Eskimos turn the page, hire GM from Montana

Access won’t be an issue during Brock Sunderland’s tenure with the Edmonton Eskimos.

Edmonton officially unveiled Sunderland as its general manager and vicepresident of football operations Tuesday. And the CFL’s youngest GM — the native of Great Falls, Mont., is 37 — immediately opened the Eskimos’ lockerroom, something that had become an issue under his predecessor, Ed Hervey.

“The first and foremost focus I’ll have is to put a winning team on the field and Len (Eskimos president Len Rhodes) and I agree on that,” said Sunderland, who holds a degree in communications. “We’ll have an open lockerroom, we’re in agreement with that as is Jason (Eskimos head coach Jason Maas).

“And thirdly, I’m going to be open and available to what Len wants and I’ll follow his lead on that.”

Hervey was fired earlier this month after he and Rhodes had reached an impasse in talks on a contract extension. But they also had philosophical differences over stakeholder access to Eskimos players.

Last season, the CFL fined Edmonton $20,000 and Maas $15,000 after Maas and starter Mike Reilly refused to wear live microphones during a game against the Montreal Alouettes. The live microphones were part of a leaguewide move to provide fans with access to the interactions between coaches and quarterbacks.

Maas and Reilly wore live microphones in Edmonton’s regular-season finale Nov. 6 against Toronto. But Reilly didn’t play in the 41-17 home victory while Maas pretty much stood silent after relegating play-calling duties to his offensive assistants.

Media access had become a hot-button topic in Edmonton since 2014 when the community-owned club abruptly closed its locker-room to reporters. The Eskimos made players available on the field after practice but since ‘14 had only opened up the lockerroom following home games.

When Rhodes fired Hervey, he made it very clear Maas was staying put. Sunderland assumes his first CFL job as a GM after four years as Ottawa’s assistant general manager, working with Maas, who served as the Redblacks offensive co-ordinator in 2015 before becoming Edmonton’s head coach.