The Hamilton Tiger-Cats made it official on Monday that they have hired former Edmonton Elks head coach Chris Jones as the new Senior Defensive Assistant and parted ways with Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Mark Washington.
Chris Jones joins the Ticats after being fired by the Edmonton Elks on July 15, 2024, after the team went 0-5 to start the season. It was his second stint in Edmonton.
The 57-year-old from South Pittsburg, Tennessee, returned to Edmonton on December 21, 2021. In two and half seasons, the Elks compiled a record of 8-33. In his first stint in Edmonton (2014-15), then known as the Eskimos, Jones’s record was 26-10 (.722-win percentage) including leading the Eskimos to win the 2015 Grey Cup over the Ottawa Redblacks.
Chris Jones got his coaching career started in 1993 as an Assistant Coach at North Jackson High School. He later went to Tennessee Tech as a Graduate Assistant and also made stops at Alabama and the University of Tennessee-Martin as a defensive line coach.
Chris Jones spent over 20 years in the CFL which began in 2002 as defensive line coach for the Montreal Alouettes. The Alouettes won the Grey Cup that season, their first since 1977. Montreal’s defense recorded 50 sacks, 757 tackles, four interceptions, and 26 fumble recoveries.
Jones was promoted to defensive coordinator for the Alouettes for five seasons before taking the same position with the Calgary Stampeders. In 2008, the Stampeders defense recorded two interceptions, 33 sacks, 876 tackles, and 19 fumble recoveries, which led Calgary to win the Grey Cup in Montreal over the Alouettes. It was Chris Jones’s second Grey Cup championship.
Chris Jones took on additional roles with the Stampeders, including Assistant head coach and Assistant Director of Player Personnel. In 2012, he left Calgary to take on the same role in Toronto, and the Argonauts won the Grey Cup, his third as a coach. Then, in 2014, he was named the head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos.
After winning his third Grey Cup championship in Edmonton, Jones bolted Edmonton for the Saskatchewan Roughriders as the new Head Coach and General Manager on December 7, 2015.
In 2017, the Roughriders went 10-8 losing to the Calgary Stampeders in the Western Final. Shortly after signing a two-year contract extension with Saskatchewan on January 8, 2019, Jones resigned as the Head Coach and General Manager to join the Cleveland Browns as a Senior Defensive Specialist.
After one season, Jones was removed from the coaching staff and later returned to coach his alma mater at South Pittsburg High School. However, after the school was placed on probation for recruiting violations, he left and returned to the Toronto Argonauts as a defensive consultant.
Mark Washington was the Ticats’ Assistant Head Coach & Defensive Coordinator. This firing comes after Hamilton was blown out 47-22 on Saturday against the Edmonton Elks. Entering Week 11, Hamilton’s defense was ranked last in points allowed (31.9), touchdowns allowed (27), seventh in net offense allowed (363.4), first downs allowed (194), and fifth in sacks (18).
The 51-year-old from Washington, D.C., has been the Ticats’ defensive coordinator since 2019. He helped them appear in back-to-back Grey Cup championship games in 2019 and 2021. Washington also held the same position with the B.C. Lions from 2014-18.
Before taking the defensive coordinator job, Washington was the defensive backs coach for the B.C. Lions from 2008-13. As a player, Washington played for the New York CityHawks (AFL) and Barcelona Dragons (NFLE) in 1997.
He helped the Dragons win World Bowl V over the Rhein Fire. In the same year, he played for the Montreal Alouettes from 1997-02 and the B.C. Lions from 2003-07. He won the Tom Pate Memorial Award in 2006. He played college football at Rutgers University.
