Mark Kilam ‘where I’m supposed to be’ as Edmonton Elks head coach

Detailed summary

Mark Kilam admits he's sentimental about his first Grey Cup as a head coach in a city he called home for 20 years — but it pales compared to his pride over Edmonton's resurgence.

A year after receiving some friendly advice from Cody Fajardo, Mark Kilam is preparing for his first Grey Cup as a CFL head coach.

The Edmonton Elks will chase its first CFL title since 2015 when it faces the Montreal Alouettes at McMahon Stadium on Sunday. That comes after the Elks were fifth in the West Division last year with a 7-11 record.

The 2025 campaign was Kilam’s first as Edmonton’s head coach. During his exit interview with Fajardo, the veteran quarterback told Kilam he was too focused on the Elks’ special teams and needed to spend more time with the remainder of the team.

Before becoming the Elks’ head coach, Kilam, an Edmonton native, spent 20 seasons as an assistant coach with the Calgary Stampeders, the bulk of which was spent coaching special teams.

“When you get feedback from your veteran players, you always take it to heart,” Kilam said Wednesday during the Grey Cup coaches news conference. “I was co-ordinating special teams last year … because I wanted to set the standard for that phase on a new team.

“Part of my growth as a second-year head coach is that when I gave those duties up, I was able to spend more time in other areas on the team and for me, personally, it was awesome just to be more involved in the other sides of the ball. One of the reasons it’s helped our team be stronger is we’ve been more streamlined in all three phases.”

A fact not lost upon Fajardo, who threw for a career-high 4,788 yards in helping Edmonton (13-5) finish atop the West and earn its first playoff berth since 2019.

“I just said, ‘The guys love you, they love hearing from you,” Fajardo said of his meeting last year with Kilam. “We just want you to be offensively, defensively, special teams, and not just solely focused on special teams.

Edmonton finished last season by winning six of its final 11 games and hasn’t really looked back.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Global News. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.