Alouettes coach proving nice guys don’t finish last
Coach Jones has led team’s revival
When he finally landed his first CFL head coaching job, you could excuse Khari Jones if he looked around the rubble that he found himself in and asked: “Excuse me, just what the hell is going on here?”
The Montreal Alouettes fired incumbent Mike Sherman just days before the start of the regular season and turned to Jones, who had been preparing for the upcoming year as the team’s offensive co-ordinator. A month later, the club also fired general manager Kavis Reed amid a series of troubling reports that team president Patrick Boivin didn’t comment on because: “... the details could also potentially expose us at the legal level.” Lovely.
His boss, you ask? Well, just before Sherman was axed, the Als’ longtime owners, the Wetenhall family, walked away from the franchise and the CFL took over the operation. Technically, this meant Jones was reporting to league commissioner Randy Ambrosie, which made things interesting when, for the second time in its history, the league awarded the Saskatchewan Roughriders a win over the Alouettes with three minutes left in the third quarter because of lightning around Molson Stadium.
Add it all up and another man might have taken all this in and started running toward Ungava Bay. But, Jones, as we shall see, is not easily discouraged. He knew he had spent the better part of three decades as a player and assistant coach preparing for this moment. He also knew that, in the CFL, you can’t wait around for the ideal circumstances, because they rarely arrive.
So Jones closed his eyes and jumped. Now? He’s still not sure where he’ll land with his team but, so far, he’s enjoying the ride.
“The biggest thing for me was I didn’t have time to think about anything,” said Jones, as the Alouettes prepared for today’s meeting with the visiting B.C. Lions. “I almost liked it that way.
“It was a crazy time, but I never felt overwhelmed or worried. I felt like I was ready. ... The negative stuff didn’t cross my mind. I just wanted to have fun and win some games.”
And win back some respect for the franchise in the process.
Despite the chaotic start to Jones’ head-coaching career, the Alouettes have written one of the CFL’s feelgood stories of 2019 with their 5-4 record, second in the CFL’s East Division.
Along the way, Jones has emerged as a steady, calming leader for a franchise that was in desperate need of a stabilizing influence. He’s also helped develop quarterback Vernon Adams into a breakout star while overseeing an entertaining on-field product, all of which has made the Als a much more attractive investment than they were two months ago.
All told, it’s been a remarkable turnaround for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2014 and desperately needed to create some sense that better days are ahead.
But if the rest of the CFL regards the Als’ success as a surprise, that’s not how the coach or his players see things.
“I try not to have that be the rallying call,” Jones said. “I don’t care what people think. I know we had the makings of a good team and I told them that right from the start.”
Receiver DeVier Posey, who signed as a free agent with the Als this off-season after spending last year with the Lions, was asked what he thought when the club’s various head coaches and general managers were being fired.
I didn’t have time to think about anything. ... It was a crazy time, but I never felt overwhelmed or worried. I felt like I was ready.
“I had a moment where I panicked,” he said. “But it’s starting to become what I envisioned when I signed here.
“(Jones) is a nice guy, but he works so hard and he’s so sharp. You respect his work ethic. He doesn’t need that mean side.”
That’s an interesting take, because if there was one question about Jones, it was his relentlessly pleasant personality that served him well as a co-ordinator but would be a detriment, it was feared, as the head man. Jones says he can go all-Ditka if he has to.
“I learned a long time ago I don’t want to change who I am,” he said. “I’m just going to be me. I’m going to talk to them like men and treat them the way I wanted to be treated as a player.”
Adams, for one, has responded to the Jones touch, and therein lies a story. He started training camp this year as the fourth man on the Als’ depth chart. Now, at 26, he seems to have arrived.
“It’s been great, man,” said Jones. “It’s really fun to watch him progress. I think this is the first time he’s thought of himself as a true starting quarterback. Now he’s taking his team as his own.”