Laurier, Ottawa, Alberta: And the next head coach is…

Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, Ottawa Gee-Gees, and the Alberta Golden Bears are all looking for a new head coach.  Laurier is looking to replace Gary Jeffries, who leaves Laurier after many years and many roles in the Athletic department.  He leaves with a Vanier Cup championship as the head coach in 2005 and an assistant in 1991.

Alberta is replacing interim head coach Jeff Stead with himself or one of 4 other candidates.  Ottawa is replacing Gary Etcheverry…and we all know how that one worked out.

CIS JOB SECURITY LIST

Head Coach	Team	Conference	tenure	start
Brian Towriss	Saskatchewan Huskies	Canada West	29	1984
Brian Dobie	Manitoba Bisons	Canada West	17	1996
Frank McCrystal	Regina Rams	Canada West	14	1999
Gerry McGrath	Concordia Stingers	Quebec	13	2000
Pat Sheahan *	Queen’s Gaels	Ontario	13	2000	*
Glen Constantin	Laval Rouge et or	Quebec	12	2001
Jeff Cummins	Acadia Axemen	Atlantic	9	2004
Blake Nill **	Calgary Dinos	Canada West	7	2006	**
Stef Ptaszek	McMaster Marauders	Ontario	7	2006
Greg Marshall ***	Western Mustangs	Ontario	6	2007	***
Gary Waterman	St. Francis Xavier X-men	Atlantic	4	2009
Kelly Jeffrey	Mount Allison Mounties	Atlantic	4	2009
Shawn Olson	UBC Thunderbirds	Canada West	3	2010
Warren Craney	York Lions	Ontario	3	2010
Stu Lang	Guelph Gryphons	Ontario	3	2010
Greg Gary	Toronto Varsity Blues	Ontario	2	2011
Joe D’Amore	Windsor Lancers	Ontario	2	2011
Danny Maciocia	Montreal Carabins	Quebec	2	2011
David Lessard	Sherbrooke Vert et or	Quebec	1	2012
Kevin MacKay	Bishop’s Gaiters	Quebec	1	2012
Clint Uttley	McGill Redmen	Quebec	1	2012
Joe Paopao	Waterloo Warriors	Ontario	1	2012
Perry Marchese	St. Mary’s Huskies	Atlantic	1	2012
Steve Sumarah ****	Carleton Ravens	Ontario	0	2013	****
VACANT	Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks	Ontario	0	2013
VACANT	Ottawa Gee Gees	Ontario	0	2013
VACANT	Alberta Golden Bears	Canada West	0	2013
* Pat Sheahan head coach Concordia 1989-1999
**Blake Nill head coach St. Mary’s 1998-2005
***Greg Marshall head coach McMaster 1997-2003
****Steve Sumarah head coach St. Mary’s 2006-2011

 

ALBERTA

Alberta will be the first to announce a head coach, as they have been going through this process since September.  A hiring committee was comprised of Athletic Director Ian Reade and 3 other university representatives as well as 3 alumni and former CIS coaches, and finally Tim Enger from Football Alberta and former CFLer and local businessman Gerry Inglis.

The interviewed candidates appear to be interim coach Jeff Stead, Calgary Stampeders special team coordinator Mark Kilam, former Eskimos and current Edmonton high school coaches Blake Dermott and Chris Morris, and former Bev Facey head coach and Team Alberta / Team World coach Barclay Spady.  Dermott, Kilan, and Spady are alumni.  No clear cut front runner in this one but we will hedge our bets and go with one of the former Eskimos.

Chris Morris

Blake Dermott

OTTAWA

Sounds like the best news out of all of this is that Ottawa U will finally get off their purse strings and pay their coaches.  We thank Carleton for that development.  A dynamic candidate will have to dropped in to this situation, seeing that media darlings Carleton seem to be getting every Ottawa recruit signed, sealed and delivered before they visit the cross-town campus.  Tim Baines of the Ottawa Sun has reported that the top candidates include Bryan Chiu (who would bring Phil Roberts with him) and Neil Lumsden (if he decided to apply and not wait for changes where he is coaching now), an assertion we do not disagree with.  The top internal candidate is special teams coordinator Luigi Costanzo.  If Lumsden applied our money is with him.

Neil Lumsden

Bryan Chiu & Phil Roberts

WILFRID LAURIER

Many names have surfaced in the highly populated football corridor of southern Ontario.  Potential internal candidates include present defensive coordinator Ron Van Moerkerke.  Ron is the head of Geography department at Eastwood Collegiate in Kitchener and had to think long and hard about applying.  Another potential internal candidate includes Dwayne Cameron, who returned from the CFL last season.  Cameron may or may not be looking to make a return to the professional ranks.  Two external names that are making the most noise are alumnist Greg Knox, current defensive coordinator of the McMaster Marauders.  Knox is coming off back-to-back Vanier Cup appearances and is alumni – so his stock may never get higher.  We contacted Knox for confirmation of applying and he neither confirmed nor denied.  Another external candidate who’s name has been mentioned is Western offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Chris Bertoia.  Bertoia comes off a year where he led his OVFL team to a championship in his first year as head coach.  He too neither confirmed nor denied applying to the job.  If Knox or Bertoia want this job they could be your next Golden Hawk head coach.

Greg Knox

Chris Bertoia