Jim Barker is joining the Toronto Argonauts' personnel department, he confirmed. 3DownNation on Friday.
The 69-year-old's role has not yet been fully defined but he is expected to be heavily involved in player selection.
This is Barker's fourth stint with the Argonauts. He last served as the team's senior advisor for the 2022 season, helping fill the front office void left by the suspension of vice president of player personnel John Murphy. He left that position in April 2023 to take a CFL spot on TSN's panel, but did not appear on broadcasts through the 2025 season.
Barker served as the Argos' offensive coordinator from 1997-98, head coach in 1999 and 2010-11, and general manager from 2011-16. During his CFL career, he won three Gray Cups with the organization and five overall.
Native of Pasadena, Cal. He previously served as a football operations consultant with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, an assistant coach with the Montreal Alouettes, and the head coach and general manager of the Calgary Stampeders. His career record is 29-43 as a coach and 77-84-1 as a GM.
Argos recently hired longtime Stampeders coach and executive John Hufnagel as a senior advisor head coach Mike Miller and general manager Pinball Clemons. Barker served as general manager and then director of player personnel for five seasons while Hufnagel was the head coach in Calgary, winning the Gray Cup together in 2008.
In 2025, the Toronto Argonauts finished third in the East Division standings with a 5–13 record, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2019. Franchise quarterback Chad Kelly was unable to play the entire season due to a broken leg he suffered in the Eastern final last year, giving way to Nick Arbuckle, who threw for 4,370 yards, 26 touchdowns and 15 interceptions to be named by the team. Most Outstanding Player candidate.
The Argonauts ranked seventh in net offense, sixth in net defense and seventh with a minus-eight turnover margin. The club's leading rusher was Spencer Brown with 314 yards, the leading receiver was Dejon Brissett with 907 yards, and the leading tackler was Cameron Judge with 79 tackles. Toronto ranked ninth in attendance with an average attendance of 15,109, down 0.1 percent from the previous year.
