BC Lions fire head coach

Photo: Contributed - BC Lions.com

The BC Lions have fired head coach Mike Benevides, making the announcement on their website Thursday morning.

The move comes just four days after the Lions were embarrassed in Montreal 50-17, during Sunday's Eastern Conference semi-final.

“Today, we made the very difficult decision to relieve Mike Benevides of his duties as head coach of the BC Lions,” says Wally Buono, GM and VP of Football Operations. “

"Our football team experienced a very tumultuous season. Still, we believe as an organization that the team we had assembled was capable of more than what we accomplished in the regular season and in the playoffs. In short, we underperformed and failed to meet both our own expectations and the expectations of our fans.” 

Benevides served three seasons as head coach for the Lions taking the reins from Buono following the club’s 2011 championship season. In that time, he led the Lions to a 33-21 regular season record.

“Mike is a very good coach as well as an outstanding husband and father. His commitment and loyalty to our organization was endless and we wish him the very best in the future,” added Buono.

The Lions, who will host the Grey Cup in two weeks, finished the regular season 9-9, fourth in the Western Conference.

A replacement has not been named.