Kyle Walters (born July 23, 1973, in

St. Thomas, Ontario St. Thomas is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It gained its city charter on March 4, 1881. The city is also the seat for Elgin County, although it is independent of the county. At the time of the 2021 Census, the population of the city wa ...

) is a former professional Canadian football

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and is currently the general manager for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. Walters built the Winnipeg team that won the

107th Grey Cup The 107th Grey Cup decided the champion of the 2019 season in the Canadian Football League (CFL). The match was played on November 24, 2019, between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta. Wi ...

33–12 over Hamilton. He played for seven seasons for the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

and won a

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

championship as a player with the team in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

. Following his retirement, he became the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

for the University of Guelph Gryphons and served as their head coach from

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. He also played

CIAU football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport). Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athletic confer ...

for the Gyphons in the early 1990s.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers named Walters interim General Manager for the remainder of the

2013 CFL season The 2013 CFL season was the 60th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 56th season of the Canadian Football League. The pre-season began on June 12, 2013 and the regular season began on June 27, 2013. Regina, Saskatchewa ...

following a disappointing 1–5 start. The team didn't finish any better, going 2-10 the rest of the way and failing to qualify for the CFL playoffs. Despite the disappointing finish to the year, the Bombers removed the interim tag and named Walters GM for the 2014 CFL season. In 2014 the Bombers finished 7-11 following a 5–1 start. In the offseason Walters made some key signings for the offensive line, including

Stanley Bryant Stanley Myron Bryant (born May 7, 1986) is a Canadian football offensive lineman for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He first enrolled at Elizabeth City State University before transferring to East Carolina Univers ...

and

Jermarcus Hardrick Jermarcus "Yoshi" Hardrick (born May 30, 1990) is a professional gridiron football offensive lineman for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a Grey Cup champion as a member of the 107th Grey Cup champions and is ...

. Walters helped to build to foundation of a successful Blue Bombers team that saw them have four consecutive double-digit win seasons in 2019. The team carried this success into the

which they won over the

33–12. Due to the championship caliber team he had built, the Bombers extended his contract in 2019 through to the 2023 season. Walters prefers to do the scouting for the team and work in the background, while Mike O'Shea does most of the media interviews for the team. O'Shea was also extended at the same time, though his contract ends one year earlier in 2022.

CFL GM record

References

External links

Winnipeg Blue Bombers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walters, Kyle 1973 births Living people People from St. Thomas, Ontario Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Canadian football defensive backs Guelph Gryphons football players Players of Canadian football from Ontario Winnipeg Blue Bombers general managers Guelph Gryphons football coaches