TORONTO

The irony wasn’t lost on Ricky Foley, one of those high-character, high-motor guys in three-down football who are easy to root for because there’s no filter, no agenda.

For years, the Argos were this nomadic football club, unaware of what site would be used for practice, uncertain about the engagement from ownership, forced to play on the road for extended stretches, then came the ultimate indignity of playing home games in Ottawa and Hamilton late last season when finishing first in the East and getting a bye were well within grasp.

But as Foley mulled free agency, it became quite apparent the Argos have shed the many layers that would distract and ultimately compromise the on-field product.

“I didn’t want to be part of the melee, that instability of which coach will coach you, what players will be lining up next to you,’’ began Foley on Wednesday when the veteran rush end and the Argos signed off a new deal that will keep the York U product in Double Blue through the 2018 season.

“We’re now a stable franchise, which is something you couldn’t say. You look at the CFL landscape and we’re among the few stable teams, probably next to Hamilton.”

Foley could have gone into free agency and probably would have put his name on a deal that would pay him more, but he decided, in the end, to take less money knowing the Argos are in good hands with committed new owners, knowing head coach Scott Milanovich and GM Jim Barker will do whatever to make the Argos better.

“I wanted to be with Jim and Scott,’’ said Foley, whose deals runs out the same year as both of the team’s two primary football executives’ deals.

“Jim and Scott both have a great pulse on things and at this stage in my career there’s no other place I’d rather play.”

Foley believes the CFL’s free-agent process will be “crazy,’’ a veritable free-for-all as the advent of one-year deals will usher in an unprecedented class.

The Argos, like most teams, have an abundance of free agents, but Barker, true to his word, wants to tie up his own players rather than go out in the open market knowing he’d have to overspend on talent.

Foley is still in a state of disbelief when he reflects on the season and realizes how the Argos would end the season with a 10-8 record.

“Just so much crap to deal with, a horrible schedule and then we knew our record would be at the end with four home games,’’ said Foley. “Then we end up playing in front of family and friends in Hamilton. To think we won 10 games is crazy.”

Had the Argos been indoors for the final month, they would have played in the Grey Cup, but it’s now water under the bridge, Foley and the franchise turning a new page.

For Foley, the coming off-season will allow him time to resume his normal training.

Last off-season, there was an imbalance when injuries to his knee and back limited Foley, who wasn’t completely healthy during the regular season.

He is back training and in time he’ll vacation with former York teammate and current Argos teammate Andre Durie, who hurt his knee in Week 2 in Regina and never came back.

“Andre is coming back,’’ said Foley of his good friend. “He’s not going to go out like that (season-ending injury). He knows what to do and knows exactly what works.”

If anyone can return from adversity, it’s Durie, whom Foley admires and respects.

When he returned to Toronto last off-season following a trade that sent linebacker Shea Emry to Saskatchewan, Foley worked with then defensive co-ordinator Casey Creehan.

Foley enjoyed his time under Creehan, but he also knows the business of football and welcomes Rich Stubler, whom Milanovich appointed to succeed Creehan.

“It was bittersweet,’’ said Foley of his immediate reaction when the coaching change was initiated.

“I like coach Creehan and hopefully something can still be worked out.”

Stubler was the first coach to approach Foley back in 2006 at the CFL’s combine.

A five-time Grey Cup winner, Stubler’s addition will help Toronto’s defence, no matter what player lines up where.

“A huge pickup,’’ said Foley of Stubler’s hiring. “He’s been doing this a long time and he knows what he’s doing. He knows every offensive co-ordinator.”

Foley has never worked under Stubler, but he knows about Stubler’s style and the impact he has on players.

Foley got a first-hand scouting report from Matt Black, Toronto’s veteran defensive back who, next to Durie, is Foley’s best friend.

“Matt Black said coach Stubler is awesome,’’ said Foley. “That’s all I needed to hear.”

NO CFL ALL-STARS FOR BOATMEN

The Toronto Argonauts were conspicuously absent from the CFL’s all-star team, the annual roll call of the league’s premier players released by the league on Wednesday.

The last time no player in Double Blue was acknowledged as a league all-star was back in 2009.

In a nine-team league, it’s virtually impossible not to have one player on the squad, but in reality there weren’t that many Argos worthy of the recognition, at least not based on the quality of depth at certain positions.

Toronto did finish the season with a 10-8 record and came within a play, whether it was a defensive back falling on his own in man coverage, a missed field goal, a dropped ball, a questionable roughing call, of advancing to the East final.

There are pieces for GM Jim Barker and head coach Scott Milanovich to worth with, but at the same time there’s work to be done in assembling more high-end talent, especially on defence.

On the same day the team announced a deal to keep Ricky Foley through to the 2018 season, the Argos also announced the signing of defensive back Marcus Grandison, a Toronto native who played his high school football at Chaminade College. Grandison’s football roots exposed him to the North York Grizzles and the Metro Toronto Wildcats.