Bill Belichick hires longtime CFL coach to join his team
An ex-CFL coach is expected to be hired onto the legendary Bill Belichick’s staff with the North Carolina Tar Heels as an assistant.
Chris Jones, who coached the Edmonton Elks and Saskatchewan Roughriders, will reportedly take his talents down to the Eastern United States. Reports surfaced on Wednesday that Jones will be hired as a defensive assistant with the NCAA Div. 1 Tar Heels, joining head coach Belichick.
3DownNation’s Justin Dunk was the first to report the news.
Chris Jones hired as defensive assistant by Bill Belichick with North Carolina Tar Heelshttps://t.co/sB8RfoXAZp#UNC #GoHeels #CFL pic.twitter.com/g7e6YP96KG
— Justin Dunk (@JDunk12) January 8, 2025
Jones is a native of Tennessee but has spent the better part of the last decade in various roles within the CFL. He first joined the Montreal Alouettes in 2002 as a defensive line coach and then moved west to the Calgary Stampeders as a defensive coordinator in 2008. He then went to the Toronto Argonauts in a similar position before finally becoming the head coach of the Elks in 2014, where he helped the team win a Grey Cup in 2015.
From there, he became the head coach and GM of the Saskatchewan Roughriders between 2016 and 2018. Jones had a brief stint in the NFL as well, acting as a defensive assistant for the Cleveland Browns in 2019.
His latest CFL roles include a second stint as head coach and GM of the Elks between 2021 and 2024 before he was fired early on into the 2024 season. Jones finished the season as a senior defensive assistant for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
In North Carolina, Jones will join Belichick, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest football coaches of all time. The 72-year-old helped lead the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles between 2000 and 2023 and won two more as an assistant coach of the New York Giants.
Belichick mutually parted ways with the Patriots in 2024, and while many rumours persist that he may return to the NFL with another team, he was hired to coach North Carolina in December 2024.