Flee back to the States in the off season ... even if it is at a reduced rate.
Clearly this is not his "Dream Job".
I don't follow the Jays too closely and don't know the particulars but yeah, that seemed a bit odd to me.
Won't happen.
I'd like to see him stay. Right now he's not one of my favourite people but, to be fair, we should give him a second season and a chance to prove he has something to offer. Maybe, just maybe, he might show us that he really knows how to run a professional football team and drastically improve their performance. If, after a second season with the same results, he should really cosider leaving town. With the TiCats playing in a new stadium in 2014, I wouldn't want to see them under the hand of an incapable coach.
Why would you assume another team wants him.
An Argo-Cat fan
I hope so!
I think he brings value as a Coordinator.
"Marcel? This is Obie. Hey look, we were just kidding...."
Oh I wish. I remember how he was roasted last year, and how we need a change, after the man took us to the Eastern Final for the first time in a decade.
Okay hands up those of you who would perfer a 9-9 team that makes it to the Eastern Final over what we have now...
I think the judgements of George Cortez are a bit premature. I see some potential there.
So he's not warm and fuzzy. No big deal. I think he has a good offensive mind and has been using this year to weed out the players he doesn't want and try out his schemes.
We could still end the season with wins over Winnipeg and Toronto. That would give us some optimism.
I believe his imprint will be more apparent next season....minus Creehan I hope. October 2013 will be the time for the critical judgements here on the forum.
He's still getting his feet wet as a HC and likely knows what player moves he wants to make in the future.
Also ...his stock will probably increase next year with Scott Mitchell and Obie leaving. He may even have a say in who the next GM will be.
So I see absolutely no reason at all why Cortez would decide to jump ship at this stage.
I don't think he'll jump ship either, but in view of the fact that he has done so poorly here, an NFL team
may buy out the remaining three years of his CFL contract and use him as an offensive co ordinator.
Personally, I hope this happens, but I doubt it.
To the point about George C having a say in who the next GM will be after Obie retires: will there be one appointed?
We don't have a GM now. Cortez is currently Director of Football Operations as well as Head Coach. Obie was GM, but when Cortez was hired, he was "promoted" to VP of Football Operations. I'm not sure we need two, plus a President. Do other CFL teams have a football management structure like we have? I can foresee Cortez retaining both his titles, and no replacement for Obie. As far as I can tell, he was more or less handed the keys to the team when he was hired. Based on what I'm not sure. We'll see in due course.
He can't be the OC, head coach and GM thats way to much.
He's director of football operations and head coach and OC right now. Ron Lancaster was head coach and director of football operations too. Other teams have a single person as head coach and GM. I agree Cortez should not have these roles plus be his own OC. In fact he probably shouldn't have been his own OC at all this season either, but he couldn't find one in time I understand, so he decided to do it himself. Hopefully next season he'll have a new one.
Scott Mitchell said he will not be with the Ticats
by the time THE 2014 SEASON rolls around
and Obie will be in a consulant role by 2014.
He didn't say he would be leaving after this season.
George will be here next year, too. Regarding his multiple roles:
George Cortez's strength is as a CFL offensive co-ordinator.
He hired Doug Sams to teach HIS offensive system to the players.
During games he is involved in the play calling like
Hufnagel is, and many other CFL coaches have done.
He doesn't work with the offensive unit on the field at practices.
He may involve himself in the offensive meetings, I don't know.
He stands back and oversees the whole practice.
George is higher up in the football decision-making hierarchy
than Obie is but that does not consume much of his time.
Obie and his football operations team look after finding us players.
This year was George's first in making Head Coaching decisions
and he made a lot of mistakes. He needs to brush up on what
to do in certain situations. Such as kicking a field goal on 2nd down
in a critical end of game situation, throwing the yellow flag, and
using a rookie like Chevron Walker in less critical situations and
a veteran like Avon in critical situations. i.e with our backs
to the goal line or to set up a field goal in the middle of the field.
[ Veterans know what to do in critical situation a lot better.
As a matter of fact, because of their experience
they recognize what to do better almost every time
They have they have internalized the decision needed
and they apply it the second they see something coming.
That is why I don't like to have too many rookies out there
and don't even talk to me about rookie quarterbacks. ]
P.S
Casey Creehan will take the blame for our Defence but
George Cortez determined which players to use.
Casey was quoted as saying that. Players were moving
in and out of the Defence as often a a toilet seat
goes up and down at a New Year's Eve house party.
SOME POTENTIAL? The Ti-Cats pursued Cortez and committed to a four year contract at a reported $400,000+ per year and in return they get SOME POTENTIAL?
The fact is the team took a huge gamble on someone who reportedly has never been a head football coach at ANY level and apparently has been passed over for HC postions in the past. Yes he has achieved some success as a coordinator but there are numerous examples of successful coordinators who have failed miserably as head coaches in this league and you certainly don't "hand the keys" to someone like Cortez based on what we've seen so far. I don't think you risk that type of commitment on someone who is unproven in the position and is basically learning the job on your dollar. You make that type of commitment to a proven, experienced, championship-winning head coach IMO.
That statement assumes that Cortez is happy and comfortable with the situation here and is content to serve out the contract. We don't necessarily know if that's the case.
I agree with this assessment. I didn't know he had been passed over for HC jobs before, but I agree it was a very large gamble to give so much authority over the team to a guy who has a sum total of zero HC experience at any level, even high school... a gamble that certainly has not paid off so far. Perhaps it will pay off in future, I sure hope so. But I don't know what he had to offer that made him so attractive that they gave him very extensive authority in his very first HC assignment. If the team was dazzled by the fact that he had NFL experience as a position coach, that seems pretty naive to me.
I don't have any reason to doubt he is happy in Hamilton. He seems to have bargained hard and got what he wanted. Maybe the results achieved to date are giving him pause at this point, but to me it's more the club that should be having concerns and second thoughts.
8) Cortez isn't going anywhere, soon.
He has a lot more security and power here than he would have as an assistant coach in the NFL.
I am sure he looks at this job as a real challenge to getting things turned here !! Don't forget he is 61 now, and by the
time his contract runs out, he will be 65, and could possibly be thinking of retirement at that point.
Unless of course, he is offered an ever bigger job with the Cats when that time arrives !!! <!-- s:wink: -->:wink:<!-- s:wink: -->What head coaching jobs was Cortez passed over for? Not ones he may have been linked to, but ones he interviewed for and didn’t get.