CFL.ca
CFL.ca Staff
MONTREAL — The Montreal Alouettes announced Friday night that they have relieved Tom Higgins of his coaching duties and that GM Jim Popp will assume the sidelines.
The announcement was made in a statement issued by the club and owner Bob Wetenhall.
“General Manager Jim Popp will take over the duties of Head Coach at this time,” Wetenhall said in the statement. “Our management and I have full confidence in Jim, as do our players.
“We have made this change as we believe it is in the best interest of our team, and especially our fans. We all wish to express to Tom our affection and respect, as well as our appreciation for the contributions he has made to the franchise.”
On Saturday, Popp and the Alouettes announced more adjustments to the coaching staff. The CFL’s all-time leading passer Anthony Calvillo is moving from Wide Receivers coach to Quarterbacks Coach, where he’ll work closer with the young pivot Cato.
He’ll now work from the sidelines, where he coached from on Friday night, after coaching the first seven games of the season from the press box.
André Bolduc takes over as the wide receivers coach, the team also announced.
“It’s a situation that (Owner Bob Wetenhall) has been looking at and evaluating for two seasons and obviously I’m involved in the discussions,” Popp told TSN in an exclusive interview. “We just feel like we should have a better record or be a little further ahead than where we are right now.”
The coaching change comes on the heels of the Alouettes’ 23-13 win less than 24 hours prior in Vancouver — their first win in BC since 2000.
Higgins was hired by the Alouettes before the 2014 season and went 12-14 during his tenure as head coach.
Popp returns to the sidelines for the fourth time with the most recent being when he took over for Dan Hawkins in 2013.
He has a career record of 16-20 as a head coach after patrolling the sidelines in parts of the 2001, 2006, 2007 and 2013 seasons.
