Dan Hawkins's first head-coaching job in the Canadian Football League lasted five games.
Montreal Alouettes general manager Jim Popp fired his February hire after Hawkins guided the team to a 2-3 start this season and will assume the position himself.
"Jim is the person most responsible for the success we have had over all these years," Alouettes owner Bob Wetenhall said in a statement.
"I feel confident that he is the best person to coach our team at this time and I am very appreciative of him being willing to make this additional contribution to our franchise. He has the respect of our players as well as mine."
In the 2001 season, Popp took over from Rod Rust and replaced Don Matthews during the 2006 campaign. He stayed in the job to coach Montreal to an 8-10 record in 2007.
Hawkins, who took over after Marc Trestman left to coach the National Football League's Chicago Bears in January, spent the previous two seasons as a college football analyst for ESPN but served as the head coach at Boise State and Colorado.
Hawkins sported a lowly 19-39 win-loss mark at Colorado but was an impressive 53-11 at Boise State and entered 2013 with an overall record of 112-61-1.
Streak over
Montreal halted a three-game losing skid a week ago with a 32-27 victory over Edmonton on the strength of six Sean Whyte field goals and Brandon Whitaker's 162 rushing yards to move into second place in the East Division.
There had been speculation that the Alouettes may fire Hawkins or offensive co-ordinator Mike Miller if they lost, but the Alouettes responded with with their best offensive performance of the season.
Quarterback Anthony Calvillo is on pace to record 3,726 passing yards, which would mark his lowest total since 2007, one year before Trestman arrived. He also has a QB rating of 79.5 through five games this season, his lowest since his first campaign in Montreal in 1998.
He wasn't aware of Hawkins's hiring until Wetenhall called him two days before the team made it public.
"We now have to buy into the philosophy of Dan Hawkins and that's going to be something I'm going to do this off-season," Calvillo told reporters in February. "I've trusted Mr. Wetenhall and Jim Popp every time they brought in a new head coach and now it's our turn as players to buy into what Dan is going to bring to the table and try not to compare too much of what your last coach did."
Trestman compiled a 59-31-0 regular-season record over five years, won two Grey Cups and was named CFL coach of the year in 2009.
Popp raised eyebrows at that time as Trestman came to Montreal with no previous CFL coaching experience and had never been a head coach.
Hawkins took over a club that finished atop the East at 11-7 in 2012. But the Alouettes fell 27-20 to the eventual Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts in the division final.
With files from The Canadian Press
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