After an 0-5 start to the 2024 season, the Edmonton Elks are shaking things up.
The Elks fired head coach and general manager Chris Jones on Monday, the team announced.
Assistant general manager Geroy Simon will take over as the interim general manager, while offensive co-ordinator and quarterbacks coach Jarious Jackson will become the team’s interim head coach.
Jones had a disastrous stretch with the Elks after he was hired in December of 2021. Over the course of two-plus seasons, the Elks had a combined record of 8-33 under Jones’ leadership — including an 0-5 start this season.
It was Jones’ second stint with Edmonton, as he led the team to a Grey Cup win in 2015. However, he left a bad taste in the mouth of many fans as he left Edmonton right after the 2015 Grey Cup win to take the reins with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“Chris worked extremely hard to improve our football team over the last several seasons and we thank him for that,” Elks President and CEO Rick LeLacheur said in a team-released statement. “There’s no question we’re a better team today than we were the previous two seasons, but ultimately this is a results-based business and the wins haven’t materialized.”
The move to remove Jones comes at a time when the team is also considering selling to a private ownership group for the first time in the franchise’s 75-year history.
Edmonton’s football team has been community-owned since it was founded in 1949.
Despite sitting at the bottom of the West Division, the Elks have had plenty of chances to win this season. Over their five losses, the team has a point differential of just minus-20.
Edmonton has had a number of heart-breaking fourth-quarter losses this season, including their 37-34 loss to the Ottawa Redblacks on Sunday when a back-breaking penalty for kicking the ball out of bounds on the kickoff led to a Redblacks’ walk-off field goal with no time remaining.