Greg Quick is back for a third stint with the Toronto Argonauts, tasked with organizing a defence that struggled in 2024 before key returnees arrive—headlined by defensive tackle Ralph Holley, who helped Toronto win the 2024 Grey Cup.
When Greg Quick walks into the Toronto Argonauts facility for what he calls his third stint. it’s not just another coaching change. It’s a homecoming with a simple deadline: the Argos need their defence to stop bleeding points. and Quick believes training camp will decide whether this season turns the page—or stays stuck on the same pages.
Quick, 69, is now Toronto’s defensive co-ordinator and linebackers coach. He previously coached linebackers with the Argonauts in 2010-11 and again in 2018. In between, he held a third coaching tenure with Montreal from 2021-25, joining Toronto after that spell.
Before landing back in Canadian pro football. Quick’s path was built in the long grind—centre at Ohio’s Baldwin-Wallace College. then coaching in 1979 at Emporia State University in Kansas. Over four-plus decades spanning high school. NCAA and Canadian professional levels. he worked through multiple coaching roles on both sides of the ball. plus administrative duties. including the CFL’s first-ever director of global scouting in 2019.
Quick is taking charge on Mike Miller’s staff. Miller is in his first season as a CFL head coach. and Quick described the pairing as exciting—not because they’re lifelong friends. but because they haven’t really built a relationship off the field yet. “To arrive at this place and time together is just exciting,” Quick said. “Mike and I have had a professional connection of shaking hands on the field but otherwise no real connection.”.
Quick also leaned into the geographical flavour of the fit: “We’re both Midwest guys even though he’s from Pittsburgh and I’m from Cleveland, so I guess we have a little bit of a rivalry there. But having the opportunity to coach with him has been a blessing.”
For Argos fans, the urgency is hard to miss. Last season. Toronto (5-13) allowed the most offensive touchdowns in the CFL (54). the most offensive points per game (28.8). the most passing TDs (35). the most yards per play (7.07) and the most 30-plus yard catches (39). Their run defence finished eighth at 105.7 yards per game.
There were bright spots mixed into the damage. Toronto finished tied with Calgary for most defensive return touchdowns (five) and was fourth in sacks (41). But opponents drove for touchdowns a league-high 22.6 per cent of the time, a stat that left little room for margin when games tilted.
This is where Quick’s return meets the roster reality now arriving in 2026. The defensive front should get an immediate lift with the return of defensive tackle Ralph Holley (Cleveland, NFL). Holley helped the Argos win the ’24 Grey Cup and finished tied for the league lead in sacks (eight) in his first CFL season. The inside presence of the six-foot-one. 285-pound Holley is expected to change the matchup dynamic for Toronto’s defensive end rotation. giving defensive end Andrew Chatfield Jr. more one-on-one opportunities.
Chatfield Jr. still carries the recent production too: he had a team-high seven sacks last season. Linebacker Aaron Casey was second with six.
More names come back with their own momentum. Also returning are linebacker Adarius Pickett and defensive backs DaShaun Amos and Robert Priester. Pickett was the East Division’s outstanding defensive player in ’23 with the Argos before heading to Ottawa. Amos and Priester helped the franchise win Grey Cups in 2022 and ’24. but both spent last season elsewhere—Amos with Hamilton and Priester with the Redblacks.
At the middle linebacker spot, the hole is real. The departure of veteran Wynton McManis (Hamilton) leaves a gap after his four seasons with the club that included two Grey Cup winners and twice earning CFL all-star recognition. McManis missed 11 games over the last two seasons with injuries, and those absences opened the door for Issac Darkangelo. Darkangelo, 25, recorded 82 tackles (60 defensive, 22 special teams), two sacks and two forced fumbles in 2025.
Toronto’s defence will also lean on linebacker Cameron Judge, a Canadian who last year posted a team-high 83 tackles (79 defensive, four special teams), three sacks, two interceptions, two forced fumbles and a TD.
Quick’s message to the Argos is about competition, not comfort. “I think change does happen and obviously when there’s a change in leadership there’s the opportunity for that momentum to gain even more. ” he said. “We have some very talented defensive players returning that have great equity in the game but we also want to create competition.”.
“We all need competition and we can’t rest on what anybody has done in the past. We must identify their strengths and how we use them.”
Training camp, he said, is where those answers will be built. “It’s important for us to maximize the capabilities of the young men we have,” Quick said. “That’s really why Mike hired me.”
If Quick has a reputation to hang his message on, he offered his own version of it: “If I have a strength I’d attest to, it’s that ability to identify strengths or weaknesses and then maximize their capabilities within our system. Training camp is just so important, it’s imperative to that process.”
And for supporters already bracing for the trial-and-error that comes with rebuilding, Quick promised the process will be worth watching. “I encourage people to watch and turn the pages because it’s going to be exciting,” he said. “Every chapter in this season is really going to be a lot of fun to experience.”.
Greg Quick Toronto Argonauts defensive coordinator linebackers coach Mike Miller Ralph Holley Andrew Chatfield Jr. Aaron Casey Adarius Pickett DaShaun Amos Robert Priester Wynton McManis Issac Darkangelo Cameron Judge