BROCK AND ROLL
Esks all fired up about their new GM
The Edmonton Eskimos ushered in a new era with the introduction of Brock Sunderland at Commonwealth Stadium on Tuesday.
One of four candidates interviewed over the past week during a whirlwind month since former general manager and vice-president of football operations Ed Hervey was fired on April 7, the Eskimos wasted no time in hiring Sunderland.
And in turn, he wasted no time getting down to business.
After all, there isn’t much time ahead of Sunday’s mini-camp in Las Vegas or the CFL draft on May 7 to get acclimatized to his new surroundings.
“The first order of business while I’m here in Edmonton, before I go down to Vegas, is to sit with Rob Ralph and get on the same page with where (the scouting department) is at in the draft process,” said Sunderland, 37, who spent the past four years as assistant GM of the Ottawa Redblacks. “What their approach is going to be, then we’re going to align and see if I’m going to tweak anything or not.”
But you can’t look to the Eskimos’ immediate future without glancing back at the recent past to see why a meet-the-new-GM event was needed in the first place.
Standing at a podium in the same locker-room that has been so off limits to the public eye during the last three years under the Eskimos’ last regime, Sunderland was asked about taking over the role of GM on a club where it’s been made abundantly clear that winning, alone, and a sole focus on football isn’t enough.
“What it means, first and foremost, my job as general manager is to win,” he said. “And then above and beyond that is to do anything I can do to aid (Eskimos president) Len (Rhodes) in whatever he wants. I’m going to follow his lead on that.
“I’ve been a part of organizations that have been on both sides of that, some where it’s been very, very open. In 2010 with the New York Jets, we were on Hard Knocks, and went to the AFC Championship. You can’t be any more open than that, so I’m open to it. Len and I are aligned in our philosophies on that and I think we’ll agree moving forward.”
While he’s aspired to become a GM previously, interviewing for the Montreal Alouettes job that ended up going to former Eskimos coach Kavis Reed in December, Sunderland’s latest bid to become the youngest among the current crop of CFL GMs was realized in a matter of days, if not hours.
“A complete whirlwind. Beyond that,” said Sunderland, who interviewed on Thursday and accepted terms to his contract Friday. “When I found out I was granted permission to interview, I was in Austria on vacation, so I flew back to Amsterdam, packed up, flew to Ottawa the next day then I flew here for the interview.
“So I was in four different time zones in four days, so to say it’s been fast and furious would be an understatement.”
The son of longtime NFL scout Marv Sunderland, Brock called his dad in Arizona with the big news.
“He just kind of paused and he said, ‘I couldn’t be more proud, I’m excited for you. I know it’s been something you wanted for a long time and I wish you were closer so I could give you a hug,’ ” Brock said. “He’ll be up here at some point, he’ll come up to training camp and linger a little bit.”
At the very least, Sunderland’s addition stokes the fire on one of the CFL’s more interesting budding interdivisional rivalries between Edmonton and Ottawa.
Unlike the last time the Eskimos lured away a Redblacks staff member when then-offensive-coordinator Jason Maas was named the Eskimos head coach following their Grey Cup showdown in 2015, this time around, the Redblacks will receive compensation for their loss, with Edmonton paying 50 per cent of what Sunderland would have made in Ottawa this season.
“I think it’s good for the league, I think that’s what we all thrive on at this level, is competition and spirited rivalry,” Sunderland said of the numerous ties between the two clubs.
“So the fact that Jason’s now here, I’m now here, you’ve got our log — or ‘their’ log, I should say now — the Grey Cup, the East Division final last year, I think it’s healthy for everybody.”
MAAS MISSING
Nearly the entire Eskimos organization was present for Sunderland’s news conference Monday, including a handful of players. One notable exception was Maas, who headed down to Las Vegas ahead of next week’s mini-camp to celebrate his anniversary.