Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
EDMONTON — The Edmonton Eskimos announced on Friday that Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Mike Benevides will not be returning for the 2019 season.
The Esks stated that they will immediately begin the process of selecting the next defensive coordinator.
“As a result of the newly implemented football operations salary cap, we could not come to terms with Mike Benevides,” said VP of Football Operations and General Manager Brock Sunderland. “Mike worked as hard as anybody for this organization, and the Eskimos wish him all the best in his future endeavours.”
Benevides just finished his third season with the Green and Gold but was not retained after the Eskimos missed the playoffs.
Benevides first entered the league’s coaching ranks in 2000 with the Calgary Stampeders as a defensive assistant. The following year, he served as special teams coordinator and linebackers coach en route to the Stampeders 2001 Grey Cup championship. He also served as Calgary’s director of Canadian scouting where he was recognized as one of the league’s top talent evaluators.
In 2003, he went to BC where he would go on to win two more championships as part of the Lions coaching staff (2006, 2011).
Benevides spent five seasons as the Lions’ special teams coordinator and linebackers coach before his promotion to defensive coordinator in 2008. Following the team’s 2011 Grey Cup championship, he was named head coach.
He went on to set a team record for most wins by a first-year head coach in club history with a 13. That year, the Lions led the CFL in overall defensive and offensive categories for the first time in club history.
