The McGill University football team has started looking for a new head coach for 2024 and beyond as the school parted ways with Ronald Hilaire. He will not return to the program next season.
The Laval, Quebec native assumed bench boss duties with the Redbirds in 2015 after being the team’s defensive coordinator and interim head coach in 2014. He compiled a 16-48 win-loss record over eight seasons with McGill while making the Quebec Conference playoffs three times. The Redbirds finished 1-7 in last place in the RSEQ each of the last three seasons.
From 2011 to 2013, Hilaire was the University of Montreal’s defensive coordinator, defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. Before working with the Carabins, he was a defensive line coach at Collège du Vieux Montreal in 2010 and 2011. He had coached with Team Quebec since 2012 and also served as a co-defensive coordinator and D-line coach for the Canadian squad, which won a U-18 world championship at Arlington, Texas in 2013 and 2014.
Hilaire was selected in the fourth round, 27th overall by the Calgary Stampeders in the 2008 Canadian Football League Draft. He played four seasons in the NCAA for the University at Buffalo as a defensive lineman, recording 120 total tackles, eight quarterback sacks and four forced fumbles. He helped the Bulls win the Mid-American Conference championship in 2008 and was co-captain of that team. He graduated in 2008 with a degree in business administration specializing in international business.
Prior to attending UB, he played three seasons at Collège du Vieux Montréal where he won three Bol d’Or league championships. A captain his last year there, he earned all-conference honours in 2002 and was named the league’s defensive player of the year in 2003, when he registered 50 tackles, 11 sacks, one interception and a pair of fumble recoveries.
McGill joins York University, the University of Toronto and the University of Calgary as U Sports programs looking for new head coaches. York is looking for a permanent head coach after having Brian Jones and Nathaniel Griffith as associate head coaches in 2023, while the Varsity Blues parted ways with Greg Marshall after going 2-6 this past season and Wayne Harris Jr. retired after nine seasons at the helm of the Dinos.
