EDMONTON — Ed Hervey didn’t hold back when describing the Edmonton Elks team.
“I do not like where the club sits in the CFL, as far as the perception” said Hervey, who on Wednesday was introduced as the team’s new general manager. “I would equate it to laughingstock.”
For a franchise that has not been to the playoffs since 2019, that endured a 22-game home losing streak between 2019 and 2023, that has seen attendance dip to the point where management closed the upper bowl of Commonwealth Stadium, Hervey’s observation is nothing but the brutal truth.
But he promised the turnaround began the second he was hired.
“To the many people I do know, this is take two,” said Hervey. “To the many people I don’t know, you’re going to realize that I’m intense, I’m focused, I’m all about winning. I will do what it takes to win.”
And he put out a public plea to any players who might not consider Edmonton a destination because of the franchise’s recent missteps.
"The water is warm,” he said. “We’re not what we were yesterday.”
Hervey was the general manager in Edmonton from 2013-16, including a Grey Cup title in 2015. Hervey played eight CFL seasons, all of them in Edmonton green and gold, and won two CFL titles as a player. He has been deeply rooted in Alberta’s football community, and helped lead a summit that would change how minor football programming is offered in the province,
He returns to Edmonton from Hamilton, where he was the general manager of the Tiger Cats this past season. He thanked the Tiger-Cats’ organization for allowing him the chance to interview for the Elks’ job.
He was the B.C. Lions’ GM from 2018-19.
He said he’s a different man than the one who ran the Elks in the mid-2010s. The recent passing of his mother gave him pause to refocus, and he recognizes a big part of his job is winning back the fans’ trust.
He was clear that he saw the empty seats at Commonwealth not as a sign of fan apathy, but as a protest over the way the team was being run over the last half-decade.
Hervey’s hiring closes the door on Geroy Simon, who took over as the team’s interim general manager five games into the 2024 season. Chris Jones was relieved of coaching and management duties after an 0-5 start, and Simon, along with interim head coach Jarious Jackson, stabilized the team and led it to a 7-6 record the rest of the way — but it was not enough to challenge for a playoff spot.
Both Jackson and Simon had been vocal about wanting to keep their jobs.
Elks president Chris Morris, a former teammate of Hervey’s, said that, while the interview process was “rigorous,” the choice was an easy one.
“There was no doubt as to who was the most qualified person for this job,” said Morris. “There was no doubt as to who had more experience, or the greatest level of experience for this job. And there was no doubt as to who was the person I felt was in the best position to lead this organization from a football standpoint.“
While there were many players and alumni present, one person not in the Elks’ dressing room for the press conference was pending free-agent quarterback Tre Ford. The former first-round draft pick of the Elks has been a fan favourite, but has been rotated in and out the starting job over the past couple of seasons.
At the end of the 2023, he had won the starting job, but the Canadian was moved to a backup role when the club signed McLeod Bethel-Thompson, whose contract also expired at the end of the 2024 campaign.
“I think Tre Ford is a very dynamic player,” said Hervey. “I don’t know him personally, I am looking forward to having the chance to speak with him. I’m looking forward to talking to him about his experience here, and seeing where he sees his future. I want to talk to him about my vision.
“If we can find common ground as to what that looks like, I am going to give him every opportunity to compete, to be the starter here. But it takes two.”
And, he said the search for a permanent head coach will take as long as it needs to take, and jokingly promised that the deadline to have that person in place will be before the beginning of next season.
“He’s going to be a grown-up. We’re not going to have a temper-tantrum-like coach running around,” he said. “We’re going to have a coach who is confident in what he’s doing.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2024.
Steven Sandor, The Canadian Press