MARCEL BELLEFEUILLE HEAD COACH

Marcel Bellefeuille officially took over as the 20th head coach in Hamilton Tiger-Cats history on October 27 after taking over the team on an interim basis in September.

Bellefeuille originally joined the Ticats as offensive co-ordinator in December of 2007 after running the Montreal Alouettes’ offence the previous season.

Bellefeuille was hired by the Alouettes in 2006 as the team’s running backs and receivers coach after a five-year tenure with the Saskatchewan Roughriders – the latter three as the Riders’ offensive coordinator.

Bellefeuille’s offences have established themselves as one of the league’s premier running attacks in the CFL. Under Bellefeuille’s tutelage, Als running back Robert Edwards led all CFL players with 17 touchdowns in 2006 while Montreal was the only team to boast two 1,000-yard receivers in Kerry Watkins and Ben Cahoon.

In three seasons at the helm of Saskatchewan’s offence, Bellefeuille helped the Riders gain over 7,000 rushing yards and led the league in rushing for three consecutive years (2003-05). He has held CFL coaching jobs at all offensive positions.

Before joining the Roughriders, Bellefeuille enjoyed a very successful three-year tenure as head coach at the University of Ottawa. The Gee-Gees captured the 2000 Vanier Cup, one year after he was named the 1999 OQIFC Coach of the Year. Before becoming the head coach, Bellefeuille was an assistant with the Gee-Gees for three seasons from 1995 through 1997.

Bellefeuille made the jump to the university level after two different high school coaching stints in Ottawa from 1991 through 1995. He also led the Ottawa Sooners to a championship game and served as head coach for the Crawley Raiders of Europe’s NFL Budweiser League in 1989. Bellefeuile also has guest coaching experience with the NFL’s Washington Redskins, Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills.

Bellefeuille, a native of Ottawa, resides in Hamilton with his wife Julie and their children Ymilie, Alexandra, Mathïas and Cédrik.