Heart-to-heart with Cody Fajardo prompted Mark Kilam to change head coaching approach

Photo courtesy: Edmonton Elks.

Mark Kilam will make his Grey Cup head-coaching debut on Sunday in Calgary, but it may never have happened without a heart-to-heart with Cody Fajardo after his rookie season on the job.

The 34-year-old quarterback revealed on Wednesday that the two sat down following the Edmonton Elks’ disappointing 2025 campaign and got real about where Kilam needed to improve going into his second year.

“I think we had a great conversation at the end of last year about what I felt like he could have done better with his first year,” Fajardo revealed.

“He asked me in our exit meetings, and I felt like he was really hands-on with the special teams, and that’s all he knew for 20 years. I just said the guys love you, and they love hearing from you, and we just want you to be (involved) offensively, defensively, special teams, not just solely focus on special teams.”

Kilam was hired as the Elks’ head coach after two decades as an assistant with the Stampeders, taking over a franchise in the depths of despair. The team struggled out of the gate in 2025, losing their first three games and starting 1-6 before getting into rhythm once Fajardo was established as the starting quarterback.

The Green and Gold found an identity, but still finished 7-11 and missed the postseason for the fifth year in a row. That left Kilam searching for ways to get better in every aspect, including his own job. His veteran quarterback’s insight proved to be invaluable.

“That’s 100 percent facts. I try to meet with every player at the end of the season, and I’m always looking at myself first. What can I do better? When you get feedback from your veteran players, your core players, you always take that to heart,” Kilam acknowledged.

“I was coordinating the special teams last year, so that was also important to me because I wanted to set the standard for that phase of football on that team, on a new team. Part of my growth as a second-year head coach is that when I gave those duties up, I was able to spend more time in other areas on the football team.”

While Kilam remains an important source of knowledge, former University of Manitoba quarterback Des Catellier has taken over as special teams coach and found success. The increased attention the head coach has been able to pay to the rest of the roster has paid cultural dividends, helping to spur the Elks to a 13-5 record and their first Grey Cup appearance since 2015.

“To his credit, he has been fantastic with that,” Fajardo raved. “He has been a true head coach, a true leader of men, a guy that gets us fired up. One of the most electric meetings we’ve had this year was when he shaved his mustache in front of the whole team. It just goes to show what kind of head coach you have, and I resonate so well with him.”

“For me personally, it was awesome just to be more involved in the other sides of the ball,” Kilam said. “I think that one of the reasons why it’s helped our team be stronger, as far as we’ve just been more streamlined in all three phases on our football team.”

“I’ll just add that that makes your staff stronger too, because it allows them to grow when you’re empowering them.”

Kilam’s Grey Cup counterpart, Montreal Alouettes head coach Jason Maas, knows how impactful it can be to expand your lens after taking the job. The former CFL Coach of the Year served as his own offensive playcaller for his first three years in La Belle Province, before gradually phasing himself out and officially handing those duties to Anthony Calvillo this season.

Maas knew the time was right to make the switch and now describes himself as an “overseer.” Montreal still finished first in the CFL in net offence and second in offensive points.

“There’s always a time we have to let go. It did allow me the same thing (as Kilam). I got to go into defensive meetings more, and I got to go into special teams meetings and stay in there with my thoughts specifically on listening to what I was hearing rather than thinking about a whole bunch of other things. It gives you a good feel of everything,” he explained.

“Obviously, I’m very well connected with Danny (Maciocia) on the personnel side, so when I do have to venture off, and we have a week where we take a lot of water breaks, as we say, for our players — we’re not sure who’s going to play — I don’t worry so much because I know I have help that’s doing the coordinating in all three phases. I trust all three of those coaches, and the sports staff and associate coaches. You need the right pieces in place in order to do that, but once you find it, it is a blessing as a head coach, no doubt.”

Less than two years after he was hired, Kilam appears to have found the right staff and the confidence to let them excel. That has allowed him to let his personality shine through and connect with players at all levels of the roster.

“He’s a guy that you want to run through a brick wall for. Every story he’s shared with us, I just think it’s incredible how he came into such a leader of men role as a head coach so fast,” Fajardo said. “He’s got this team to buy into a culture. Here we are, and there’s no way we’re in this Grey Cup without Mark Kilam as our head coach.”

The Montreal Alouettes (15-4) and Edmonton Elks (14-5) will meet in the 113th Grey Cup at McMahon Stadium in Calgary on Sunday, November 15, with kickoff scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET.

The Alouettes and Elks split their two meetings during the regular season. In June, Edmonton won 32-29 in overtime at Commonwealth Stadium, as running back Justin Rankin recorded 230 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. In August, Montreal won 48-30 at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, led by a 131-yard, three-touchdown performance from Tyson Philpot.

The weather forecast in Calgary calls for a high of 10 degrees with a mix of sun and cloud. The game will be broadcast on TSN, CTV, RDS, and Crave in Canada, and CFL+ internationally.