Rick Campbell, Redblacks bench boss, named CFL coach of year

Rick Campbell of the Ottawa Redblacks was named the CFL's coach of the year on Thursday night in Winnipeg.

Campbell, 44, led Ottawa (12-6) to a first-place finish in the East Division this season after winning just twice in its inaugural 2014 campaign. The Redblacks, led by CFL passing leader Henry Burris and a defence that had a league-high 62 sacks.

Chris Jones of the Edmonton Eskimos was the award finalist.

"Chris, congratulations on your great year, I hope it ends badly," Campbell said with a smile. "Wow, this is wild.

"This isn't my award. We all know football is the ultimate team game."

Campbell certainly saw plenty of winning football growing up.

His father, Hugh Campbell, won a Grey Cup as a receiver with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1966, then five more as Edmonton's head coach (1978-'82) before adding four additional titles as an executive with the franchise. The elder Campbell amassed a 70-21-5 regular-season record and 11-1 playoff mark as Eskimos coach, his lone CFL post-season loss coming to Montreal in the '77 Grey Cup.

Hugh Campbell, 74, was the CFL's coach of the year in '79 and inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

Campbell said he learned a lot from Jones, whom he'll square off against in Sunday's Grey Cup, when they worked together as assistants with the Calgary Stampeders. That year, Campbell was an offensive assistant in Calgary while Jones served as the club's defensive co-ordinator.

"The thing I appreciated about Chris is he's always doing whatever it takes to win," Campbell said recently. "He keeps his eye on the prize and that's how I am too."