Let’s call it a roadmap back to respectability, shall we?
Now all they have to do is follow it.
Normally at this point in the year, the unveiling of the Edmonton Elks schedule is accompanied by the slow, sombre tolling of bells and the eerie feeling of dead men walking.
I’ll stop short of a visual of flags flying at half staff around Commonwealth Stadium, but not by much.
Instead of hope and excitement, the only thing the Elks have managed to instill in their fans in a season to come is dread and bracing for feelings of embarrassment of having visiting fans kick down the doors and eat some green and gold lunch, stopping only after emptying the brown paper bag and mercifully offering them up to the home fans to cover their collective heads with.
As metaphorical as it may be, I wish I was only joking.
Saying the Elks haven’t given fans much reason to show up on game day lately is an understatement.
You’d have better luck hijacking the touchdown firetruck than finding someone walking down Jasper Avenue who could list all the bodies of Elks top brass who have been through the organization’s turnstile since the team’s last playoff appearance in 2019.
For the record, it’s been five coaches since Jason Maas was fired after that season Scott Milanovich, Jamie Elizondo, Chris Jones, Jarious Jackson and Mark Kilam, the latest to walk down the red carpet.
(Fun fact: Two of those coaches have yet to actually coach an Elks game).
Three general managers Brock Sunderland, the aforementioned Jones and now Ed Hervey is returning to his roots where he won three Grey Cups, two as a player and one during his first GM job with the club.
Four presidents Chris Presson, Victor Cui, Rick LeLacheur and now Chris Morris, who moved over from running the University of Alberta Golden Bears program and into an office that overlooks his own name on the Wall of Honour.
An even dozen
Add them up and it’s an even dozen of the top jobs on either the business side or football ops end of the Elks equation, who have been in or out or both over the past five years. And that already small timespan shrinks to four if you’re counting CFL seasons that didn’t get cancelled by COVID-19.
Edmonton’s record in that stretch?
A mere 18-50. Nothing short of reprehensible for the once proud franchise that at one point took pride in running out of grey long before the rest of the colours in the crayon box.
And seven of those wins came under the guidance of Jackson, who did so under the tag of interim head coach after taking over the remaining 13 games of this past season.
Hey, at least things appear to be pointed back in the right direction, right?
Small consolation for a fan base that has suffered the indignity of not getting to watch their team in a single playoff game over the past five years.
Truth be told, it was time for the board of directors to bow out a long time ago. It didn’t take a genius to recognize the community-owned formula, under the direction of nine know-it-alls who were better at putting their foot in their mouth than making decisions on how to run a football team. Far from it.
Thankfully, and perhaps even by no small miracle, someone stepped up to stop the insanity. Hopefully.
New era of private ownership
Former construction magnate Larry Thompson, a self-professed lifelong fan of the double-E (we’re not even sure anyone’s told him the team actually changed its name from Eskimos, at this point), stepped up and bought the team as its funds were shrinking as alarmingly as the attendance figures.
And so ushered in a new era of private ownership in Edmonton, which got off to a 5-4 start at the tail end of 2024. And a winning record — albeit unofficial, but heck, they’ll take anything at this point — is a far cry better than the minuscule .220 winning percentage franchise earned while flying the Elks flag under the old ownership.
But hey, that was then and this is now. New owner. New president. New GM. New head coach. New, new, new. And they hope everyone can forget about the old. Unless you’re going all the way back to the old-old, when winning was old hat.
And the only possible way the current team can do that is by capturing the momentum of the organizational overhaul and kicking off the 2025 season with winning.
What they can’t afford, despite having newly acquired deep pockets, is to immediately fall right back into obscurity with another lacklustre start to the schedule.
Last year began 0-7. They were 0-9 the year before that (yes, somehow winless over the entire first half of the schedule). Of course, they were ‘just’ 0-3 to start 2022, before hitting the halfway mark 2-7. Oh, and 0-2 to kick off a shortened 14-game 2021 schedule, where there was no room for error.
They haven’t won a season-opener since 2019, the same year they last reached playoffs, reaching the East Division final following an 8-10 record they have yet to match again.
The big question heading into this season will be at quarterback. With newly anointed Trey Ford being handed the reins of the offence (not to mention a hefty $100,000 signing bonus), will his God-given talents be enough to take over the starting role indelibly this time?
And how much leeway will he have if things start to go sideways before Cody Fajardo, just two seasons removed from a Grey Cup MVP with the Montreal Alouettes but hampered since by injury, gets tapped on the shoulder?
For all the changes organizationally and structurally, the quarterback position is the one that could have used the biggest, splashiest overhaul. Unfortunately, that wave landed about 300 km south of the mark.
2025 ELKS SCHEDULE KEY DATES
- Regular season kickoff: Saturday, June 7 at B.C. Lions
- Home Opener: Thursday, June 19 vs. Montreal Alouettes
- Labour Day Classic: Monday, Sept. 1 @ Calgary Stampeders
- Labour Day Rematch: Saturday, Sept. 6 vs. Calgary Stampeders
- Regular season finale: Friday, Oct. 24 vs. Calgary Stampeders
- Bye Weeks: Week 2, Week 7, Week 18
E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge