Courtesy TSN:

The worst-kept secret in the CFL was finally made official on Monday, when the Calgary Stampeders introduced new head coach and general manager John Hufnagel.

”John has a long relationship with the Stampeder organization, myself, and members of our ownership group,” team president Ted Hellard said in a statement. ”His success on the field as both a player and a coach speaks for itself. We are extremely pleased to have John as our head coach and general manager and look forward to watching him move the Calgary Stampeder Football Club to the next level of performance.”

Hufnagel replaces former coach Tom Higgins, who parted ways with the team on November 15 after losing his third straight Western Semifinal. Higgins was offered a post of executive vice-president within the organization, but turned it down.

Former GM Jim Barker will remain with the team as director of player personnel and vice-president of football operations. Offensive co-ordinator George Cortez is the only coach who will be retained.

Hufnagel’s arrival in Calgary has been rumoured for weeks. Local papers in Calgary had the news before the Stampeders playoff loss to Saskatchewan.

Hufnagel has coached some of the best quarterbacks in the game. His list of pupils includes Doug Flutie, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

Hufnagel, who was the Stampeders’ offensive coordinator from 1990-1996, left the Stampeders for a head coaching job in the arena league. A tour of the NFL followed, with stints in Cleveland, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, New England, and New York. His NFL career peaked with the Giants as their offensive coordinator.

Wally Buono, who hired Hufnagel to be the Stampeders offensive coordinator back in 1990, asked him to serve as a guest coach for the B.C. Lions this year. The results were evident during the season.

Buono told the Calgary Herald that Hufnagel was one of his favourite people in football.

“Of all the guys I’ve worked with, I probably hold John Hufnagel in the highest esteem,” Buono told the Calgary Herald last week.

“John is a tremendous person. He’s very loyal, very fair, very honest. He could have killed me, betrayed me to get ahead, many times. But that’s not John. As loyal and as honest as can be. A good family person, very loyal, very up-front, very honest.”

Flutie told the Calgary Herald that Hufnagel was a great choice for the Stampeders.

“He’s absolutely first-class, I love him,” Flutie said of his former offensive coordinator. “In the CFL at the time I was playing, he was the cream of the crop as far as coaches, from an X’s and O’s standpoint.

“Now, with even more NFL experience, he’d be great.”

Hufnagel was a star quarterback at Penn State, and left as the school’s all-time leading passer. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 1973 and stayed sparingly there for three seasons before starting his CFL career with the Stampeders in 1976. He later played for Saskatchewan and Winnipeg.