The Ottawa expansion franchise that will debut in the Canadian Football League in 2014 is eyeing a member of the Atlanta Falcons for possible consideration for the team’s general manager’s job, sportsnet.ca has learned.
Lionel Vital, the Falcons’ associate director of player personnel, is one of four candidates the Ottawa team is focusing on for the GM’s job.
Jeff Hunt, one of the five owners of the Ottawa team, told the Ottawa Sun on Wednesday that one of the three candidates is Montreal Alouettes’ assistant GM Marcel Desjardins. The Sun said sources indicated two of the others are Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ assistant GM Joe Womack and former Tiger-Cats’ head coach Marcel Bellefeuille.
The fourth name of the list remains a mystery, according to the Sun, although it was mentioned the individual is “a former CFL player who currently has a big job with a very successful team.”
Sources tell sportsnet.ca it is Vital, who played running back for the Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders in the ’80s.
The team is expected to announce its hiring in a month or so.
Vital has 22 years experience in scouting and player personnel, according to his Falcons’ bio, and is in his first season as the Falcons’ associate director of player personnel. He works closely with Falcons’ general manager Thomas Dimitroff, who gave Hunt and the team’s scout, Rick Worman, tour of the team’s facility last year.
Dimitroff’s father, Tom, coached the Ottawa Rough Riders and Tiger-Cats in his lengthy career in Canada.
Thomas Dimitroff played Canadian college football with the Guelph Gryphons. Upon graduation, he began his ascent into his current job starting out with the Saskatchewan Roughriders as its Canadian Scouting Co-Coordinator.
