General manager Brock Sunderland is on the lookout for a new head coach after the Edmonton Eskimos parted ways with Jason Maas on Wednesday.
Sunderland has been through the hunt for a new coach before, but not as the man in charge. When he was assistant general manager with the Ottawa Redblacks, Sunderland was involved in the hiring of Rick Campbell, who coached the expansion Redblacks for six seasons before walking away from the job in November.
Sunderland, who is also vice-president of football operations for the Eskimos, is now in charge of finding the 22nd head coach in the team’s history to replace Maas, who was let go on Wednesday.
Sunderland says he doesn’t know who the successful candidate will be, but he knows what kind of a person that individual will be.
“You want someone you believe can be a leader of men, someone that has — it’s not a mandate, but the preference is significant CFL experience,” Sunderland said, adding that the search will not be limited to candidates with CFL experience.
“I think it’s hard for someone to come up that has never been in this league and be a head coach and have any sort of success right away, but that doesn’t mean I won’t reach out to some people that haven’t been up here.”
The list of candidates starts with Campbell because of his history with the Eskimos as well as with Sunderland during their time together in Ottawa, but the B.C. Lions have had a two-week head start and reports suggest they are the leading contender to sign Campbell.
Jaime Elizondo’s candidacy may also now be in doubt after a TSN report that the XFL has denied the Eskimos permission to talk with the former Redblacks offensive coordinator.
Sunderland would not mention names but said the process is underway to find a new coach, and the search will kick into high gear after he gets permission to talk with some of the candidates in whom he is interested.
“We will probably bring them here to Edmonton sit with them for a lengthy day and go through everything from top to bottom and hear what their plan and approach is to build a Grey Cup-winning team,” Sunderland said. “There is no certain criteria, no blueprint. A lot of this will be a gut feeling.”
LISTEN BELOW: Edmonton Eskimos broadcast team Morley Scott and Dave Campbell speak with Brock Sunderland
With three CFL teams now looking for a head coach, there may be a race to find the best candidates, but Sunderland says getting it done quickly is not as important as getting it done right.
“It’s a unique year where there are several openings,” he said. “The sooner the better, but we are going to emphasize getting the right person, not getting him by a certain time or date.”
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