The McGill Redbirds are officially looking for some outside help.
According to Richard Boutin of Le Journal de Québec, on Jan. 14 it was revealed that McGill has hired the Celsius Group to audit the Redbirds football program.
RSEQ. Louis Pilon–President of JAMP Pharma in Boucherville, Que.–is financing the audit. He is also the father of two Redbirds players.
The goal of the audit is ostensibly to figure out how to pull McGill football out of the doldrums of the RSEQ. The Redbirds parted ways with head coach Ronald Hilaire on Dec. 1 following a third consecutive 1-7 season and last-place finish in the RSEQ. Hilaire took over behind the bench in 2015, and held a cumulative record of 16-48 over eight seasons.
McGill requested to join the OUA in 2012 as a means towards more success, but Director of McGill Sport Programs Daniel Méthot wants the Redbirds to build themselves back up in the RSEQ this time around.
“It’s an extra challenge to rival the well-established programs, but we also have to look at this as an advantage,” he told Boutin in French. “We want to put the program back on solid rails. We no longer want to be happy to participate and fight hard for fourth place out of five teams.”
McGill last saw reached the Dunsmore Cup in 2002 when they defeated rival Concordia 10-6 to capture the RSEQ championship. Redbirds football’s most recent winning season came in 2006 (5-3) and they hold an 0-5 record in RSEQ semi-finals since then.
Boutin reports that the Celsius Group was recruited to “identify the strengths and weaknesses of the football program.”
“Outside eyes could analyze the program from a different angle,” Méthot told Boutin in French. He also pointed out that McGill is willing to share any positive findings of the audit with the other teams in the RSEQ.
Méthot also wants to shore up the football program’s relationship with its alumni. He confirmed that Louis Pilon was not the only alumnus interested in helping out, “but they want to do it within a serious football program,” he said.
“With 150 years of football at McGill, it’s a unique situation, but we have to reconnect with our alumni. It’s not normal that the men’s hockey team with a roster of 25 players receives more support than the football team with 100 players.”
According to the report, the audit will conclude in March, and McGill football is envisioning a three-to-five year rebuild to revamp the program.