Adam Rita (born September 21, 1947) is a

gridiron football Gridiron football ( ),"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ...

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

, most notably in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). He has served as the head coach of the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded on September 19, 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup cham ...

, and

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

and as general manager of the Lions and Argonauts. Since leaving the CFL in 2012, Rita has been coaching American football in Europe. Coaching the Bergamo Lions in the Italian Football League (IFL), Calanda Broncos in Switzerland, Prague Panthers in Czech, Berlin Adler Germany, Barcelona Dragons in Spain, in the newly formed

European League of Football The European League of Football (ELF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football sports league, league based in Europe, continuing some team names and logos of the former NFL Europe. The ELF played its first season in 2 ...

(ELF) in 2021 and returned again to the Bergamo Lions in 2022.

College playing career

From 1965 to 1968, Rita attended

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has b ...

playing center for the Boise State Broncos.

NCAA coaching career

From 1969 to 1976, Rita continued his tenure with the Boise State Broncos, serving as an assistant coach & recruiting director. After leaving Boise State, Rita's U.S. college coaching stints continued with the UNLV Rebels & Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.

Coaching & GM career in Canadian football

In 1983, Rita began his first professional coaching tenure as the offensive co-ordinator for the B.C. Lions under head coach

Don Matthews Donald J. Matthews, a.k.a. "the Don", (June 22, 1939 – June 14, 2017) was a head coach of several professional football teams, mostly in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He won 231 games in the CFL, the List of Canadian Football League hea ...

. In 1989, Rita left the CFL to join the coaching staff of the

UBC Thunderbirds The UBC Thunderbirds are the athletic teams that represent the University of British Columbia. In Canadian intercollegiate competition, the Thunderbirds are the most successful athletic program both regionally in the Canada West Universities Athl ...

of CIAU football. In 1990, Rita rejoined Matthews in Toronto as offensive coordinator for the

. In 1991, after Matthews' departure, Rita became a first time CFL head coach for the Argonauts with whom he won his first and only

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

championship as a head coach in that same year. In September 1992, after a 3–8 start to the season, Rita was fired as Argonauts head coach. In 1993, Rita joined the Edmonton Eskimos as their offensive coordinator. The team went on to win the

81st Grey Cup The 81st Grey Cup was the 1993 Canadian Football League championship game played between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta. The Eskimos defeated the Blue Bombers 33–23 to win the Grey Cup. ...

that year. In 1994, Rita became the head coach of the

. The team went on to finish their season with a 4-14. In 1995, Rita resigned as the Rough Riders' head coach to become the offensive coordinator for one of the new U.S. expansion teams in the CFL, the

Memphis Mad Dogs The Memphis Mad Dogs were a Canadian football team that played the 1995 CFL season, 1995 season in the Canadian Football League. The Mad Dogs were part of a failed attempt to CFL USA, expand the CFL into the United States. They played at Liberty ...

. In 1996, Rita reunited with Matthews, rejoining the Argonauts as their offensive coordinator in 1996. The team would go on to win the 84th Grey Cup that year. In 1997, Rita joined the B.C. Lions as both their new head coach and

. In 1998, Rita relinquished his head coaching responsibilities halfway through the season, focusing exclusively on his general manager duties. In 2002, after six games into the season, Rita took over as their interim head coach. In 2003, Rita returned to the Toronto Argonauts as their offensive coordinator serving under head coach Pinball Clemons who he used to coach. In 2004, Rita was promoted to General Manager and Vice President of Football Operations of the Argonauts. Toronto won the 92nd Grey Cup in his first year on the job, but managed only a 48–60 record after that. Rita's contract was not renewed following the 2010 season and he was replaced by head coach Jim Barker. During his CFL tenure, Rita won 6 Grey Cups in 8 appearances in his capacities as head coach, offensive coordinator, and general manager. In 2012, Rita retired from the CFL and turned to high school football coaching, becoming an assistant coach & offensive coordinator with the Trinity College School football team in

Port Hope, Ontario Port Hope is a municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, about east of Toronto and west of Kingston, Ontario, Kingston. It is at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in the west end of Northumberland County, Onta ...

. In 2016, Rita moved from Trinity College School to the "Football North" program at Clarkson Secondary School in

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

as their assistant coach and offensive coordinator. In 2019, Rita was elevated to assistant head coach.

Coaching career in Europe

Rita discovered Europlayers which serves as a job website for European sports. This led to his first European coaching job in 2012 as the head coach for the Prague Panthers in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, where the team finished as Czech league runner up losing in the Czech Bowl championship game. The Panthers also competed in the Austrian Football League top level. In 2013–14, Rita served as the head coach of the Calanda Broncos in Switzerland Nationalliga A (American football) winning the Swiss Bowl championship in 2013 and finishing runner up losing in the Swiss bowl in 2014. The team also competed in the

European Football League The European Football League (EFL) established in 1986, was a tournament for the best European American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a ...

. In 2017–19, Rita served as the head coach and offensive coordinator of the Bergamo Lions of the Italian Football League IFL. In 2020, Rita was named as the new head coach for the Berlin Adler of the German Football League 2. Unfortunately, the 2020 season was not played due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2021, Rita was named as the first ever head coach for the Spanish-based team Gladiators Football, later rebranded as Barcelona Dragons, of the newly formed

. In 2022, Rita returned to the Bergamo Lions in Italy as head coach. The 2022 Lions are competed in the second tier of the Italian League. The Lions qualified to return to the highest level league in Italy (IFL) for the 2023 season.

Personal life

Rita grew up on Kaua'i, Hawai'i and as a young boy, he was a member of a canoe club and appeared paddling a canoe in the wedding scene of the

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

movie ''

Blue Hawaii ''Blue Hawaii'' is a 1961 American musical romantic comedy drama film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley. The screenplay by Hal Kanter was nominated by the Writers Guild of America in 1962 in the category of Best Written Amer ...

''. Rita is married to his wife Judit who is from

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. He also has two sons, Kevin and Harrison, and two grandchildren, Seth and Jennifer. As of 2020, Rita and his wife reside in

Mississauga, Ontario Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

CFL GM record

CFL coaching record

References

External links

Toronto Argonauts profile

ADAM RITA CONTINUING PASSION FOR COACHING IN RETIREMENT (CFL.ca column on Adam Rita)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rita, Adam 1947 births Living people BC Lions coaches BC Lions general managers Boise Broncos football players Boise State Broncos football coaches Edmonton Elks coaches European League of Football coaches German Football League coaches Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football coaches Italian Football League coaches Memphis Mad Dogs coaches Ottawa Rough Riders coaches UBC Thunderbirds football coaches Toronto Argonauts coaches Toronto Argonauts general managers UNLV Rebels football coaches Sportspeople from Kauai County, Hawaii Players of American football from Hawaii Coaches of American football from Hawaii American expatriate players of American football Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Native Hawaiian people Naturalized citizens of Canada Nationalliga A (American football) coaches