The Carleton Ravens football team announced on Friday that McMaster Marauders assistant coach Corey Grant will be the new head coach of the program, ending a two-month national search following the dismissal of longtime head coach Steve Sumarah.
Grant has served as the assistant coach and offensive coordinator at McMaster since 2019, when the Marauders won the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championship. He also coached the Marauders as receivers coach in 2010 and 2011.
Grant coached with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for six years and played as a wide receiver in the CFL for 11 years. He is a two-time Grey Cup champion, winning in 1999 with the Tiger-Cats and 2007 with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
He becomes the 14th head coach in Carleton program history.
“I’m very excited to be joining the Carleton Ravens family and the Ottawa community,” Grant said in a press release. “I’m honoured to have the opportunity to learn about what it means to be a Raven.”
At McMaster, Grant served as the equity, inclusion and anti-racism lead within the athletics department. He is currently co-chair of the OUA Black Biracial Indigenous Committee, assistant director of the Black Canadian Coaches Association and founder of the Black Football Coaches of Canada.
“We are delighted to have Corey join our team,” said Carleton assistant vice-president (recreation and athletics) Jennifer Brenning in the press release. “His success on the field and his tireless advocacy for social justice will bring a dynamic energy to our program and department as a whole.”
Grant played OUA football at Wilfred Laurier University from 1995 to 1998.
Sumarah, who was named head coach of the Ravens in 2012 when the program was revived, was dismissed in January after a 29-33 regular season record. Under Sumarah’s tenure, the Ravens failed to make it past the OUA semifinals.
Sumarah has since been named offensive coordinator for the UBC Thunderbirds.
In the two months since Sumarah’s dismissal, Carleton named defensive coordinator Paul-Eddy Saint-Vilien as interim head coach.
The team has also relied on a rotating cast of guest coaches to guide the team through the offseason. Current and former Ottawa Redblacks Brad Sinopoli, Antoine Pruneau and Mark Nelson assisted the team.
The Ravens will return to the field for the 2022 season in the fall semester.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
