By: OttawaREDBLACKS.com
WINNIPEG – Rick Campbell, coach of the Ottawa REDBLACKS, has been named the CFL Coach of the Year Award.
Campbell, a Washington state native, led the REDBLACKS, a second-year franchise in the CFL, to a 12-6 record, first place in the East Division and a berth in the 103rd Grey Cup presented by Shaw on Sunday in Winnipeg, following a thrilling dying-minutes victory in the Eastern Final over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last Sunday at TD Place in Ottawa.
The 12 wins set an all-time standard for victories in a regular season by any Ottawa CFL team.
Campbell, in his second season as a head coach in the CFL, but his 16th in the league, made his CFL debut in 1999 with the Edmonton Eskimos as defensive secondary and special teams coordinator, before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2005.
In 2009, Campbell moved to Winnipeg and joined the Blue Bombers as a defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator before returning to Alberta to joining the Calgary Stampeders in 2010, where he first served as running backs coach.
In 2011, Campbell returned to Edmonton to serve as assistant head coach and special teams coordinator, but returned to Calgary in 2012 as defensive coordinator where he stayed for two seasons before accepting his current position in Ottawa.
He was announced as the first head coach of the REDBLACKS on December 6, 2013, just days ahead of the 2013 CFL Expansion Draft.
Prior to the CFL, Campbell worked as a graduate assistant with the University of Oregon Ducks.
Campbell and his wife, Jeri, live in the Glebe, an Ottawa neighbourhood next to TD Place and Lansdowne Park. They became Canadian citizens on July 1, 2011 during a ceremony in Calgary.
