Jeff Hunt would return to Ottawa Redblacks, but not expecting offer

Photo: Andre Ringuette/Ottawa Redblacks

If asked, Jeff Hunt would be open to returning to the Ottawa Redblacks, the team he helped found under the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) banner in 2014.

Despite that, he’s not expecting the opportunity to retake the role of president he vacated following the 2018 season.

“I do believe that ship has sailed, but I still love the fans and care a lot about the team, and think I’d be good at it,” Hunt recently told 3DownNation via telephone.

Coincidence or not, the Redblacks have struggled since his departure. One poor season has followed another and the season ticket base has clearly dwindled. After once boasting 17,000 season ticket holders, the team had only 13,727 fans at Sunday’s loss to the B.C. Lions.

Throughout the franchise’s history, OSEG has typically been hands-off in terms of hiring someone they believe capable of doing a job and giving them space to work.

That’s a positive when things are going well, but the opposite when they aren’t. As all fans know, there’s a fine line between ownership being meddlesome or supportive — between being an asset or a liability.

Given OSEG’s traditionally cautious approach to making changes midseason, it speaks to how dire things have gotten during the team’s 0-11 start to the 2026 season.

First came Adrian Sciarra stepping down as team president in mid-August. Then came the firing of vice-president of football operations Shawn Burke.

For now, Jim Popp has been hired as senior football advisor, which Hunt believes is a solid first step.

“He’s someone with a ton of experience and he’ll help set-up a clear hierarchy,” he said. “I also wouldn’t be surprised if he helps OSEG bring in a well-known former Redblack player at some point, to help be the face of the franchise again, and maybe give the fan base a boost.”

While someone has yet to replace Sciarra, OSEG president and CEO Mark Goudie has indicated the person they hire will be entirely focused on the Redblacks alone. Hunt thinks that will be a smart decision given the energy the job requires, as there are only so many hours in a day.

“Adrian did a great job, but having him divide his time between the Redblacks and 67s (OSEG’s OHL team) put him in a tough spot,” he said.

Many fans don’t know what a team president does, though it depends on the organization.

As far as CFL presidents go, Hunt was a bit of a unicorn in that he was in the public eye much more than most of his peers.

When the original OSEG partners came together in 2008 to start the process of bringing football back to the nation’s capital, Roger Greenberg and John Ruddy agreed that Hunt would be the public face of OSEG. He was also to have final say on everything related to the football team.

Hunt ultimately came up with the club’s name after a fan suggested “Red and Blacks” to him at a Grey Cup party in 2012. His other responsibilities included marketing, in-game promotions, jerseys, hiring, ticket sales, and briefing his partners on financials.

“You’ve got your fingers in a lot of pies as a president. You might go into the office without knowing exactly where the day will take you,” said Hunt.

“Maybe you start off meeting about a marketing idea, then you’re reviewing ticket sales for an upcoming game, then you’re just kind of checking on everyone else to see how things are going with them.”

“You can’t just focus on one aspect of the business, be it revenue or on-field results. You’ve gotta see the bigger picture, but at the same point in time, you can’t just hire someone for a position and step away, trusting them fully.”

While most of R-Nation knew Hunt and recognized him as the team’s president, the same probably couldn’t be said for many CFL teams today. Heck, two teams outside of Ottawa don’t technically have presidents.

In Montreal, the Alouettes use a by-committee approach between René Masson and Danny Maciocia. In Toronto, the Argos have a similar setup under the MLSE umbrella.

As far as Hunt is concerned, if a fan base knows their president’s name it’s either because they just won a Grey Cup or things are going badly.

“I’m an outgoing guy who doesn’t mind the media, and although I was probably too honest at times, like when I agreed in a radio interview that stadium beer prices were too high, I felt like fans always appreciated that,” he said.

On game days, Hunt shifted to a coordinator role, making sure building operations, game day operations, and concession vendors were all on the same page.

“I was obsessed with having a great environment. One thing that quickly became clear to me (during my tenure as president) was that obviously the wins on the field matter, but fans aren’t stupid. They understand that bad seasons happen,” he said.

“That’s why the game day experience should be elite, regardless of the result on the field. The music has to be upbeat and fun. The halftime show must be something people feel like they can’t miss. Concession lineups gotta move. Beer’s gotta be ice cold. Hot dogs gotta be hot. Bathrooms need to be clean. Parking should be efficient.”

“If you can do that, their pain tolerance is a bit higher, but if you also are lacking in terms of atmosphere, if the game’s not fun to be at, then patience wears thin quickly. The beers suddenly aren’t that cold. The lines are just a bit too long. That’s when an organization needs to move quickly before they lose the bandwidth to actually fix things.”

Sometimes, the job simply requires being approachable. That might mean being present at practice, hanging out in the lunchroom, popping into the training room to talk to doctors or rehabbing players, or chatting on the field with the equipment staff pre-game.

“I often felt that a huge part of my role was to simply gauge the mood around the team and the best way to do that was to make sure people were comfortable around me,” stated Hunt. “If they felt they could talk to me because I was familiar and friendly, I often got insights I might have otherwise missed.”

But by far, Hunt feels like the most important responsibility a president carries is to establish the upper management team.

“When we were starting the Redblacks back in 2013, I felt I only had to make one good decision to have a positive ripple effect for years. If I got the general manager right, he in turn would get the head coach right, and in turn, they’d work well together to find the right players,” he said.

“For me, it was really a case of make one good decision and everything else would fall into place. And that’s how it went for a number of years with Marcel (Desjardins) and Rick (Campbell).”

The duo worked together from 2014 to 2019, earning three East Division titles, four trips to the playoffs, three Grey Cup berths, and one championship. However, by the end of 2019, things had started to come apart, and that’s when Hunt’s time with the Redblacks came to an end as well.

When it became apparent that one of Desjardins or Campbell would have to leave the team following a 3-15 season, there was internal friction over who to keep amongst OSEG partners. Hunt believed that he had final say, as he had up to that point with all things football related. Yet, he was overruled.

“Ultimately, while we’d been successful with both, I just felt Rick was so good at what he did that he’d immediately find another job. I didn’t know that the same could be said of Marcel.”

Looking back, history has proven Hunt was correct.

Team presidents can also sometimes become involved in player personnel, as was the case with Henry Burris in 2014. Desjardins and then-assistant general manager Brock Sunderland already had the future Hall of Fame inductee close to a deal, when Hunt was asked to step in and help finalize the signing.

One year later, Burris was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player. The following year, he led the team to a championship and was named the Grey Cup’s Most Valuable Player.

The Redblacks have lost 17 consecutive games dating back to last season, and it’ll take time to build the team back to respectability on and off the field.

One might argue that there’s no person more qualified to lead the Redblacks again than Hunt, even if it doesn’t appear he’ll get that chance.

Regardless, the next person who takes up the president’s mantle in Ottawa will have their work cut out for them.