Adam Gagnon
OTTAWA– The Ottawa REDBLACKS have filled their vacant offensive coordinator position by hiring former Toronto Argonauts assistant Jamie Elizondo.
Elizondo, who has spent the majority of his CFL career with the Argos and Montreal Alouettes, takes over for Jason Maas who was recently named the head coach in Edmonton after a year with the REDBLACKS.
“Jaime has an excellent football background and knows what it takes to make a team successful in the CFL,” said REDBLACKS head coach Rick Campbell. “He brings those skills to our team and will get right to work with our staff and our players.”
Elizondo, born in Aguascalientes, Mexico and raised in El Paso, Texas, carries to Ottawa an extensive coaching profile, which includes experience in the CFL, the NCAA and the NFL. Through his career, he has coached nine CFL all-stars and 23 NFL starters.
Last season, while serving as receivers coach with the Toronto Argonauts, Elizondo worked in an offensive system that spread the ball to a variety of receivers, seven of whom gained at least 400 yards, more than any other team in the league.
Prior to the Argonauts, Elizondo spent three years in the Ivy League, working as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Columbia University in New York City.
Elizondo first worked in the CFL in 2008 with the Montreal Alouettes as receivers and assistant special teams coach, under head coach Marc Trestman. He guided a group of talented receivers that season, including all-stars Ben Cahoon, Kerry Watkins and Jamel Richardson.
He then moved to Syracuse and worked as the receivers coach for the Orangemen in 2009 before joining the Argos in 2010 and 2011 as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
“I’m very excited and pleased to be joining Rick’s group and looking forward to working in Ottawa” said Elizondo. “The REDBLACKS were such a dynamic group last year and we all want to make sure we continue that in the years to come.”
In addition to Columbia and Syracuse, Elizondo has NCAA experience at Maryland, Catholic University (Washington, DC), William & Mary and Hofstra.
In 2007, Elizondo worked as a special teams and receivers assistant for the New Orleans Saints under the Bill Walsh NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship program.
Elizondo played football, baseball, soccer and tennis in El Paso before attending university at Maryland where he lettered for three years in tennis. He was a physiology and neurobiology major at Maryland before completing law school at the Washington College of Law at American University where he was a Dean’s Fellow.
Elizondo becomes the newest member of the REDBLACKS coaching staff, after the team announced the hiring of special teams coordinator Bob Dyce last week.
