McGill Redbirds football

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McGill Redbirds
McGill Athletics wordmark.png
McGill Redbirds logo
First season 1874
Athletic director Drew Love
Head coach Ronald Hilaire
5th year, 13–27–0 (.325)
Other Staff David Lessard (OC)
Ronald Hilaire (DC)
Home Stadium Percival Molson Memorial Stadium
Year built 1914
Stadium capacity 23,420
Stadium surface FieldTurf
Location Montreal, Quebec
League U Sports
Conference RSEQ (2010 – present)
Past associations CRFU (1898–1914, 1919–1939, 1946–1970)
QUAA (1971–1973)
OQIFC (1974–2000)
QSSF (2001–2009)
All-time record –
Postseason record –
Titles
Vanier Cups 1
1987
Mitchell Bowls 3
1958, 1960, 1973
Atlantic Bowls 2
1969, 1987
Yates Cups 10
1902, 1906, 1912, 1913,
1919, 1928, 1938, 1960,
1962, 1969
Dunsmore Cups 3
1987, 2001, 2002
Hec Crighton winners 1
Dave Fleiszer
Colours Red, White, and Black

Outfitter Adidas
Rivals Montreal Carabins
Concordia Stingers
Website McGill Football
The McGill Redbirds football team represents McGill University athletics teams in U
Sports and is based in Montreal, Quebec. The program is one of the oldest in all of
Canada, having begun organized competition in 1874. The team won its first
collegiate championship in 1902 and also won in 1912, 1913, 1919, 1928, 1938 and
1960 prior to the inauguration of the Vanier Cup in 1965. McGill appeared in the
Vanier Cup final in 1969, 1973 and 1987, with the Redmen finally winning the title
in the 1987 game. McGill plays out of Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, where the
Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes also play.

The program had long used the Redmen moniker until the name was dropped in May 2019
after nearly 80% of students voted to change the name in a 2018 referendum held by
McGill's student union.[1] The team adopted the Redbirds name on November 17, 2020.
[2]
Contents
1 Seasons
2 Recent results
3 Head coaches
4 National award winners
5 Notable former players
5.1 CFL
5.2 NFL
5.3 Former professional players
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Seasons

The McGill v. Harvard game played in 1874

In 1874, McGill and Harvard met in the first North American style football game.[3]

Old "Football Fightum" had been resurrected at Harvard in 1872, when Harvard
resumed playing football. Harvard, however, had adopted a version of football which
allowed carrying, albeit only when the player carrying the ball was being pursued.
As a result of this, Harvard refused to attend the rules conference organized by
the other schools and continued to play under its own code. While Harvard's
voluntary absence from the meeting made it hard for them to schedule games against
other American universities, it agreed to a challenge to play McGill University in
a two-game series. Inasmuch as rugby football had been transplanted to Canada from
England, the McGill team played under a set of rules which allowed a player to pick
up the ball and run with it whenever he wished. Another rule, unique to McGill, was
to count tries (the act of grounding the football past the opposing team's goal
line; it is important to note that there was no end zone during this time), as well
as goals, in the scoring. In the Rugby rules of the time, a touchdown only provided
the chance to kick a free goal from the field. If the kick was missed, the
touchdown did not count.

The McGill team traveled to Cambridge to meet Harvard. On May 14, 1874, the first
game, played under Harvard's rules, was won by Harvard with a score of 3–0.[4] The
next day, the two teams played under "McGill" rugby rules to a scoreless tie.[5]
The games featured a round ball instead of a rugby-style oblong ball.[4] This
series of games represents an important milestone in the development of the modern
game of American football.[6][7] In October 1874, the Harvard team once again
traveled to Montreal to play McGill in rugby, where they won by three tries.

From 1898, McGill played in the Canadian Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union, and
won their first championship, the Yates Cup in 1902. In 1912, Frank Shaughnessy was
recruited as the first professional head coach. His teams won the Yates Cup during
his first two seasons. In 1919, the team went undefeated and did not concede a
touchdown,[8] and in 1928. The 1919 team was inducted into McGill's Hall of Fame in
2010.

McGill next won a championship in 1938. The team tied for the regular season 8–1
with Western after losing their final regular-season game to Western. The teams
played off for the championship, won 9–0 by McGill, with all the scoring from
kicker Herb Westman, who kicked a school record nine punt singles.[9] The team
would not win another title until 1960, when they won the Yates Cup, against
Queen's University of Kingston, then defeated the Canada West champion Alberta
Golden Bears in a challenge match for an unofficial national championship
(Churchill Bowl).
In 1971, McGill joined a newly formed Quebec-only conference known as the Quebec
University Athletic Association. In 1974, the three remaining Quebec teams merged
with three Ontario teams in the Ontario-Quebec Intercollegiate Football Conference.

McGill won the ODIFC's Dunsmore Cup again for the first time 1987, along with the
Montreal Shrine Bowl, Shaughnessy Cup, Robert Stanfield trophy (Atlantic Bowl
champions) and the Vanier Cup (CIAU national champions). The 1987 team featured
Michael Soles at running back, who went on to a lengthy playing career in the
Canadian Football League. That team was coached by Charlie Baillie who took over in
1972 and served as head coach until 2000. Baillie surpassed the legendary Frank
Shaughnessy's school record for wins and went on to become McGill's winningest
coach. His overall record was 119–111–2.

Since the retirement of long-time head coach Charlie Baillie in 2000, the team has
only won two league championships (2001, 2002). In October 2005, the McGill
administration cancelled the last three games of football team's season after
confirmed reports of hazing involving sexual abuse.[10] After their 2005
suspension, the team struggled with three losing seasons, including two winless
seasons in 2007 and 2008. The program showed signs of hope as the team won three
games in 2009, but soon sank back down to futility with consecutive winless
campaigns in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, the team qualified for the playoffs for the
first time since 2006, but lost to perennial powerhouse Laval. The team returned to
the playoffs in 2016, 2018 and 2019, but were defeated each time in blowout losses
to the conference's other powerhouse, the Montreal Carabins.

Recent results
Season Games Won Lost OTL PCT PF PA Standing Playoffs
2001 8 5 3 - 0.625 161 166 2nd in QUFL Defeated Concordia
Stingers in semi-final 11–8
Lost to Laval Rouge et Or in Dunsmore Cup 42–14[A]
2002 8 7 1 - 0.875 299 93 1st in QUFL Defeated Bishop's
Gaiters in semi-final 44–0
Defeated Concordia Stingers in Dunsmore Cup 10–6
Lost to Saskatchewan Huskies in Mitchell Bowl 22–0
2003 8 3 5 - 0.375 171 205 4th in QUFL Lost to Laval Rouge et
Or in semi-final 47–7
2004 8 4 4 - 0.500 162 158 4th in QUFL Lost to Montreal
Carabins in semi-final 38–18
2005 8 1 7 - 0.125 120 233 6th in QUFL Out of playoffs
2006 8 4 4 - 0.500 157 168 4th in QUFL Lost to Laval Rouge et
Or in semi-final 52–0
2007 8 0 8 - 0.000 144 289 6th in QUFL Out of playoffs
2008 8 0 8 - 0.000 130 413 6th in QUFL Out of playoffs
2009 8 3 5 - 0.375 181 267 5th in QUFL Out of playoffs
2010 9 0 9 - 0.000 102 330 6th in QUFL Out of playoffs
2011 9 0 9 - 0.000 139 287 6th in RSEQ Out of playoffs
2012 9 3 6 - 0.333 157 294 4th in RSEQ Lost to Laval Rouge et
Or in semi-final 46–9
2013 8 3 5 - 0.375 220 263 5th in RSEQ Out of playoffs
2014 8 0 8 - 0.000 103 342 6th in RSEQ Out of playoffs
2015 8 3 5 - 0.375 192 249 5th in RSEQ Out of playoffs
2016 8 4 4 - 0.500 156 173 4th in RSEQ Lost to Montreal
Carabins in semi-final 42–0
2017 8 1 7 - 0.125 105 282 5th in RSEQ Out of playoffs
2018 8 2 6 - 0.250 109 233 3rd in RSEQ Lost to Montreal
Carabins in semi-final 48–2
2019 8 3 5 - 0.375 124 191 3rd in RSEQ Lost to Montreal
Carabins in semi-final 31–0
[11]
^ A. McGill was later awarded the Cup by forfeit after it was discovered that Laval
had used ineligible players

Head coaches
Name Years Notes
A.M. Hamilton 1908
Bill Steedman 1911
Frank Shaughnessy 1912–27 & 1932–34 First professional coach in Canadian college
history;
Yates Cup in 1912, 1913 and 1919.
Lorne Montgomery 1928–29 Yates Cup in 1928
Flin Flanagan 1928
T.H. Hall 1928–29
A.A. Burridge 1928–29
D. Stuart Forbes 1930–31
Joe O'Brien 1935
Doug Kerr 1936–46 Yates Cup in 1938
Vic Obeck 1947–53
Larry Sullivan 1954–57
Bruce Coulter 1958–61 Yates Cup, national championship in 1960
Bill Bewley 1962–64 Yates Cup in 1962
Tom Mooney 1965–70 Yates Cup in 1969
John Roberts 1971
Charlie Baillie 1972–2000 National championship (Vanier Cup in 1987)
Chuck McMann 2001–2006
Sonny Wolfe 2007–11
Clint Uttley 2011–2014 Took over as interim for final three games of 2011
season; named head coach after season but resigned on September 30, 2014.
Ronald Hilaire 2015–present Appointed head coach Feb 17, 2015. Finished
2014 season as interim co-head coach.
Source: McGill.[12]

National award winners

Hec Crighton Trophy: Dave Fleiszer (1969)
J. P. Metras Trophy: Randy Chevrier (2000), Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (2013), Andrew
Seinet-Spaulding (2019)
Peter Gorman Trophy: Michael Soles (1986), Shaquille Johnson (2012)
Russ Jackson Award: J.P. Veri (1990, 1991), Steve Papp (1994), Jean-Philippe
Darche, (1998)
Frank Tindall Trophy: Chuck McMann (2002)
Notable former players
CFL
Jesse Briggs – Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Valentin Gnahoua – Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Mike Edem – Saskatchewan Roughriders, BC Lions, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal
Alouettes
Shaq Johnson – BC Lions
Maxime Rouyer – Edmonton Football Team
NFL
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif – Kansas City Chiefs
Former professional players
Jean-Nicolas Carrière – Toronto Argonauts
Ryan Coughlin – Montreal Alouettes
J. P. Darche – Toronto Argonauts, Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs
Erik Galas – Montreal Alouettes
Greg Hetherington – Calgary Stampeders, BC Lions
John Macdonald – Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Christian Masotti – Edmonton Eskimos
Jim Miller – Montreal Alouettes
Joe Poirier – Ottawa Rough Riders
Hector Pothier – Edmonton Eskimos
Silver Quilty – Ottawa Rough Riders
Val St. Germain – Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Edmonton Eskimos, Ottawa Renegades, Winnipeg
Blue Bombers, Saskatchewan Roughriders
Michael Soles – Edmonton Eskimos, Montreal Alouettes
George Springate – Montreal Alouettes
Gene Robillard – BC Lions
See also
U Sports
References
Stevenson, Verity (November 13, 2018). "McGill students vote to change Redmen
sports teams' name". CBC News.
"The McGill Redbirds: new name for a new era to wear, and cheer for with pride".
McGill Athletics. November 17, 2020.
"Spotlight Athletics". Mcgill.ca. 2012-05-14. Archived from the original on 2012-
10-18. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
Parke H. Davis. Football, the American intercollegiate game. p. 64.
"No Christian End!" (PDF). The Journey to Camp: The Origins of American Football
to 1889. Professional Football Researchers Association. Retrieved January 26, 2010.