Jesse Alexander joined the Lions coaching staff in 2017 as the team’s special teams coordinator and linebackers coach.
He comes to York with 10 years of coaching experience in U SPORTS with the Laurier Golden Hawks. While there he worked mostly with the linebackers while also assisting on special teams and with the defence. This past season he won his first Yates Cup as a coach with the champion Golden Hawks.
Prior to becoming a coach, Alexander had a tremendous playing career with the Golden Hawks. He dressed in 52 consecutive games at linebacker and helped Laurier win back-to-back Yates Cups in 2004 and 2005, as well as the Vanier Cup in 2005. He was a two-time OUA all-star and CIS all-Canadian (2004, 2006) and was also honoured as the OUA's defensive player of the year in 2006. He was drafted by the Saskatchewan Roughriders with the 39th overall pick in the 2005 Canadian Football League (CFL) Draft.
In 2011 he was named to Laurier's Team of the Century as one of the top 33 players in program history, and that same year he was inducted into the institution's Hall of Fame.
In addition to his coaching experience with the Golden Hawks, Alexander has spent time in the Ontario Varsity Football League (OVFL), most recently as the defensive coordinator for the Cambridge Lions for three seasons (2013-15).
