The Alouettes’ last practice before leaving for Ottawa, to face the Rouge et Noir, had ended a few minutes ago. As is the case at the end of each practice, Byron Archambault grabbed his backpack and his sunglasses, like a schoolboy on his way home.
Although in reality, the 32-year-old is at home everywhere in the metropolis. “I’m a Montreal guy, born on the island. Montreal has a very special place in my heart. I am close to my family. My mother, my sister, we are a very close family, ”he says, still soaked after spending two hours in the pouring rain on the ground between Saputo Stadium and Olympic Stadium.
Since 2017, he has climbed the ranks within the Alouettes organization. He’s been a linebacker coach, director of player personnel, assistant defensive coach, and now he’s assistant coach to Jason Maas and special teams coordinator.
Archambault is fine here, but he knows he could be elsewhere as well. As a player, he dreamed of reaching the NFL. Only the way to get there has changed, but its ambitions are still the same.
“As a player, your goal is to play in the NFL. For young people, it’s going to the NCAA. As a coach, we have the same mentality, he explains. It would be a lie to say that I have no ambition. These are lofty ambitions. We all want to play in stadiums with 100,000 people. The stadiums are bigger, the pressure is too. I’m open and we’ll see where it takes us. »
What would it take, then, to convince him to cross south of the border?
“Any opportunity that comes my way,” he chimed in. As he points out, football is all about contacts, connections and word of mouth. This is why he has already gone for a two-week internship with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Navigating in this unpredictable and sometimes cruel world involves certain risks. The families of players, coaches and general managers are always on the alert because change has come so quickly.
Archambault is well in Montreal. He first played with the University of Montreal Carabins before playing for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and finally landing in the Alouettes organization. He earns his living through football and he knows how privileged he is. “It makes me happy to be able to evolve in Montreal since university. Of course it has its advantages. We have to stay open, and as a family we are,” he said.
In football, he says, “you have to get used to the idea that you’re going to have to leave one day”.
And his wife is aware of it. She is ready to follow him where his destiny will take him: “With my girlfriend, we had been officially a couple for a month and a half and it was already in the conversations. You have to be ready. I didn’t want her to commit if she wasn’t ready for it, and she’s all in to go to the United States, go to the NFL, go to the NCAA. She pushes me a lot. »
In the meantime, the friendly bearded man intends to do everything in his power to help the Alouettes win, because it will be profitable for him and for the players. “You may have aspirations, but right now you’re here and you have to do the best job you can. And if doors open during the off season, great! »
If Archambault has been promoted this season to the second level of the pyramid of the coaching group, just below Maas, it is in particular because the players appreciate him, trust him and respect him.
In numerous interviews conducted over the past few years, with both Carabins and Alouettes players, never a wrong word has been said about Archambault.
Simply because it has always been unanimous with athletes.
“I like them just as much. That’s the most important thing,” he says.
The Montrealer is part of this new wave of coaches. The old school never appealed to him. Archambault is an autodidact, and according to him, even if the line between coaches and players must exist, there is no question of making it a matter of hierarchy.
“We work together, I’m not telling you what to do. I think it’s the worst relationship. And I wasn’t necessarily responding well to that style of coaching. »
Archambault has played with and against some of the current Alouettes players. He is the age of some players and even younger than some of them. It also explains why it is easy for him to bond.
His methods are different, but his approach works. He learned at the University of Montreal how essential good chemistry is in a team with great aspirations. And this is what he tries to reproduce a few years later.
With his players, outside of office hours, it’s about everything except football. “We have our breakfast together in the morning. The players arrive an hour before starting their day and they spend an hour in my office. There must be about fifteen of them,” he says.
Together, these giants discuss current affairs, economy, nutrition, recovery and hydration. They also exchange books and podcasts. “We’re moving forward. You create great relationships,” he believes.
Thanks to his experience, this is the way he has chosen to privilege. Carrying out your work differently, but always keeping the idea that possible possibilities exist.
“It’s a way of doing things that works. And just because you get a paycheck at the end of the week doesn’t mean that has to change. We all come from this kind of world, where at some point, we weren’t getting paid and we were still playing. »
However, harvest time has arrived for Archambault. The CFL season is well underway, and we already know how furious the race for the playoffs will be. It is in these kinds of moments that Archambault will have to stand out to prove that he has his place in the big leagues.