Edmonton Eskimos looking for new defensive coordinator after Lolley resigns

It’s now official.

Expect the Edmonton Eskimos to have a completely new coaching staff for the 2020 CFL season.

Defensive coordinator Phillip Lolley, the only coach from Jason Maas’ staff that was still under contract, has resigned effective immediately. In a news release Wednesday, the Eskimos said Lolley made the move for personal reasons.

“The Eskimos would like to thank Philip for all his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in his future endeavours,” Brock Sunderland, Eskimos general manager and vice president of football operations said in the statement.

It was Lolley’s second stint with the Eskimos. He was linebackers coach in 2014 and 2015 on Chris Jones’ coaching staff.

Under Lolley last season, the Eskimos had the best pass defense in the CFL and were tied for first in quarterback sacks with 56 and were fourth in points against.

In a conference call on the weekend, new Eskimos head coach Scott Milanovich said he was planning to have a conversation with Lolley.

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“We are going to speak at length in the near future. I have heard good things about him from Chris Jones.”

Whether that conversation took place before Lolley’s decision is not known.

Milanovioch said he will be putting his Eskimos coaching staff together while he finishes out his time in Jacksonville in the NFL over the next two weeks.

“There is very little time for me to do personal in-person interviews. I have been contacting people on the phone and there are guys that I already know and don’t need to interview to fill positions and there are some guys where that’s not the case.”

The two biggest names that are available for the defensive coordinator role are Noel Thorpe, who will not be returning to Ottawa in 2020, and DeVone Claybrooks, who was fired as B.C. Lions’ head coach after this past season.

Thorpe was on the Eskimos staff as special teams coordinator from 2008 to 2010 and worked with Milanovich on the Montreal Alouettes staff in 2007. Claybrooks also has a connection with Milanovich as a player in Montreal in 2007 and 2008.