CFL legend Adam Rita signed as offensive coordinator for Berlin Thunder

The Berlin Thunder have announced the signing of Canadian Football League legend Adam Rita as their offensive coordinator for the 2025 European League of Football season.

The 77 year old Rita, a native of Kauai, Hawaii, has had a career most would only dream of.

He first broke into the CFL in 1983 as an offensive coordinator for the B.C. Lions under legendary coach Don Matthews. He would go on to work almost continuously in the league until his retirement in 2010, only interrupted by a one year stint as UBC Thunderbirds (Canadian college) head coach in 1989.

Rita was named head coach of the Toronto Argonauts in 1991 and won the Grey Cup in his first year, only to be released after a 3-8 start the following season. He served a Ottawa Rough Riders head coach in 1994 and with the B.C. Lions in 1997-98 and 2002, while also seeing time as a coordinator for the Memphis Mad Dogs and Edmonton Eskimos.

Rita switched to the personnel side starting in the late ’90s, serving as B.C. Lions general manger from 1997 to 2002 and finishing his career as Argonauts GM from 2004 to 2010.

In all he brought home six Grey Cups in eight appearances as head coach, offensive coordinator and general manager.

Headed to Europe

After retiring from the CFL, Rita turned his focus to Europe and became a fixture overseas. He began as head coach of the Prague Panthers in 2012, then coached the Calanda Broncos of Switzerland from 2013 to 2014 and Bergamo Lions of Italy from 2017 to 2019. In between, Rita has served as an assistant with the Clarkson Football North high school program in Mississauga.

Rita was originally signed on to coach Germany’s Berlin Adler in 2020 until the pandemic forced the cancellation of the German season. In 2022, Rita returned to the Bergamo Lions in Italy as head coach.