Milanovich jumps right into the fire in his return to CFL
COLLINGWOOD, ONT. — It’s shaping up to be a hectic off-season for Scott Milanovich.
The 46-year-old native of Butler, Pa., finished his third season in the National Football League as Jacksonville’s quarterback coach last month. But Milanovich didn’t make vacation plans following the Jaguars’ seasonending 38-20 win over Indianapolis on Dec. 29. Instead, he immediately stepped into his new post as head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos. Milanovich has had to juggle assembling a staff with evaluating the roster of an Eskimos squad that finished fourth in the West Division and upset Montreal 37-29 in the East semifinal before losing 36-16 to Hamilton in the conference final.
Milanovich didn’t have designs on a return to the Canadian Football League — he served as Toronto’s head coach from 2012 to ’16 — until Edmonton GM Brock Sunderland came calling. Jason Maas was fired following the Hamilton loss after posting a 39-33 regular-season record over four seasons on the Eskimos’ sideline.
“More than anything, it was probably the relationship I have with Brock,” Milanovich said during the CFL’s winter meetings, which concluded Thursday in Collingwood, Ont. “It just felt right.
“Honestly, I’ve always been kind of a feel guy. I think a huge part of it is the relationship between the GM and head coach and I’ve known Brock since we were together in Montreal.”
Sunderland worked in the scouting department with Montreal (2004-07) while Milanovich was the Alouettes quarterback coach (’07) before adding the offensive co-ordinator’s duties (’08-11). Sunderland went to become a scout with the NFL’s New York Jets (’072012) while Milanovich was hired as Toronto’s head coach, leading the Argos to a Grey Cup title in his first season and being named the CFL’s top coach.
Early in his coaching career, Milanovich would’ve prepared long and hard — complete with a power-point presentation — for an interview for a head job. But it was a much more casual situation when Sunderland arrived at Milanovich’s Florida residence to discuss the Eskimos’ position.
“It was us talking about our philosophies and what we believe in,” Milanovich said. “And you know, we found our ideas and thoughts were pretty much the same.
“When you have a great relationship and all those things match, then I think you’ve got a chance. I mean, I missed it, I missed the CFL, I missed being a head coach and all of those things.”
Milanovich left Toronto amid uncertainly regarding his future with the franchise. But his decision to join the Jaguars wasn’t because of a burning desire to coach in the NFL.
“It was an itch I wanted to scratch at some point, but I didn’t have to,” he said. “There were a lot of circumstances surrounding (the Toronto) situation but I really was never caught up in being an NFL coach probably because I had a few years playing (1996-99 with Tampa Bay, 2000 with Cleveland).”
Jacksonville reached the ’17 AFC title game and took a 17-10 lead into the fourth quarter against New England. But quarterback Tom Brady rallied the Patriots to a 24-20 victory.
In the Super Bowl two weeks later, New England erased a 25point deficit en route to a thrilling 34-28 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
“I can tell you sitting up in the booth at Gillette Stadium, I didn’t feel like it was over. That one hurts, but what hurts worse still is the 2008 Grey Cup we lost at home (22-14 to Calgary at Olympic Stadium) when I was with Montreal,” he said.
Montreal, with Milanovich running the offence, did win consecutive Grey Cup titles (2009-2010) under head coach Marc Trestman and remains the league’s last repeat champion. Edmonton has captured 14 CFL crowns, the last coming in 2015 with Chris Jones as head coach.