Edmonton Elks head coach Kilam removes beard at urging of Elks players

CALGARY — Mark Kilam is sporting a new look during Grey Cup week.

The thick, black beard that was the Edmonton Elks head coach’s longtime look is gone, replaced with a handlebar moustache. The 47-year-old Edmonton native shaved the beard late last month at the urging from his players.

“That’s from Cody (starting quarterback Cody Fajardo), he started that,” Kilam said Thursday during Grey Cup Media Day. “The quarterbacks and O-line started growing them.

“Then they got the team to buy in right away and, of course, I had the big beard so I was holding out. I’ve had a beard forever, as soon as I could grow a little chin goatee I’ve had it so basically since high school. I’d shaved it, like, one or twice just to see what I would look like but it’s always been there.”

While he originally held out, Kilam knew eventually he’d be giving in, but only when it delivered the maximum effect.

So following a team meeting, Kilam grabbed a razor and removed the beard in front of his players.

“I got a good set of clippers and buzzed it,” Kilam said. “They lost their minds.

“There were guys running around, jumping, It was awesome.”

Running back Justin Rankin was among the Elks players who had been pushing Kilam to shave his beard. But neither he nor his teammates had a clue about what was going to unfold following the team meeting.

“So then we walk into the team meeting, boom, he’s talking, giving his speech, telling guys they’ve got to buy in,” Rankin said. “He goes behind a little curtain, grabs the shaver, shroom, shroom, just start shaving right there in the meeting and the crowd went crazy.

“It was a phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal thing to see.”

Edmonton will face the Montreal Alouettes in the Grey Cup on Sunday at McMahon Stadium.

Rankin said Kilam’s actions brought the Elks closer together.

“It really meant a lot, the whole symbolism behind that,” Rankin said. “The head guy going up there showing the guys, not just preaching it, but really showing us, ‘I’ll do what ever it takes.

“If this is what is takes to win, I got y’all. If this what it takes to buy in, I got y’all. He did it in front of everybody, which, that’s awesome. That’s a leader leading.”

But reactions within the Kilam household have been mixed.

Kilam said his wife, Andrea, liked the new look but daughters Jules, 17, and Hennessy, 15, weren’t big fans.

“My wife’s all for it, she knew why I did it,” Kilam said. “My kids were like, ‘Dad, I can’t look at you,’ though.

“Even at our family supper we try to have once a week, my eldest daughter sits across from me and she couldn’t make eye contact. It was hilarious. My youngest also wasn’t OK with it but they knew why I did it. They’ve been around this game their whole lives.”

It seems Kilam is still getting used to his new look but has no regrets.

“Sometimes I catch a glimpse of myself and I’m like, ‘Who’s that,’ because you just get used to seeing what your face looks like all the time,” Kilam said. “My buddies love it, they think it’s a good look for me.

“I’m having fun with the guys, I did it for them.”

Kilam will decide following the Grey Cup whether to grow the beard again or keep the moustache. But there will be no sporting a clean-shaven look.

“I look like Aladdin when I have a bare face, so I haven’t had it in a long time,” Kilam said.

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With files from Donna Spencer.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2026.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press