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List of BC Lions head coaches

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An Italian-Canadian man in his sixties with grey hair, wearing a tuxedo with a light blue shirt and purple tie, facing the camera.
Wally Buono is the Lions' all-time leader in wins and is the only head coach to win two Grey Cups with the Lions.

The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and are members of the West Division in the Canadian Football League (CFL). The franchise was founded as an expansion team of the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) in 1954.[1] In their 56-year history, the team has appeared in nine Grey Cup finals, and has won five championships.[2] The Lions head coach position is vacant and the current owner is Amar Doman.[3]

The Lions' first head coach was Canadian Football Hall of Famer Annis Stukus, who coached the team for two WIFU seasons. The Annis Stukus Trophy—awarded annually to the CFL's best head coach—is named after Stukus.[4] In 1958, the team joined the CFL as one of their charter members.[1] Clem Crowe coached the Lions for its last two seasons in the WIFU and was their first head coach in the CFL. After coaching the first three games of the 1958 season, Crowe was replaced by a group of seven people who coached the Lions for the next two games. Dan Edwards was named head coach for the remaining 11 games.[1] Dave Skrien was the first head coach to coach the Lions for more than three seasons. In his seven years coaching the team he led the Lions to two consecutive Grey Cup finals, including the team's first championship in 1964.[5]

Vic Rapp coached the Lions from 1977 until the end of the 1982 season.[6][7] He coached 96 regular season games with the Lions, which ranks second among Lions head coaches. Rapp won the Annis Stukus Trophy in the 1977 season, the only Lions head coach to do so without winning a Grey Cup championship.[8] Hall of Famer Don Matthews took over the coaching position in the 1983 season and coached the Lions until midway through the 1987 season.[7] He led the Lions to a Grey Cup championship and was named the Annis Stukus Trophy winner in the 1985 season.[2][8] Matthews' .706 regular season winning percentage is the best among Lions head coaches.

From 1988 until 2002, no Lions head coach term lasted as long as four complete seasons. During this time, the Lions won the Grey Cup championship twice: under head coach Dave Ritchie in 1994 and under Steve Buratto in 2000.[2] Adam Rita and Wally Buono are the only head coach to have had multiple tenures with the Lions. As of the end of the 2011 season, Wally Buono is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached, regular-season games won, regular-season points, playoff games coached, and playoff games won. Buono coached the Lions to their fifth and sixth Grey Cup championships and was awarded the Annis Stukus Trophy in the 2006 and 2011 seasons.[2][8] He is the only Lions head coach to have won more than one Grey Cup. Excluding the group of seven, and counting Rita once, there have been 26 head coaches for the Lions franchise.

Key

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Head coaches

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A smiling white tanned man with grey hair, wearing sunglasses and a blue-collared white shirt, outside on a playing field.
Adam Rita was the first head coach to have coached two stints with the Lions.
Mike Benevides set a franchise record for most wins by a rookie head coach.
Rick Campbell was the most recent head coach for the Lions.

Note: Statistics are current through the end of the 2024 CFL season.

# Name Term[b] GC W L T PTS W% PGC PW PL PW% Achievements[8][12]
1 Annis Stukus† 1954–1955 32 6 26 0 12 .188 — — — —
2 Clem Crowe 1956–1958 35 10 24 1 21 .300 — — — —
– —[c] 1958 2 0 2 0 0 .000 — — — —
3 Dan Edwards 1958 11 3 8 0 6 .273 — — — —
4 Wayne Robinson 1959–1961 39 14 22 3 31 .397 2 0 2 .000
5 Dave Skrien 1961–1967 92 42 45 5 89 .484 8 5 3 .625 1963 Annis Stukus Trophy winner
52nd Grey Cup championship
6 Ron Morris 1967 1 0 1 0 0 .000 — — — —
7 Jim Champion 1967–1969 38 8 28 2 18 .237 — — — —
8 Jackie Parker 1969–1970 22 10 12 0 20 .454 1 0 1 .000
9 Eagle Keys† 1971–1975 70 25 42 3 53 .379 2 0 2 .000
10 Cal Murphy† 1975–1976 26 10 14 2 22 .423 — — — —
11 Vic Rapp 1977–1982 96 53 39 4 110 .573 5 2 3 .400 1977 Annis Stukus Trophy winner
12 Don Matthews† 1983–1987 80 56 23 1 113 .706 7 4 3 .571 1985 Annis Stukus Trophy winner
73rd Grey Cup championship
13 Larry Donovan 1987–1989 26 14 12 0 28 .538 4 2 2 .500
14 Joe Galat 1989 14 7 7 0 14 .500 — — — —
15 Lary Kuharich 1990 10 2 7 1 5 .250 — — — —
16 Jim Young 1990 1 0 1 0 0 .000 — — — —
17 Bob O'Billovich† 1990–1992 43 18 25 0 36 .419 1 0 1 .000
18 Dave Ritchie 1993–1995 54 31 22 1 63 .583 5 3 2 .600 82nd Grey Cup championship
19 Joe Paopao 1996 18 5 13 0 10 .278 — — — —
20 Adam Rita 1997–1998 27 11 16 0 22 .407 1 0 1 .000
21 Greg Mohns 1998–2000 34 22 12 0 44 .647 2 0 2 .000
22 Steve Buratto 2000–2002 35 14 21 1 29 .414 4 3 1 .750 88th Grey Cup championship
– Adam Rita 2002 12 9 3 0 18 .750 1 0 1 .000
23 Wally Buono† 2003–2011 162 101 60 1 203 .627 14 7 7 .500 94th Grey Cup championship
2006 Annis Stukus Trophy winner
99th Grey Cup championship
2011 Annis Stukus Trophy winner
24 Mike Benevides 2012–2014 54 33 21 0 66 .611 3 0 3 .000
25 Jeff Tedford 2015 18 7 11 0 14 .389 1 0 1 .000
- Wally Buono† 2016–2018 54 28 26 0 56 .519 3 1 2 .333
26 DeVone Claybrooks 2019 18 5 13 0 10 .278 — — — —
27 Rick Campbell 2020–2024 68 38 30 0 58 .559 5 2 3 .400

Notes

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References

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General
  • "BC Lions All-Time Coaches Record Since 1954" (PDF). BC Lions. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 19, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  • "BC Lions Year-by-Year History" (PDF). BC Lions. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
Specific
  1. ^ a b c "History >> Year by Year >> 1950–59". BC Lions. Archived from the original on July 21, 2009. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d "Grey Cup Recap". Canadian Football League. Archived from the original on June 7, 2012. Retrieved August 24, 2010.
  3. ^ "Lions Staff". BC Lions. Archived from the original on January 4, 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
  4. ^ "Annis Stukus". Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on April 26, 2018. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  5. ^ "History >> Year by Year >> 1960–69". BC Lions. Archived from the original on January 4, 2010. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
  6. ^ "History >> Year by Year >> 1970–79". BC Lions. Archived from the original on January 30, 2010. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
  7. ^ a b "History >> Year by Year >> 1980–89". BC Lions. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
  8. ^ a b c d "Coach of the Year". Canadian Football League. Archived from the original on July 25, 2009. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
  9. ^ "BC Lions Canadian Football Hall of Fame Inductees" (PDF). BC Lions. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 11, 2009. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
  10. ^ "BC Lions Team Records (To 2008)" (PDF). BC Lions. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 4, 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
  11. ^ "BC Lions Playoff Records (To 2008)" (PDF). BC Lions. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 4, 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
  12. ^ a b "BC Lions Grey Cup Records (To 2008)" (PDF). BC Lions. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 4, 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2009.

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