Even though Scott Milanovich was the top-paid head coach in the CFL, he still left Edmonton to be the Indianapolis Colts’ quarterbacks coach.
According to Postmedia reporter Terry Jones, Milanovich earned somewhere in the neighbourhood of a half million dollars while not coaching a single, solitary football game.
Former CFL quarterback and assistant coach Marcus Brady was named the offensive coordinator with the Colts last week. Brady and Milanovich have a history from their time together in Montreal (2007-2011) and Toronto (2012-2016) during which they won three Grey Cups.
“I connected the dots with Marcus Brady, that their connection goes back to Montreal and then Toronto and that Scott helped him get the job in Indianapolis as offensive coordinator, it looked like the stars were beginning to align a little bit,” general manager Brock Sunderland told Jones.
“Scott was transparent with me that it might be a very realistic possibility. At that time, he wasn’t sure what he would do, whether he would take it or not. He called and said, yeah, he was going to take it.”
Milanovich was hired as the Edmonton Football Team’s 22nd head coach on December 12, 2019, signing a four-year contract. Prior to his appointment, the 48-year-old was the QB coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2017-2019 with a brief stint as the Jags’ offensive coordinator in 2018.
“Nothing Scott did was malicious. Had he called me out of the blue and said: ‘Hey, I’m gone’, that would have been different. I will say this: Scott was a good friend before I hired him and he’s still a friend to this day,” Sunderland said.
The CFL cancelled its 2020 season in August, which meant Milanovich never coached a game for the green and gold. The CFL is planning to return to play in 2021, although there are no guarantees due to COVID-19. The uncertainty caused by the virus on the three-down league was a factor in Milanovich’s decision.
“I think if we played a full season last year that this doesn’t happen. That’s my opinion,” Sunderland said.
“I think the fact that we didn’t play last year was part of it and that there’s no guarantee that we’ll play this year, combined with the fact the NFL did play and certainly looks like they’re going to again, was a huge factor.”
