Desjardins to be named GM of CFL team

Years of CFL experience

He was the obvious front-runner for the job from the moment former Ottawa Rough Riders general manager Dan Rambo decided the job wasn’t for him.

Now, eight months after his name first surfaced as the leading candidate to be the general manager of the fledging Canadian Football League franchise in Ottawa, the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group will make it official Wednesday by naming Burlington, Ont., native Marcel Desjardins to the post.

The OSEG has scheduled a news conference in Stittsville, just 30 kilometres from the soon to be re-built Lansdowne Park, to announce Desjardins as its choice to head up the football operations of the multisport franchise entity that also includes the Ottawa 67’s and a pro soccer team that will take the field in 2014.

It marks the second time a CFL team has given Desjardins the chance to build a winner. He spent 2007 as GM of the Hamilton TigerCats before returning to Montreal.

The 2012 season marked Desjardins’ fourth season back in Montreal and his ninth as assistant general manager to Alouettes GM Jim Popp.

Desjardins previously served as the Montreal’s assistant director of football operations following his arrival there in April 1999. Prior to joining the Alouettes, he worked at the CFL head office in Toronto for five years.

Desjardins holds an honours Bachelor of Commerce degree with a specialization in sports administration from Laurentian University in Sudbury. His experience in the sports industry prior to joining the CFL office included tenures with the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League and the Canada Games Council.