Edmonton Elks head coach Chris Jones argues a call with the refs while playing against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats during second half CFL action in Edmonton, Alta., on Thursday July 13, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson.
Chris Jones wears multiple hats with the Edmonton Elks, and before that made the football-related decisions for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
But Jones is only following the advice given to him by none other than Bill Parcells, the Pro Football Hall of Famer who won two Super Bowls as the New York Giants’ head coach.
“He said, ‘You can’t be successful as a head coach if you don’t have the ability to set your roster,'” Jones said. “He told me, ‘Make sure you start working toward getting that opportunity to be able to make your own team and you’re not playing with other peoples’ players.'”
Jones is in his second season as Edmonton’s head coach, general manager and defensive co-ordinator. He joined the Elks after serving as Saskatchewan’s head coach/GM (2016-18).
Jones is one of three CFL head coaches who also hold prominent front-office jobs with their teams. Orlondo Steinauer is in his second season as Hamilton’s head coach/president of football operations while Dave Dickenson is in his seventh campaign as Calgary’s head coach but first as its GM.
Hamilton, Edmonton and Calgary all either reached the Grey Cup with Steinauer, Jones and Dickenson as head coach or won titles outright (the Elks in ’15 under Jones, the Stamps in ’18 under Dickenson). And all three have won the CFL’s coach-of-the-year honour (Dickenson in 2016, Jones in 2018 and Steinauer in ’19).
But it’s been a tough start to the season for the trio. Hamilton (2-4) visits the Ottawa Redblacks (3-3) on Friday night while Edmonton (0-7) hosts the B.C. Lions (5-1) on Saturday having lost a CFL-record 20 straight home games and finishing fifth in the West last year (4-14).
Calgary (2-4) is in Montreal on Sunday night to face the Alouettes (2-3).
Rick Campbell and Neil McEvoy both have two jobs with B.C. Campbell is head coach but shares GM duties with McEvoy, a native of Surrey, B.C., who’s also the Lions’ president, football operations.
The Elks’, Ticats’ and Stamps’ early struggles have prompted suggestions that maybe Jones, Steinauer and Dickenson have too much on their respective plates. However, after Saskatchewan was 5-13 in 2016, it went 10-8 and 12-6 the next two years under Jones, a four-time Grey Cup champion.
Steinauer has won three Grey Cups (two as a player, one as coach) while Dickenson has been part of five CFL championship teams (three as a player, two coaching).
Jones said his progression to the GM role with Saskatchewan was seamless because he’d served as Calgary’s player-personnel assistant (2010-11) and Toronto’s assistant GM (2012-13). He was also the defensive co-ordinator and assistant head coach with both franchises.
“This isn’t something I haven’t been doing for a long, long time,” Jones said. “I get here (into his office) about 4 a.m. and usually leave around 7, 8 p.m. and try to get into bed before 10 p.m.”
But Jones said delegating duties to trusted personnel is also a key element of his job. His front office includes Hall of Fame receiver Geroy Simon, who’s in his second season as Edmonton’s assistant GM.
“There’s no doubt . . . you must have good people around you,” he said. “Huf (Calgary president John Hufnagel) is a great coach but he also had great guys to help him.
“Dave Dickenson is a very good coach that Huf’s had on staff for a while and (assistant head coach) Mark Kilam was young at the time but he’s a pretty damn good coach.”
Something not lost upon either Dickenson or Steinauer.
Brendan Mahoney is in his first season as assistant GM but 17th with Calgary. This also marks Nick Bojda’s fifth year as football operations manager.
Hamilton’s front office includes Drew Allemang, Spencer Zimmerman and Ed Hervey, who all have significant CFL experience.
Having a head coach/GM is nothing new for Calgary as Hufnagel held both jobs from 2008-15. After being named president in 2016, Hufnagel continued as general manager until Dickenson assumed the role.
And before Hufnagel, Wally Buono served as Calgary’s head coach/GM from 1992-02 before going to B.C.
“We’ve always worked collaboratively, our scouts and coaches are intertwined on personnel,” Dickenson said. “There still must be a hierarchy where if there’s a decision that needs to be made, someone’s got to make it.
“I haven’t been as involved in the Xs and Os as I maybe have in other years but I’m still in the meetings and I want to make my coaches better. The only way to do that is give them more responsibility and help them develop but also give them time to grow because I was nowhere near as good a playcaller and coach my first year as I was my third year.”
But the head coach/GM role isn’t for everyone.
Jim Barker did both jobs with Toronto in 2011 after being named the CFL’s top coach in 2010. After one year, Barker opted to become GM full-time.
Barker hired Scott Milanovich as head coach and acquired veteran quarterback Ricky Ray from Edmonton. The moves paid off as Toronto won the ’12 Grey Cup and Milanovich earned CFL top coach honours.
“I felt we were never going to be as good if I was doing both jobs,” Barker said. “I knew it was the direction our organization needed to go in to win.”
One advantage of a head coach also holding a major management position is a franchise having one true voice. But when a team struggles, fans can publicly second-guess organizational decisions and demand change.
“It’s kind of what you sign up for,” Steinauer said. “You can’t please everybody and when you’re in front of the camera every day and your job is critiqued every day, people are going to have opinions.
“People don’t know the inside out, they just know the result and that’s OK because it’s a results-driven business. Everything takes time and the best of the best lose games.”
Jones said he knows of only one way for a team to improve: Continue working and trusting the process.
“We just have to keep grinding and good things are going to happen because they (Elks players) work too hard,” Jones said. “If there was (a magic formula), I believe we would’ve found a little.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2023.
