St. James Rods head coach Caleb Goudie looks back fondly on his time as a player in the Manitoba Major Junior Football League (MMJFL).
A product of Sturgeon Heights who played with the likes of Anthony Coombs, Kienan LaFrance and the Herdman brothers, Goudie tried out for the Winnipeg Rifles as a defensive back in 2011, but was cut. Down on his luck and, he took a season off, which he says was one of the worst years of his life.
But Goudie wasn’t down for long. Upon the suggestion of a friend, he signed up to play for the Rods, which turned into two of the best years of his life, both on the gridiron and personally.
“I got so demoralized, thinking that I sucked. But then I got on the Rods and it totally did a 180 for me. It changed my perspective on things, and on life. I won’t lie, playing on the Rods’ major team turned my life around in such a positive way. It’s tough to think of where I would be in life without that opportunity to play in the major league,” he says.
“I look back on my time in the major league and it’s tough not to smile. We were just young kids. We weren’t playing to go onto junior or university, we were just playing to have fun. We were playing to go knock the snot out of the Mustangs or the Eagles. I had guys from my high school playing with me and guys from all over the community that you played against in high school. It’s a cool experience that whole melting pot in majors. You get guys who dropped down from junior and U SPORTS, and you get to see how you play against those guys. I never thought I was that good until I started playing majors.”
Playing in the MMJFL gave Goudie enough confidence to spread his wings elsewhere. He enjoyed successful stints with the Rifles and Broncos of the CJFL afterwards, and also played for the Bishop’s Gaitors at the U SPORTS level.
Multiple knee injuries derailed Goudie’s playing career, but it didn’t remove his passion for the game. With a desire to give back to the Rods, he stepped into the vacant head coaching position in 2018.
The first year was a learning curve. The team went winless, but a core group of coaches and players stuck with Goudie’s vision. In 2019, he added some key pieces during the recruiting process, such as Defensive Player of the Year Riley Tougas out of Elmwood, as well as two-way standout Nathaniel King-Wilson from DMCI. The Rods got their first victory under Goudie and played tough against consistent power two squads East Side and St. Vital.
“You definitely learn from trial and experience. I was 25. It was a big time commitment, but I saw a lot of positives come from it,” Goudie noted of his first season as bench boss.
“When you’re losing games, and things don’t go your way, you really find you who’s in your corner. Luckily, I’ve still got guys in my corner and we’ve got great guys in St. James on the coaching staff and player-wise. It’s been a rollercoaster. As a young coach, you’ve got to learn how to handle players and coaches and make sure they’re developing and staying on the right path. I love being the head coach of the Rods. I wouldn’t give it up for the world. You could offer me a job with the [New York] Giants and I’d probably turn it down because I love the guys I’m working with right now.”
Impressive list of commits and coaches for 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to the 2020 season, but Goudie has pressed on, securing the commitment of an impressive 24 players since the end of the 2019 campaign. The list of signees is varied, and includes athletes from Winnipeg, Steinbach (advanced to the WHSFL Division 1 semi-finals in 2019), Portage and rural Manitoba.
“I don’t even know how we pulled some of these guys, but we’ve got players coming in from Steinbach, so you know they’re well coached,” says Goudie. “We are loaded in St. James. We might have another class coming in with no football, so I might have more names. We’re on the come up.”
Included in the list of player commitments are former Sturgeon running back Campbell McKinnon – who rushed for over 900 yards, while averaging 8.9 yards per carry his senior year – and fellow Huskie Carter Wiwchar, a former Defensive MVP for the team.
The squad also made some huge additions to their offensive line, which has been a position of weakness over the last few seasons. Among the crop of hoggies coming in are 6’1”, 285-pound Billy Godwaldt from Steinbach, 6’2”, 265-pound Atlantis Ironstand, a former Offensive Lineman of the Year award winner from Portage, and 6’1” 200-plus pound Jacob Mayer, a “mean and nasty” two-way beast from the St. John’s Tigers who plays the game with a nasty edge.
Goudie’s coaching staff has also increased during the offseason. A few notable names include Derek Trager – a WHSFL All-Decade team member who set multiple records as a pivot for Miles Mac – as well as former Winnipeg Rifles fullbacks Tim Demidiuk (who will help anchor the o-line) and Joel North, the latter of whom Goudie played “in big games with” as a member of the Rods. They join a staff that already includes former five-time MMJFL All-Star AJ Braconnier, the team’s defensive coordinator who’s been on the staff for 13 years.
“We’ve got a full coaching staff now. That was probably the hardest thing my first year was finding not just players but good coaches there,” says Goudie.
“There were a lot of hats that guys had to wear in the first and second year, but now that we have a good core coaching staff, I think it’s going to be amazing for our players and for the league and for the program. I’m looking forward to coaching together with these guys for the next few years. I think we’ve got some bright days ahead of us as a coaching staff and program.”