The BC Lions Football Club has announced their 2026 Coaching Staff.
Continuity is the word of choice for the Lions as Buck Pierce enters his 2nd season as the Lion Head Coach with 8 assistants brought back from the 2025 season.
One new addition to the Coaching staff was announced by General Manager Ryan Migmaiden & Head Coach Buck Pierce that CFL Veteran Mark Washington is back in BC for the third time as he has been hired as the clubs Linebackers coach.
Washington, played 11 season in the CFL with the Montréal Alouettes (1997-2002) and the BC Lions (2003-2007) as Defensive Back winning a Grey Cup in 2002 with Montréal and 2006 with BC. He made the move over to coaching in 2008 joining the BC Lions coaching staff as the Defensive backs coach where he would be until 2013. He would later be promoted to Defensive Coordinator in 2014 until 2018. He would be hired by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for the Defensive coordinator & Defensive Back coach role in 2019 and was fired during the 2024 season.
“We’re very excited to have continuity on our staff, which will be greatly beneficial in the pursuit of our end goal in 2026,” said Pierce. “Coach Washington also brings another experienced football mind and has familiarity with how we want to build our defence. He will fit in perfectly with the linebackers on our roster.”
2026 BC Lions Coaching Staff
- Buck Pierce – Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, Quarterbacks Coach
- Mike Benevides – Defensive Coordinator
- Cory McDiarmid – Special Teams Coordinator
- Kevin Bourgoin – Receivers Coach, Pass Game Coordinator
- Paul Charbonneau – Offensive Line Coach, Run Game Coordinator
- Kristian Matte – Running Backs, Assistant Offensive Line Coach
- Ryan Phillips – Secondary Coach, Pass Game Coordinator
- Randy Melvin – Defensive Line Coach
- Mark Washington – Linebackers Coach
- Derek Oswalt – Assistant Receivers Coach
Buck Pierce and co will look to improve on a 11 win 2025 season and lead BC back to the Grey Cup for the first time since they hoisted the trophy in 2011. Rookie Camp opens May 6 and Main Camp opening May 10 in Kamloops, British Columbia.