CFL Notebook
The CFL Coaching Rumour Mill is in overdrive just four days into the off-season. Two more names are in the mix to become the next head coach of the Edmonton Elks, along with Rick Campbell who was let go by the B.C. Lions this week.
A CFL source said longtime Calgary Stampeders Special Teams coach Mark Kilam and current B.C. Offensive Coordinator Jordan Maksymic are in the running every bit as much as Campbell, whose father Hugh was an Edmonton CFL coaching and managerial legend.
The source also said if Kilam isn’t hired in Edmonton, you can expect him to head to Saskatchewan as Special Teams Coordinator, reuniting him with longtime pals Corey Mace and Marc Mueller, who hold top positions on the Roughriders staff. For more CFL coverage read below …
EDMONTON – Ed Hervey didn’t hold back when describing the Edmonton Elks team.
“I do not like where the club sits in the CFL, as far as the perception” said Hervey, who on Wednesday was introduced as the team’s new general manager. “I would equate it to laughingstock.”
For a franchise that has not been to the playoffs since 2019, that endured a 22-game home losing streak between 2019 and 2023, that has seen attendance dip to the point where management closed the upper bowl of Commonwealth Stadium, Hervey’s observation is nothing but the brutal truth.
But he promised the turnaround began the second he was hired.
“To the many people I do know, this is take two,” said Hervey. “To the many people I don’t know, you’re going to realize that I’m intense, I’m focused, I’m all about winning. I will do what it takes to win.”
And he put out a public plea to any players who might not consider Edmonton a destination because of the franchise’s recent missteps.
“The water is warm,” he said. “We’re not what we were yesterday.”
Hervey was the general manager in Edmonton from 2013-16, including a Grey Cup title in 2015. Hervey played eight CFLseasons, all of them in Edmonton green and gold, and won two CFL titles as a player. He has been deeply rooted in Alberta’s football community, and helped lead a summit that would change how minor football programming is offered in the province,
He returns to Edmonton from Hamilton, where he was the general manager of the Tiger Cats this past season. He thanked the Tiger-Cats’ organization for allowing him the chance to interview for the Elks’ job.
He was the B.C. Lions’ GM from 2018-19.
He said he’s a different man than the one who ran the Elks in the mid-2010s. The recent passing of his mother gave him pause to refocus, and he recognizes a big part of his job is winning back the fans’ trust.
He was clear that he saw the empty seats at Commonwealth not as a sign of fan apathy, but as a protest over the way the team was being run over the last half-decade.
Hervey’s hiring closes the door on Geroy Simon, who took over as the team’s interim general manager five games into the 2024 season. Chris Jones was relieved of coaching and management duties after an 0-5 start, and Simon, along with interim head coach Jarious Jackson, stabilized the team and led it to a 7-6 record the rest of the way — but it was not enough to challenge for a playoff spot.
Both Jackson and Simon had been vocal about wanting to keep their jobs.
Elks president Chris Morris, a former teammate of Hervey’s, said that, while the interview process was “rigorous,” the choice was an easy one.
“There was no doubt as to who was the most qualified person for this job,” said Morris. “There was no doubt as to who had more experience, or the greatest level of experience for this job. And there was no doubt as to who was the person I felt was in the best position to lead this organization from a football standpoint.“
While there were many players and alumni present, one person not in the Elks’ dressing room for the press conference was pending free-agent quarterback Tre Ford. The former first-round draft pick of the Elks has been a fan favourite, but has been rotated in and out the starting job over the past couple of seasons.
At the end of the 2023, he had won the starting job, but the Canadian was moved to a backup role when the club signed McLeod Bethel-Thompson, whose contract also expired at the end of the 2024 campaign.
“I think Tre Ford is a very dynamic player,” said Hervey. “I don’t know him personally, I am looking forward to having the chance to speak with him. I’m looking forward to talking to him about his experience here, and seeing where he sees his future. I want to talk to him about my vision.
“If we can find common ground as to what that looks like, I am going to give him every opportunity to compete, to be the starter here. But it takes two.”
And, he said the search for a permanent head coach will take as long as it needs to take, and jokingly promised that the deadline to have that person in place will be before the beginning of next season.
“He’s going to be a grown-up. We’re not going to have a temper-tantrum-like coach running around,” he said. “We’re going to have a coach who is confident in what he’s doing.”
VANCOUVER – Change swept through the B.C. Lions on Wednesday as the club fired head coach and co-general manner Rick Campbell.
The team’s new GM says there are more moves to come.
“Across the board in this building, we all have to chase greatness harder,” said Ryan Rigmaiden, who was elevated from assistant general manager to general manager.
“From the equipment staff on up, everybody in this building, we all have to raise the bar. I believe that starts with the head coach, with that message.”
In addition to firing Campbell and promoting Rigmaiden, the Lions named former co-general manager Neil McEvoy vice-president of football operations.
The changes follow a season where the Lions started 5-1, then lost five straight games and finished with a 9-9 record. B.C. made the playoffs, but lost to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the western conference semifinal.
“There’s a lack of mental toughness on this team. And I think internally, we’ve all been discussing that for the last year,” Rigmaiden said. “Instilling a new head coach with some different ideas and different values, I think, is going to be the biggest part of (changing) that.”
Lions president Duane Vienneau acknowledged that ousting a head coach after making the playoffs may seem odd to some onlookers.
“We just felt that we have the player personnel here at this club and we maybe didn’t perform to our potential like we should have,” Vienneau said.
“We asked ourselves the reasons why. And sometimes when you’re not performing the way you should be performing when you feel you have the right players in the room, you need to make a change to get to that next level. And that’s the main reason why we did it.”
Campbell, 53, joined the Lions in December 2019 following six seasons with the Redblacks, including the 2016 campaign where Ottawa won the Grey Cup.
He and McEvoy were made co-general managers ahead of the 2021 season after former GM Ed Hervey stepped down. Hervey was named general manager of the Edmonton Elks on Tuesday.
The COVID-19 pandemic postponed Campbell’s first game with B.C. until 2021. The team went 38-30 record in regular-season play and 2-3 in playoff appearances over his four seasons at the helm.
He previously held coaching roles with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos before joining the Redblacks in 2014.
The hunt for a new head coach will begin “immediately,” Rigmaiden said.
B.C. plans to interview eight to 10 candidates, including Lions offensive coordinator Jordan Maksymic and defensive coordinator Ryan Phillips.
“There are several coaches that are currently unemployed that we’re going to talk to, there are several here internally that we’re going to interview as well,” Rigmaiden said, adding that the team will also ask to speak with other coaches currently employed by CFL teams around the league.
Asked what he was looking for in a new bench boss, Rigmaiden spoke of three key traits.
“Leadership, accountability and toughness,” he said. “I think that’s essential for every head coach no matter what sport you’re talking about. So that’s going to be something we’re going to emphasize.”
Campbell faced the unique situation of juggling two starting quarterbacks last season.
B.C. started the campaign with Vernon Adams Jr., but the 31-year-old American suffered a knee injury in early August. While he was hurt, the Lions inked Canadian star Nathan Rourke to a deal as he made his return to the CFL after two years in the NFL.
Campbell said he’d rely on Rourke to close out the year even after Adams returned, but Rourke struggled and the head coach went back to Adams for the final regular-season game and the playoffs.
The quarterback situation was “an interesting challenge,” Vienneau said, but the way it was handled didn’t prompt the coaching change.
“At the end of the day, it really came down to ‘Did we achieve what we wanted to achieve this year on the field with our record of performance?’” he said.
The Lions next head coach won’t face the same dilemma.
Rigmaiden said Wednesday that B.C. plans to deal Adams to another CFL team and rely on Rourke going forward.
“I think everybody’s looking for a starting quarterback with (Adams’) skill set. I would guess right out of the gate that two or three teams are interested,” he said. “Anybody who isn’t firm on quarterback is going to, I think, at least want to have a conversation.”
