Jim Morris
CFL.ca
During a game Chris Jones paces the sidelines like a caged lion.
The Edmonton Eskimos head coach radiates intensity like heat from the sun. Jones understands it takes a team to win a championship, but there’s no question he wants to control everything he can when it comes to preparation.
Like all good coaches Jones is willing to learn from others, and he keeps in regular communication with one of the best.
Jones has developed a relationship with NFL Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells. The two text and talk regularly.
“When I have questions, I know it’s somebody I can bounce ideas off,” Jones said during Wednesday’s coaches’ news conference at the 103rd Grey Cup presented by Shaw.
Paul Jones, the Eskimos’ executive director of player personnel, has been friends with Parcells for years. It was Paul Jones who put Chris Jones in touch with Parcells.
Talking with Parcells was like offering a smorgasbord to a hungry man.
“I wanted to pick his brains and see what things he felt like he did well,” said Jones. “That way I could incorporate them into what we did.
“That’s kind of how the relationship spun from there.”
The Eskimos finished first in the West with a 14-4 record this year, resulting in Jones being nominated for the AFG Coach of the Year award.
Edmonton defeated the Calgary Stampeders 45-31 in West Final last week at Commonwealth Stadium. It was their ninth consecutive win and sent them into Sunday’s Grey Cup against the Ottawa REDBLACKS.
After the win over Calgary, Jones talked about some advice Parcells gave him.
“He said, ‘don’t leave any bullets’” Jones said. “’Go in there to win the football game and don’t think or wait until later in the game and wait to do something. Early in the game is as good an opportunity as any.’”
Jones showed his aggressive nature by going for a two-point convert after the Eskimos’ first touchdown. Some might call the move pugnacious. Jones said it just made common sense.
“You look at Calgary, they are the one team that goes for two more than any other team,” said Jones. “We scored the first touchdown. Odds are they are going to score a touchdown.
“I’d better go for two or I am going to be behind by one. It’s a pretty simple little question.”
During his NFL career Parcells coached the New York Giants, New England Patriots, New York Jets, and Dallas Cowboys. He currently is serving as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns and an analyst for ESPN.
Parcells won two Super Bowl rings with the Giants. He is the only NFL coach to lead four different teams to the playoffs and three different teams to a conference championship game.
Jones said he’s in contact with Parcells about once a month.
“I text him,” Jones said. “I gave him a hard time about not being able to return a text.”
Asked what advice Parcells has given him for Grey Cup, Jones just chuckled.
Jones was named Edmonton’s head coach last year and led the Eskimos to a 12-6 record and the West Final in his first season. This year’s trip to the Grey Cup is Edmonton’s first in a decade.
This is Jones’ first time as a head coach but during his 13 years in the CFL he’s worked with Toronto, Calgary and Montreal.
On Wednesday he talked about his days in Montreal when he shared an apartment with Scott Milanovich, the current Toronto Argonauts head coach. In those days Jones was Montreal’s defensive co-ordinator while Milanovich was offensive co-ordinator.
The two spent many late nights working on schemes.
“We’d get to talking around 9 p.m., thinking we’d get to bed early,” said Jones. “He would present a question. Next thing you know it’s 2 a.m.
“It was a really good time to be around Scott.”
Jones said his aggressive football nature was first fueled by his old high school coach.
“We put the pads on every single day,” he said. “We’d hit every single day.
“I think that is where it probably came from. I just want to win. It’s just my nature I guess.”