Jim Hopson had an unbelievable run at the helm of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, taking the team from the bottom of the CFL right to the top in a number of different ways.

The former team president and CEO retired earlier this year and now he has a new book about his decade in charge of the Green and White called, Running the Riders: My Decade as CEO of Canada's Team.

The book details the ups and downs that the team experienced during Hopson's time in the front office and how they were able to bring the Riders from the financial bottom to being the envy of the rest of the CFL.

Hopson said he never thought that he would be writing a book, but he was pushed to do it.

“I do a lot of public speaking at charity events and so on and towards the end of my time as president I had people suggesting that I should write some of these stories down,” said Hopson. “I started thinking that maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea and I also thought that it would be a good transition from flat out, full-time with the Riders to retirement.”

Hopson with help from former Riders' beat writer with the Leader-Post Darrell Davis wrote the book over the course of six months.

“Darrell said, 'You're writing the book, I'm going to help you organize, fact check and add a little bit, but I'm not going to ghost write it,'” said Hopson. “I'm old school, so I wrote it long hand with pen on paper. I'd give Darrell big stacks of paper and he get it onto the computer, and then we started to work with the editor and publisher, it was quite the process.

“It was a good relationship and he kept me honest.”

In the book, Hopson dives into the behind the scenes workings around the team and what went into turning the team around, plus keeping them on track during the down times.

“Right away you think about the four Grey Cups and the two victories, and especially the one at home in 2013, but we had lots of challenges,” he said. “When I just started with the Riders, we got hit with the Trevis Smith issue, something I was totally unaware of when I went into job; the loss of the Grey Cup in 2009 with the 13th man was another one; the Eric Tillman situation, I talk about all those things.”

The fans of Rider Nation are also a big part of the book, according to Hopson, who added that they were a key part of the team turning things around. He added that he's happy to be able to give fans the credit and a look behind what was happening with the team from his perspective.

The book is available now, click here for more details.

Hopson will be in Moose Jaw next Tuesday for a book signing at Ultimate Fan Zone on Main Street. He will be on hand from 1-3pm.