Alouettes general manager Danny Maciocia has four candidates in mind to succeed him as the team’s head coach.
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This is what he revealed on Tuesday, during his review of the 2022 season. The DG was however careful not to reveal the identity of these. He also declined to say how many applicants are from the organization. Maciocia, however, said he wanted to hire before the holidays and that the next pilot must have already worked in the Canadian Football League (CFL).
“We want him to have experience in our league, but not necessarily as a head coach,” he said.
This opens the door to several internal candidates. It is also much easier to speculate on the candidacy of someone who occupied a coaching position with the Alouettes this year, than on the identity of possible contenders for the position from another organization.
Three names stand out: quarterbacks coach Anthony Calvillo, running backs coach and assistant head coach André Bolduc and defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe.
The first of this list has also recently said in several interviews that he wanted to obtain a job interview for the vacant position of head coach. It’s a safe bet that the other two are also interested in the job, they who have still not had the chance to occupy the position of pilot in the CFL.
keep the core
If none of the internal candidates get the job, don’t think it will be the end of their association with the “Sparrows”.
“My priority will be to keep our core in place. Whether our next head coach comes from inside or outside, there are certain elements that will not be negotiable,” Maciocia said.
“In my ideal world, I would like to keep them all. I have already spoken about it directly with them”, he added, before specifying that no coach of the 2022 edition had a contract in his pocket for the next campaign.
Maciocia has also indicated that he would not hesitate to “impose” assistants on his future head coach.
“Even if it’s someone from the outside, we’re going to strongly suggest keeping the status quo.”
And the French fact?
The general manager was asked about the importance of the language his next head coach speaks.
“If he is bilingual, he will be bilingual. If it’s a unilingual anglophone, that’s it. We want to hire the best candidate available,” he replied.
Among the assistant coaches of the “Als” in 2022, five of the eight men in place speak the language of Molière, including Calvillo and Bolduc. Six of them are from Quebec or have already worked for a formation of the Quebec Student Sports Network.
“I’ve been talking about it for three years and I’ll keep repeating it: with equal talent, we’ll continue to keep our elements at home. That won’t change,” Maciocia said.