Chris Jones returns to Edmonton as Elks new head coach, general manager

The Edmonton Elks have named former team head coach Chris Jones as the club’s new head coach and general manager. 

The announcement comes after the team won just three of 11 games and missed the playoffs. Head coach Jaime Elizondo, general manager Brock Sunderland and team president Chris Presson were all let go after the season.

“This is one of the flagship organizations in the league,” said Jones. “We had so much fun when we were here prior with our staff that was here. It’s an opportunity for us to come back and cement our legacy as a group and cement the legacy of this organization and get it where it should be, which is winning football games.” 

Jones signed a four-year deal and Ian Murray, chair of the team’s board of directors,  said the expectation is for him to remain in his role for the duration of that contract. 

“We went through an extensive process,” Ian Murray, chair of the team’s board of directors. “Chris has been involved in five or six different football-related turnarounds.”

“He knows football as well as anybody. He is also very close to his players and his coaches.”

Jones said he’s “a little bit older” than his last stint as head coach in Edmonton and that he’s looking to rebuild the club’s relationship with its fans. 

“You gotta have people in the seats in the CFL,” he said. “That’s something that’s extremely important for the longevity of our league and longevity of the organization.” 

Longtime CFL coach and executive Wally Buono helped the team narrow the candidates. 

Murray said the recommendation to hire Jones was accepted unanimously on Monday night by the team’s board of directors.

Jones was the EE’s head coach for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. He led the team to a Grey Cup win in 2015 but left a week later to be head coach and general manager of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. 

The 54-year-old left the Roughriders after being named Coach of the Year in 2018, joining the NFL's Cleveland Browns as a defensive assistant coach. 

He served as head coach of South Pittsburg High School in Tennessee for part of the 2021 season before returning to the CFL in September, being named a defensive consultant for the Toronto Argonauts.

Edmonton last made the playoffs in 2017 and haven't reached the Grey Cup since Jones first departed.