The winless Ottawa Redblacks have parted ways with Shawn Burke, who was dismissed from his role as vice-president of football operations. The Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group made the announcement Sunday.
The change comes as Ottawa’s CFL team has posted no wins this season, contributing to the longest losing streak in the league’s modern era. The dismissal is the second shakeup to the front office. Last week, OSEG announced that Adrian Sciarra, who served as president since 2023, was leaving the organization.
Burke joined the Redblacks in 2021 as the team’s general manager and was promoted this off-season to vice-president of football operations when the Redblacks brought in Ryan Dinwiddie as new head coach and general manager.
“This is a difficult decision because I have a lot of respect for Shawn,” Mark Goudie, CEO of OSEG, said in a press release. “Nobody can question how hard he has worked or how much he cares about the Redblacks. Shawn has embraced this organization and this community, and he has given an enormous amount of himself to the job. I am very grateful to him for that commitment.
“At the same time, our football results have not been good enough. Ultimately, I have a responsibility to make changes when I believe we need a different approach, and I have concluded that a change in our football leadership is necessary.”
The Burke announcement was followed on Monday by news that veteran CFL executive Jim Popp has joined the Redblacks as senior football adviser.
OSEG said in a news release that Popp would have a two-part mandate: advising Goudie on a permanent leadership structure for the team’s football operations, and working alongside Dinwiddie to strengthen the team’s roster and player pipeline with the hopes of strengthening the team for the 2027 season and beyond.
Goudie said that Popp will serve in an advisory role through the rest of the 2026 season, but will start working with the team immediately
“We need to get better and there is no reason to wait until the offseason to start doing that,” Goudie said in a news release. “Jim has spent 28 years in this league and has been a part of building championship teams throughout his career. He brings a proven ability (to) identify players who can succeed in the CFL, and he gives me an experienced and independent football perspective as we determine the right long-term structure for this organization.”
Popp has built teams that have appeared in 11 Grey Cups and won five championships. He spent 21 seasons as the general manager of the Montreal Alouettes, leading the team to eight Grey Cup appearances.
