007, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2021). In total, Marshall has claimed 21 Yates Cup titles during his CIS playing and coaching career.
On the national stage, Marshall won two Vanier Cups as an assistant coach with the Mustangs in 1989 and 1994. As the Head Coach, Marshall won his first Vanier Cup in 2017 with a 39-17 victory over Laval, and most recently defeated the Saskatchewan Huskies 27-21 at 56th Vanier Cup in 2021.Â
Marshall began his career at Western in 1978 as a fullback under Darwin Semotiuk, leading the Mustangs to three consecutive Yates Cup championships and capturing the Hec Crighton Trophy as Canadian university football’s Most Outstanding Player in 1980. To this day, Marshall is still one of only two people to win the Hec Crighton and CIS Coach of the Year award, the other being Rick Zmich. Following his time in a Mustangs uniform, Marshall was drafted by the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos, where he won a Grey Cup in 1982. He returned to Western in 1984 as an assistant coach under Haylor and was promoted to offensive coordinator in 1992-96. During this time, the Mustangs won two Yates Cups and the 1994 Vanier Cup with Marshall directing the offence. Moving on to McMaster the following season, Marshall led the Marauders for seven seasons and won four straight Yates Cup titles from 2000 to 2003 before taking over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2004.
As Head Coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Marshall made an immediate impact, helping them improve from a one-win season in 2003 to a 9-8-1 record and marking the team’s first playoff appearance in three seasons. The CFL recognized Marshall, naming him CFL Coach of the Year for his rookie season, making him the first rookie head coach to win the annual award since Edmonton’s Ray Jauch in 1970.
Greg Marshall has been recognized for his coaching excellence several times at the provincial and national levels. He was named OUA Coach of the Year seven times (1999, 2000, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019), and U SPORTS coach of the year three times (2000, 2018, 2019) and is the first coach to ever win it back-to-back.
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Updated July 2022
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