Campbell to lead Redblacks
Ottawa franchise’s first head coach ran Calgary defence last season
The Campbell family owes Ottawa football fans.
Hall of Famer Hugh Campbell helped beat the Rough Riders twice in Grey Cup games, first by making a catch for the winning touchdown for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1966 at Empire Stadium in Vancouver and then by coaching the Edmonton Eskimos to a 26-23 comeback victory at Olympic Stadium in Montreal in 1981.
Campbell’s son, Rick, has apparently accepted the challenge of making up for those (mis) - deeds as the first head coach of the Ottawa Redblacks expansion franchise that will reintroduce the Canadian Football League to the nation’s capital in 2014.
The Redblacks have called a news conference Friday to make “a major announcement.”
Jeff Hunt, president of the sports division of franchise owner Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group, wouldn’t comment on the announcement and general manager Marcel Desjardins was unavailable. Team spokesman Barre Campbell also declined to comment on reports that the hiring of Campbell was done.
“We’ll be making an announcement Friday. That’s all I can say at this point.”
Sources confirmed to Postmedia News that Campbell had left the Calgary Stampeders, for whom he was an assistant coach for three of the past four seasons, including the past two as defensive co-ordinator, to take the Ottawa job.
A telephone message left for Campbell was not immediately returned, and Stampeders head coach John Hufnagel was unavailable Thursday.
“It’s something I definitely want to do, if the situation arises,” Campbell said in October when asked if he was ready to make the jump to CFL head coach. “The thing I’ve learned from watching other people is that you’ve got to take a job that’s the right situation, that’s the right fit.”
Ottawa Gee- Gees head coach Jamie Barresi, who spent several years as an assistant coach with various CFL clubs, was very briefly a colleague of Campbell’s with Edmonton in 2012 and coached against his defences on several occasions.
“He has done a great job defensively,” Barresi said Thursday, “so I’m sure he will be a great hire. He has done a great job with the Stampeders.”
Campbell began his career as a CFL assistant in 1999 in Edmonton, where his father became a legendary figure in Canadian football as head coach of five consecutive Grey Cup champions (1978-82) and general manager of teams that won titles in 1987, 1993, 2003 and 2005.
Rick Campbell was on the staffs of head coaches Tom Higgins and Danny Maciocia when the Eskimos won Grey Cups in 2003 and 2005.
Coincidentally, the CFL head office announced Thursday that the 59-year-old Higgins was leaving his position as director of officiating effective immediately. He had held that job since April 2008.
“It’s our understanding that Tom intends to seek a position on the competitive side of football as a coach, general manager or administrator,” commissioner Mark Cohon said in a prepared statement. “We thank him for his efforts and wish him the very best in his future endeavours.”
Campbell worked as Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive backs coach in 2009, Stampeders running back coach in 2010 and Eskimos assistant head coach and special teams co-ordinator in 2011.
In October, Hufnagel described Campbell as: “A very steady young man. Doesn’t get overwhelmed or overly excited or overly upset. He just coaches and does an excellent job.”
Campbell’s appointment as Redblacks head coach will be the third in CFL circles within the past nine days.
Edmonton got the ball rolling on Nov. 27 by picking Toronto Argonauts defensive co-ordinator Chris Jones as the successor to Kavis Reed, who was fired at the end of a 4-14 season.
On Wednesday, Winnipeg handed its reins to Argos special teams coordinator Mike O’Shea, who takes over after Tim Burke was relieved of his duties.
The only possible vacancy remaining is in Montreal, where the Alouettes have yet to announce whether general manager Jim Popp will return to the sideline. Popp, whose contract has one year remaining, served double duty after Dan Hawkins was dismissed five games into the 2013 season.
The kickoff of Redblacks football in 2014 will end Ottawa’s eight-year absence from CFL ranks following the folding of the short-lived Renegades (2002-2005). The Rough Riders folded after the 1996 season, ending that team’s 120-year run.
Campbell’s hiring comes just days before the Redblacks receive the lists of players available in the Dec. 16 expansion draft.
Ottawa will select three players from each of its eight CFL counterparts and add them to a roster that so far includes only five free agents signed since the Grey Cup Game at Regina.
The Redblacks also hold the CFL rights to four players who were selected in the 2013 college draft. They have eight picks in the 2014 CFL college draft and are expected to be extremely active when current CFLers with expiring contracts become free agents on Feb. 15.
A four-day mini-camp in the United States in April will be followed by the opening of training camp in Ottawa in late May, a couple of preseason games and the start of the regular season in late June.
Because of tight timelines for construction of the city’s new stadium and requirements for training event staff, the Redblacks are expected to ask the CFL for an opening-week bye and two or three road games to start the regular season before making their home debut in July.