Photo: Michael Scraper/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

Jim Barker has worked in football for nearly 50 years, with half that time spent in the Canadian Football League. Though he’s now back as the director of player personnel with the Toronto Argonauts, he spent a good part of the last year fearing it was all over.

“You always worry about it because I did want to keep going. I’m not ready to retire, and I just don’t feel whatever my age says I am,” Barker told 3DownNation. “I’ve stayed real close with the personnel (even when not working for a CFL team) as a hobby, I just love following it and players and where they’re coming from and what they’re doing.”

Barker’s most notable CFL stints came with the Calgary Stampeders in the 2000s and Toronto Argonauts during the 2010s, serving as the head coach and general manager of both organizations. When he was fired as Toronto’s general manager following the 2016 season, however, the demand for his services dwindled.

The 69-year-old served as a football operations consultant with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2019 and a senior advisor for the Argonauts in 2022. Things went well both seasons — the Tiger-Cats went 15-3 with Barker aboard, while Toronto went on a surprise Grey Cup run — though he didn’t love consultant work, saying it’s like being “an intern with grey hair.” He missed being a more integral part of the staff.

Barker has consistently worked as a panellist for TSN while between CFL jobs, but that opportunity disappeared shortly before the 2025 season began. There was a shake-up at the network that resulted in multiple changes to the programming, including new graphics, music, special guest panellists, and the removal of some longtime analysts.

“(TSN producers) Chris Edwards and Arden (Tosun) came in, and they didn’t think I was what the station needed,” said Barker. “It was a difficult year for me, but that’s that business, and I didn’t know that business. I’m glad I’m back in a business that I understand. (In football), know if you’re losing games, you are gonna get canned — you need to make sure you find ways to win games. In the media, you don’t know.”

The native of Pasadena, Calif., enjoyed his time with TSN, though he has always enjoyed working in football more than television.

“What I’m doing now, for me, is way more fun. Television was great; I worked with fantastic people. It’s one of those things that’s so different. When you’re doing TV, I always looked at it as it’s about entertainment, and the key is to keep people interested and watching, give them things that they can’t get from anybody. I thought I brought a little different perspective in terms of having been an assistant coach, a head coach, a general manager, and I’ve done all those things, and so my perspective on different things on why teams do this or do that, I thought I could bring something special to the broadcast,” said Barker.

“Media was great, it was outstanding — great people, everything was fantastic. I wasn’t really excited with how the whole thing came down in the end, but it’s their business, and it’s the way that that happens, and I know now that that’s the way it is there.”

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Barker’s teams have had success on the field — he’s won five Grey Cups and one Coach of the Year award — but he’s also made an impact off the field. He gave many longtime CFL people their first coaching or personnel jobs, including Orlondo Steinauer, Mike O’Shea, and Ted Goveia, though he’s also helped people make it to the NFL.

Four young professionals who worked under Barker in Toronto have gone on to take jobs down south and stuck. Vince Magri is a pro scout for the Buffalo Bills, Chris Rossetti is the director of pro scouting for the New York Giants, Curtis Rukavina is the co-director of pro scouting with the Bills, and Matt Yustin is a scouting intern for the New York Jets.

“What I’ve gotten the most joy out of is watching young Canadian guys grow in this business. There are four of them that came to work for us here in Toronto and are now in the NFL,” said Barker. “I’m proud of that, and that’s something I’ve always felt, that we need to have those opportunities for youngsters to grow. It’s a very difficult business to break into.”

“I love taking the young guys and growing them. I’m gonna do the same thing here.”

Barker has two first-time CFL scouts tabbed to join the staff for 2026, though he declined to identify them for now. He indicated they’ll travel with him to many of the collegiate all-star games down in the United States over the coming months, where he plans to help them get a leg up on the business.

“It’s great to be able to have these young guys and be able to teach them how you scout a game, scout a practice because you’ve got so many players you’re trying to track,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to that — taking these youngsters and growing them into top-notch people that 10 years from now are going to be the GMs in the CFL, I would hope.”

As for Toronto’s roster, Barker clearly wants to improve the offensive line. The Argonauts allowed a league-worst 56 sacks in 2025 and averaged 3.9 yards per rush — almost a full yard less than every other team. It doesn’t appear he liked the team’s decision to trade away Dejon Allen last offseason, nor the choice to move Ryan Hunter from guard to tackle.

“Anybody who watched the team play saw major struggles along the offensive line,” said Barker. “They had a ton of injury issues, which I think was a problem for them. I think you build the team from the inside out, and you better be good on the offensive line, and you better be good on the defensive line.”

Barker has made his year-round home in Toronto since 2010, making the Argonauts a perfect fit for this return to a full-time personnel job in the CFL. His excitement for the role is palpable, and with some heavy lifting ahead of him — the team went 5-13 last season and now has a rookie head coach — Barker couldn’t be more delighted to get going.

“I‘m older now, and I was worried (I wouldn’t get another job). I didn’t know what was going to happen, but for me, everything worked out exactly as it should,” he said. “If I can do this for the rest of my living days, I’ll be the happiest man on the planet.”