MONTREAL — The Canadian Football League and the Montreal Alouettes are mourning the loss of former head coach Joe Scannella who passed away earlier this week.

A coach of over five decades, Scannella broke into the CFL in 1969 as the Alouettes running backs coach and returned to Montreal in 1978 as the head coach for three seasons. In between stints with the Als, Scannella was a special teams coach with the Oakland Raiders of the NFL, helping the team capture a Super Bowl in 1976. Scannella steered the Alouettes to two Grey Cups but lost both. He finished with a 28-28-2 record as a head coach in the CFL.