Ottawa Rough Riders Coaching History
1907 - 1996
Tom Clancy (1907-11, 1921-22) 31 - 25 - 01 2-3
Dr. Eugen Galvin (1912) 04 - 02 - 00
Father Stanton (1913) 04 - 02 - 01
Eddie Girard (1914) 00 - 06 - 00
Frank Shaughnessy (1915) 02 - 04 - 00
Dave McCann (1919, 24-27, 31-32) 16 - 24 - 02 2-0 2-0
Silver Quilty (1920, 1923) 04 - 08 - 00
Walter Gilhooley (1928) 01 - 04 - 01
Joe Miller (1929) 00 - 06 - 00
Dr. Andy Davies (1930) 00 - 06 - 00
Wally Masters (1933-34, 48-50) 29 - 18 - 00 2-3 0-1
Billy Hughes (1935-36) 08 - 07 - 00 3-0 0-1
Ross Trimble (1937-41, 1945) 28 - 08 - 00 9-5 2-2
George Fraser (1942, 1946) 08 - 05 - 02 0-1
Sammy Fox (1947) 08 - 04 - 00 0-2
Clem Crowe (1951-54) 21 - 31 - 00 3-0 1-0
Chan Caldwell (1955) 03 - 09 - 00
Frank Clair (1956-69) 116 - 75 - 05 16-15 3-1
Jack Gotta (1970-73) 30 - 26 - 00 3-2 1-0
George Brancato (1974-84) 82 - 90 - 04 7-8 1-1
Joe Moss (1985-86) 10 - 19 - 00 0-1
Tom Dimitroff (1986) 00 - 04 - 01
Fred Glick (1987-88) 03 - 18 - 00
Bob Weber (1988) 02 - 13 - 00
Steve Goldman (1989-91) 11 - 29 - 00 0-1
Joe Faragali (1991) 07 - 07 - 00 0-1
Ron Smeltzer (1992-93) 13 - 23 - 00 0-2
Adam Rita (1994) 04 - 14 - 00 0-1
Jim Gilstrap (1995-96) 03 - 17 - 00
John Payne (1996) 03 - 13 - 00
Notes:
--The total Grey Cup wins comes to 10, and the team only has nine. I suspect that's because the 1940 championship was a two-game series and Ottawa won both.
George Brancato
George Brancato was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1931. A graduate of Louisiana State University, Brancato played professionally for two seasons with the Chicago Cardinals prior to coming to Canada. He played one season in Montreal then six with Ottawa (1957 - 1962). He led the Rough Riders in interceptions in 1957 and 1958 as well as 1960, a year in which he won the Grey Cup as a player.
Brancato returned to the Rough Riders in 1970 as an assistant to then head coach Jack Gotta. He was promoted to the top position following Gotta's departure in 1974. In 1975, Brancato earned the Annis Stukus Trophy as coach of the year and a won the Grey Cup the following season. He remained the team's head coach until the end of the 1984 season at which point he was named Director of Player Personel. Following a stint in the Arena Football League in the late 80's and early 90's, Brancato returned to the Rough Riders in September 1993 as a special teams and defensive secondary coach.
Clair came to Canada in 1950 and led the Toronto Argonauts to the Grey Cup title in his first year as Head Coach. His coaching career began at University of Miami (Ohio) in 1946, where he enrolled following his discharge from military service. He served as an assistant coach at Purdue, then became Head Coach at the University of Buffalo for the 1948 and 1949 seasons.
The ‘Professor’ coached in five more Grey Cup games (1952, 1960, 1966, 1968, 1969) and won four (losing only in 1966), tying Lew Hayman’s record of five championships. He won 174 regular season and playoff games in 19 years as a head coach (including 116 victories in 14 seasons in Ottawa) before moving to the general manager position with the Rough Riders (1970 to 1978). He returned to the club as an advisor (1987 to 1990) before his final retirement.
His playing days included 10 games with the Washington Redskins in 1941.
The Lansdowne Park football stadium in Ottawa now bears his name, receiving the honour in March, 1993. Coach Clair was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as a builder on January 6th 1981.
Clem Crowe
Crowe played basketball and football at Notre Dame, the latter under Knute Rockne. He was a captain of the football squad in 1925. Following graduation, Crowe coached both sports for St-Vincent College in Pennsylvania and Xavier University (Cincinnati,Ohio) prior to returning to Notre Dame for the 1944 and 1945 seasons.
On the professional side, Crowe coached the original versions of the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Colts in 1949 and 1950 respectively. He joined the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1951 and took them to a Grey Cup victory in their first season. He was replaced following the 1954 season in which the Rough Riders posted a 2-12 record. Overall, he had a 21-31 record as Head Coach in Ottawa. Crowe resurfaced with the BC Lions in 1956 and coached them through the 1958 season.
Crowe passed away in April 1983 at the age of 79.
Jack Gotta
Gotta played tight end at Oregon State in 1952 and Hamilton Air Force Base from 1953-1955. He played offensive end and defensive halfback with the Calgary Stampeders from 1956 to 1959 and Saskatchewan from 1960 until partway through the 1964 season. He concluded the 1964 season with Montreal.
Gotta returned to Saskatchewan in 1965 as an assistant to Hall of Famee (as a builder) Eagle Keys. He resigned after the 1967 season and joined the Ottawa Rough Riders coaching staff as an assistant to Frank Clair. He was chosen to replace Clair as Head Coach in 1970. He posted a 30-26 record in his four seasons in the top spot, winning the Grey Cup in 1973 and the Annis Stukus Trophy as Coach of the Year in 1972 and 1973.
Gotta moved to the World Football League's Birmingham Americans as head coach and general manager in 1974. He won that league's only championship, remained in Birmingham in 1975 as the head coach and GM of a team called The Vulcans after the Americans folded and posted a 9-3 regular season with that club.
Gotta returned to the CFL in 1976 as head coach/general manager of the Calgary Stampeders. He retired as coach after four seasons, earning another Coach of the Year award in 1978, but remained in his general manager role. He returned to the sidelines in 1981 following the resignation of then-coach Jerry Williams until 1983.
In 1984 he joined CTV as a commentator for CFL games. He returned to coaching in 1985, again with Saskatchewan. He passed away in June of 2013.
Wally Masters
The following obituary appeared in the July 12th, 1992, Ottawa Citizen.
Dave McCann
The Ottawa native played halfback and quarterback with the Rough Riders starting in 1907 and upon the team's return after being suspended during world war one.
McCann had three coaching stints with the team totaling seven seasons, winning championships in 1925 and 1926. He entered both the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (as a builder) posthumously in 1966 after spending 1927 to 1958 on the Canadian Rugby Union's rules committee.
Here is a portion of his obituary from March 27th, 1959.
Ross Trimble
The following is from an Ottawa Citizen column written by one Tommy Shields the day after Mr. Trimble's sudden passing on March 24th, 1950.
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