Milt Stegall on 2023 CFL Season, Gary Stern, Alouettes’ Struggles, Matt Dunigan’s Beard, and More

By Reid Johnson

I was fortunate enough to have CFL Hall of Famer and legend of the game Milt Stegall on the August 5, 2022 episode of The Markcast running down all things CFL as we approach week 9 of the 2022 CFL season. In our extended chat, we covered Milt’s thoughts on the CFL’s level of excitement coming off of the “down” year in 2021, his thoughts on Nathan Rourke and the BC Lions, the recent struggles the Alouettes have been facing both on the field in the quarterback position, AND on the sidelines when it comes to the recent firing of fan-favorite head coach Khari Jones. I also asked Milt about recent rumors of “drama” surrounding the CFL on TSN panel, his thoughts on his co-panelist Matt Dunigan’s beard, and the recent Twitter “feud” Milt Stegall seems to have found himself in opposite Montreal Alouettes all-star owner (and former guest of the podcast) Gary Stern.

Here are some excerpts from Milt Stegall’s appearance, please check out the episode for the full interview!

On the quality of play in the 2022 CFL season:

“We're a lot better place than where we were this time. Last year, you know, scoring is up. Games have been exciting, even for the teams that haven't won many games, you know, they've been in the game. So at end of the day, that's what the fans want.”

On Montreal Alouettes owner Gary Stern’s rise to prominence on social media:

“This is great for the CFL. It's great for everyone who's a Canadian football league fan. You know, you have a owner who's engaging with fans who’s on Twitter, who’s on social media. Not saying what those other owners are doing, they shouldn't be doing, but I'm just saying, this is great. I love it. I love the fact that he's having fun. He's enjoying life, and at the end of the day, we're, we're talking about football.”

On Alouettes head coach Khari Jones’ termination and Danny Maciocia replacing him midseason:

“I wasn't surprised. I mean, I said this at the beginning of the year, you know, I said that GM he wanted to be the head coach. You know, this was his dream job….Now I wasn't, I didn't say he, he was, he was hoping that Khari wouldn't do well. But once that door opened up, once that team wasn't doing well, and it was just four games in. He stepped in. So I wasn't surprised about it.”

On Vernon Adams Jr.’s injury and Trevor Harris leading the Montreal Alouettes as quarterback:

“This is not his team right now. This is Trevor Harris's team, and that has to hurt him. You see him on the sideline and he puts on a good show but I know down deep down that has to hurt him because this is not his team. Going into this season, he was expected to be the franchise quarterback for years to come. So it's a tough situation.”

On Chris Jones’ recent player releases and where he sees the Edmonton Elks competing this season:

“You never count a Chris Jones team out. I'm never gonna do that. Yeah. He's making a bunch of changes weekly, but Chris Jones always has a plan. That man is very smart, he's won great cups as a head coach, as a defensive coordinator, he knows what he's doing. It may not look that well on the outside looking in, but Chris Jones spends too much time at his job at that office to not say he doesn't know what he's doing, so I'm never gonna count him out.”

On Matt Dunigan’s newly grown beard:

“Hey, had to go with it. He had to change it up. Would I ever cover up this beauty? No, not saying that Matt is ugly, but you know, every now and then you gotta change your looks up. You know, you wanna make things different, but I have no problem with even know, Matt keeps himself in shape.”

Plenty more insights and analysis from Milt Stegall on this week’s episode of The Markcast. Please like and subscribe if you haven’t already by heading over to - themarkcast.com/watch for video or themarkcast.com/listen to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform! Thanks for reading!!