WINNIPEG — Edmonton Eskimos head coach Jason Maas has revealed that he will also be the team’s offensive coordinator in 2018.
The news was announced Friday when nine head coaches/general managers took the stage during Mark’s CFL Week in Winnipeg to answer questions from the media.
Maas held the dual role in 2016, his first year for the Esks, before turning the offence over to Carson Walch last season. Earlier this month, Walch took a job with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.
“Becoming offensive coordinator again, yes, I’ll take over those duties,” Maas told reporters. “This late in the off-season it’s kind of hard to find a guy, in my estimation, that’s ready to take over and run our offence the way it needs to be run.
“I feel like I’m the guy who’s qualified to do that.”
Assisting Maas will be Mike Gibson, the team’s run game coordinator and offensive line coach, along with quarterbacks coach Jordan Maksymic — two coaches that had valuable experience with Walch’s offence in 2017.
“I’m going to have a lot of help but obviously it’s something I’ve done in the past and feel very good about,” said Maas. “I have a good relationship with [quarterback Mike Reilly] so I understand what he ends up liking throughout the week. I still worked very closely with the offence the last two years.”
The Eskimos had the CFL’s top offence (418.7 yards per game) in 2016 under Maas, repeating the feat in 2017 with 406.8 yards per game.
