Greg Marshall ( running back ) Greg Marshall ( born April 19 , 1959 in Guelph , Ontario ) is a former Canadian football running back and current head coach for the University of Western Ontario ' s football team , the Western Mustangs . Marshall was the head coach with the Hamilton Tiger - Cats of the Canadian Football League from to . Prior to his time with the Tiger - Cats , Marshall was the head coach of McMaster University ' s football team . Playing career . Marshall had a successful collegiate career at the University of Western Ontario , and as a running back won the 1980 Hec Crighton Trophy as Canada ' s best collegiate player . Following his time in university , Marshall moved to the Canadian Football League ' s Edmonton Eskimos . Marshall played three years , from to , in the CFL with the Eskimos , winning a Grey Cup in the 70th incarnation of the Canadian football championship game . Marshall ' s Eskimos defeated the Toronto Argonauts 32 – 16 , the last of Edmonton ' s legendary five Grey Cups in a row . After his playing career , Marshall moved back to Western Ontario in 1984 to join the coaching staff . Coaching career . First college stint . Marshall coached at Western from 1984 to 1996 , becoming the school ' s offensive coordinator in 1992 and helping the team win two Vanier Cup s . In 1997 , Marshall was lured to McMaster University and became the school ' s head coach . In his first experience as a head coach , Marshall was an immediate success . McMaster went winless the season before Marshall ' s arrival , and he improved the team to a less disgraceful 2 – 5 – 1 . The next year , McMaster made its first playoff appearance in twelve seasons , and in 1999 McMaster made the conference finals , where they were defeated by Wilfrid Laurier University . This was good enough to make Marshall OUA Coach of the Year . In 2000 , McMaster won their first Yates Cup but were defeated by the University of Ottawa in the chase for the Vanier Cup . Marshall was named the CIS Coach of the Year , becoming only the second person ever to be named both the top player and the top coach in Canadian university football . From 2000 to 2003 , Marshall led McMaster to a record - tying four consecutive Yates Cup championships , but never once captured the Vanier Cup as Canadian university football ' s top team . Professional coach . Marshall joined the Hamilton Tiger - Cats to start the 2004 CFL season , replacing the legendary Ron Lancaster as head coach . The Tiger - Cats had finished with only a single win in 2003 , and expectations on Marshall were not high . He was both the Tiger - Cats ' first Canadian - born head coach and the first CIS coach to be named directly to a head coaching position in the CFL . Under Marshall , the Tiger - Cats exceeded all expectations . The team won its first three games and finished at 9 – 8 – 1 , good enough to make the playoffs in the East Division and make Marshall the first rookie head coach to be named Coach of the Year since Edmonton ' s Ray Jauch in . The Tiger - Cats lost the East Semi - Final to Toronto 24 – 6 . Second college stint . In August 2006 , Marshall returned to Western Ontario as offensive co - ordinator , which generated a large amount of coverage due to his prominence as a CFL coach . After the retirement of longtime Western coach Larry Haylor , Marshall became head coach of the program in 2007 . He has since led the Mustangs to three Yates Cup conference championships in 2007 , 2008 and 2010 in addition to two regular season first place finishes in 2008 and 2011 . He made his first appearance as a head coach in the Vanier Cup game in 2008 , but lost to the perennial power house Laval Rouge et Or .