Steve Sumarah has been dismissed as the head coach of the Carleton Ravens football team, Carleton Athletics announced Wednesday.
Athletics has yet to announce a replacement for Sumarah but said it is launching a “national search.”
The dismissal comes after the Ravens went 2-4 in 2021 and lost in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) quarterfinals to Queen’s University 41-14 on Nov. 6, 2021.
“It’s been an amazing 10 years in terms of bringing the program from ground zero,” Sumarah said after the game. “My biggest disappointment is that obviously we haven’t been able to get over that hump.”
Sumarah was named the 13th head coach of the program in January 2012, when Carleton’s football program was revived after being shut down in 1998.
Under Sumarah’s tenure, the Ravens went 29-33 in the regular season and reached the OUA playoffs on five occasions, never making it past the semifinals. The last time Carleton played in the regional finals was 1986.
“We are thankful to Steve Sumarah for the role he played in bringing our football program back,” said Jennifer Brenning, assistant vice-president of recreation and athletics, in a statement. “We have a lot of respect for Steve and what he has achieved as a well-regarded member of the university sport community in Canada.”
Until a new head coach is named, Athletics said it will work with the assistant coaching staff to “deliver a high-quality program and to support the student athletes.”
Prior to Carleton, Sumarah coached in Atlantic University Sports (AUS) for 17 years and won six consecutive AUS titles between 1999 and 2004 as the offensive coordinator for the Saint Mary’s Huskies. In that position, Sumarah also helped the Huskies to four Vanier Cup appearances and two national championships in 2001 and 2002.
Sumarah was promoted to head coach of the Huskies after the 2005 season. He led the team to four straight AUS titles and another Vanier Cup berth in 2007 before being dismissed after the 2011 season.
He was named AUS Coach of the Year in 2007, 2008 and 2009, as well as Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Football Coach of the Year in 2009.
With files from Jackson Starr.
