The B.C. Lions announced on Wednesday they have parted ways with head coach and co-general manager Rick Campbell, and named Neil McEvoy as president of football operations and Ryan Rigmaiden as general manager.
Neil McEvoy is 50-years-old from Surrey, British Columbia. He will enter his 29th season with the B.C. Lions after spending four seasons as the co-general manager. McEvoy has worked his way up the ranks when he joined the Lions in 1995 in the ticket sales department.
In 1999, he was moved to the football operations department when he was named the team’s Player Personnel Coordinator. He would hold the position for over a decade before moving up to Director of Football Operations and Player Personnel on February 11, 2014. During his time in B.C., the Lions won three Grey Cup championships (2000, 2006, 2011).
Ryan Rigmaiden is a native of Spokane, Washington, but now resides in North Carolina. Rigmaiden will enter his 17th season with the B.C. Lions after spending four years as the team’s director of U.S. scouting. He began his football career as a contributor for Scout.com from 2002 to 2005 establishing contacts with a variety of leagues including the NFL, AFL, and NCAA.
In 2006, Rigmaiden was named the director of player personnel for the Spokane Shock of the Arena Football 2 and then added the General Manager title in 2010. During his time in Spokane, the Shock were one of the best teams in the league winning two AF2 championships and Arena Bowl XXIII in 2010 over the Tampa Bay Storm. The Shock went 88-31 during his time there and the team won five divisional titles (4 in AF2, 1 in AFL).
Rick Campbell is 53-years-old from Spokane, Washington. He was B.C.’s head coach for four seasons compiling a record of 38-30. This year, the Lions finished 9-9 in third place in the Western Division. They lost the Western Semi-Final to the Saskatchewan Roughriders 28-19. In 2022 and 2023, Campbell led the Lions to the Western Final but would lose twice to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Campbell started his coaching career by spending three seasons as a Graduate assistant for the University of Oregon. Next, he was named Defensive backs and Special teams coordinator for the Edmonton Eskimos. He spent six seasons before Edmonton promoted him to defensive coordinator in 2005. He spent an additional four seasons in Edmonton winning two Grey Cup championships in 2003 and 2005.
In 2009, Campbell was named the defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The following season, he was the running backs coach for the Calgary Stampeders in 2010 and returned to Edmonton as the team’s assistant head coach and special teams coordinator in 11. Campbell would return to Calgary in 2012 spending two seasons at the team’s defensive coordinator.
In 2014, he was named the first head coach of the Ottawa Redblacks. He coached Ottawa for six seasons with a record of 44-62, winning the East Divisional title three times and led the team to three Grey Cup appearances winning the 104th Grey Cup championship in 2016 over the Calgary Stampeders. After the team went 3-15 in 2019, the team and Campbell mutually parted ways.
