Redblacks’ president Mark Goudie expects head coach Paul LaPolice to be in Ottawa ‘for a while’

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant / CFLPhotoArchive.com

Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group president Mark Goudie expects head coach Paul LaPolice to at least finish out his contract with the Redblacks.

Despite the firing of general manager Marcel Desjardins and the team already starting the search for his replacement, the new GM won’t be able to choose his bench boss.

“Paul’s got a couple years left on his contract and I expect that he’ll be here for a while. I like our coaching staff, it was one of the really optimistic parts of that horrible year that we didn’t play football in 2020,” Goudie said in a videoconference.

“I had an opportunity to start to get to know coaches that I normally wouldn’t get to know through our all staff meetings and interactions that we had. I was excited by the team that Marcel was able to put together with Paul and fill out the coaching staff.”

LaPolice originally signed a three-year contract in December 2019 and after the cancelled 2020 season another year was added for the agreement to run through the 2023 season. Following the current campaign, the 51-year-old will have two years left on his pact.

“It’s not my decision in terms of what the coaching staff looks like next year,” Goudie said. “I’m sure I’ll work with Paul and football ops to figure that out, but I like our football group.”

LaPolice has a league-worst 2-9 record during his first season at Ottawa’s head coach.