Photo | Johany Jutras
One of the youngest members of the REDBLACKS football operations department, Joey Swarbrick gave up a lifelong allegiance to the Saskatchewan Roughriders to join the expansion REDBLACKS in 2013. He sat down with our Chris Hofley to talk about coming to Ottawa, explain a few of his many roles and talk about his career goals in football.
Let’s get right to it…how does a born and raised Regina guy end up as the Coordinator of Football Operations with the REDBLACKS?
I did a Bachelor of Sports and Recreation Studies, with a major in Sports Management and a diploma in Business Administration at the University of Regina. That entailed a six-month internship with the Pittsburgh Power in the Arena Football League and while I was down there I met (current REDBLACKS Assistant GM) Jeremy Snyder at the Pittsburgh Steelers training camp and interviewed with him, eventually I interviewed with (GM) Marcel Desjardins and (former Assistant GM) Brock Sunderland and they offered me an internship – the rest is history.
Where did football and sports in general fit into your life growing up?
I grew up in a lot of small towns throughout Saskatchewan where there weren’t a lot of opportunities to play football, so I didn’t get the opportunity to play until the 10th grade when I moved to Regina and then I went back and forth between basketball and football. I got hurt in my senior year of high school and didn’t think I’d be able to play college or junior ball, but I missed it and tried to find a way back to the game without playing and eventually settled on the sports management program.
The Riders are a pretty big deal in Regina. You’re from Regina. Safe to call you a reformed Riders fan who eventually saw the light?
Absolutely, but it took a while to get it out of my system. When I joined the REDBLACKS in Year 1, our first game was a pre-season game at Mosaic Stadium in 2014. We’re on the sideline when the Riders score the first touchdown. They have this song that plays when they score called Green is the colour and I got caught bobbing my head to the song. I got a little ribbing from the guys and they’ll still rib me on occasion for it. It was tough to work out of my system but it’s gone now. I no longer bleed green.
Your office is next to the GM, across from the assistant GM and spitting distance from the head coach. You’re 25. Ever give your head shake or freak out that this is your job?
Not really because there’s no better place to learn. Marcel has been in the league since 1994 – I was three years old. So he’s basically been working in pro football as long as I’ve been alive. I just try to sit back and shut up and listen to what he says and try to soak it all in. There’s so many guys that work here (the ones you mentioned and others) that have a wealth of football experience. So I don’t think of it as intimidating, I’m just thankful for the opportunity because it’s a nine-team league. For any team to give you the time of day to come here and learn, you don’t take that for granted.
All that said, what exactly do you do here?
My job is to manage the day-to-day logistics for the team. Administrative stuff, from field bookings to travel planning including making sure we have hotels and buses on the road.
So basically it’s your fault if we don’t make it to where we’re supposed to be?
The joke I tell people is if you see TSN talking about how the REDBLACKS didn’t make it to a city on time, you can say, hey, I know who did that!
What is your ultimate goal moving forward in the football world?
I’d love to be a GM someday, that’s why I got into this. I’m learning the ins and outs of scouting, which is all about developing a point of reference and being able to compare guys and see traits. I’m a big believer in the 10,000-hour rule and I’m still learning that aspect because I don’t have as much of a football pedigree as other people. Our generation tends to be entitled and feel like we need to be moving up as fast as possible. But right now, I’m 25 and trying to learn, so I sit back and appreciate what I have. I try not to ask for too much and I don’t look too far ahead.
We were standing close together on the sideline in Toronto when that last Calgary pass fell incomplete and the REDBLACKS won the Grey Cup. What was that moment like?
Incredibly surreal. Marcel says you can me find me on the TSN game film and I’m walking around like a stunned deer. Having been here since close to the beginning, just reflecting on everything we had done to that point, I was lost in the moment. I remember the pass that Ernest Jackson caught in overtime because (6-foot-8 scout) Miles Gorrell jumped in front of me. I saw the first bobble and then I can’t see anything until Ernest is laying on his back with the ball in his hands.
The close-knit locker room here has been well-documented, but the staff here is like one big family too. What’s it like working in that environment?
It is a family here. For me, I moved from Regina specifically for this job. I didn’t know anyone here; I didn’t even know my roommate. So this is my family. Rick and Marcel have done a very good job of building that.
Finally, what’s it like now for you going back to play in Regina? Are you as famous there as Wray Perkin (REDBLACKS assistant equipment manager, who we profiled here) is in Sackville, New Brunswick?
Not even close! There’s a small group of people who know who I am but I’ll never be Wray-Sackville famous. That’s on another level. But I love going home – we have the better record over the last two years so I don’t have to listen to the crazy Rider fans bash us and my friends and family are so proud of what I do. It was hard for them to see me go but they all want the best for me. They won’t admit it but I’ve definitely managed to convert some of them. I have photographic proof, if needed.
