An interesting article. It sounds like the team will stick it out with Hall, but Bleamer and Strasser will probably be let go. We could also see some player movement.
There is no quick fix, which is why we should start now. There's no sense in delaying what needs to be done. Sadly, having Hall as HC and DC is turning out to be an incredibly bad move. We're forced to keep a crap HC because if we get rid of him and Bleamer and Strasser, half the coaching staff is gutted.
Ah well. Should be interesting to see what happens Wednesday.
Maciocia is now being exposed as a con man who had people inside and close to the organization fooled but who didn’t fool the fans. Two weeks after firing him, the reality has hit that his dismissal didn’t cure anything short term. The only benefit is that it has totally exposed more of the mistakes he made.
I know I’m splitting hairs, but Jones said those two were the most likely to be let go. Big diff between that and ‘probably’ as that would insinuate the decision has been made.
Thing is I agree with both Jones andyou Chief about Bleamer. I don’t think Strasser’s game plans can even be executed if the O Line doesn’t do their jobs. They’re on roller skates and without them the rest of the O falls apart. So if Bleamer were to get fired during the bye it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
The other thing I’d like to see happen, and I’ve said it before, is to see the hiring of a dedicated DC.
Oh, and I also think that while Jones’ comments about DM sounded harsh, they’re bang on.
Looking at it now, Danny M's firing seemed more to be to placate the fans than for sound football operations principals. Why fire a guy for whom you haven't even begun to look for a replacemement? When the Riders turfed Shivers, they had a deal cut with ET, so at least some evaluation could take place in the "stump year" which at least gives some value to what is otherwise a lost season.
Now, they are just going to list rudderless, when instead a new GM could spend 11 games figuring out who he wants from this group - players and coaches alike, and at least start getting some of his people in place. Now, they're just killing time, and the new GM will inherit a bunch of "fixes" from this group that he may not want anyway.
Instead, you're going to entrust personnel decisons to a lame duck coach and Ed "catch my helmet" Hervey? C'mon.
Ricky L made a dumb decision - not by turfing DM, but by doing so without having a successor ready. And that may cost the Eskimos the 2011 season too.
And thinking about it, this kneejerk decision is a microscosm of the Eskimos whole problem. They lurch from one bad decision to the next, like a drunk in a dark room, hoping eventually to bump into something good. There is no plan, no charted course. Just "this doesn't work, let's try something else". The Eskimos under Campbell never behaved so foolishly.
Your last sentence pretty much answers all of your questions. The Esks went from Norm Kimball (likely the best GM the team has ever had) to Hugh Campbell. But only under the watch of Maciocia did things become “foolish”. And as things weren’t getting better, but rather they were getting worse, he needed to go.
True, It would have been nice to have the luxury of having a replacement ready, but even that course of action is fraught with problems. If word gets out then things get ugly. So while I don’t disagree with the ‘lurching’ behaviour we’ve seen, I think it’s fair to say that this was caused primarily by DM. The timing was predicated by a need to placate the fans - who had been calling for DM’s head for a couple of years. With him gone the rebuilding can start in earnest. And by starting at the top it no longer will be a ‘let’s try something else’ mentality.
Until then it’s not just Hall and Hervey… you can’t ignore the fact that Paul Jones (Asst GM & Dir of Player Personnel) is now more involved (even if he isn’t physically present) along with Dan McKinnon (Manager of Football Operations/Cdn Scouting). So things aren’t quite as rudderless.
Excellent post. A new GM could start putting his stamp on the team right now. But with the vacancy created by Maciocia’s firing, any moves made now might well have to be undone in the offseason when the Esks finally do hire their GM.
Maciocia was a poor GM, but firing him without having a viable replacement in mind wasn’t smart either.
Not sure when. 1965 could be right. I know Cooke’s original came out in 1964.
Redding’s version is to me THE definitive cover of the song. Absolutely breathtaking. His ability to chart an emotional narrative through phrasing and timbre is just unparalleled.
You know what’s funny? While reading this post I was reminded of the Toronto Raptors. BC is doing the same damn crap DM was doing. Let’s sign this guy, and throw this guy in, and see if this combination works. Oh, it didn’t? OK, well, let’s get rid of this guy then, and bring in this guy, and see if that combination works. And like DM, BC has little respect for the draft. He exchanged Toronto’s first round draft pick for Indiana’s second round pick so he could acquire Jermaine O’Neal (a guy I knew wouldn’t work with the Raptors), and he drafted Nathan Jawai with Indian’s pick, a guy who never played anything significant time for the Raptors, and who was ultimately traded.
As also his alter ego The Chief Lord, he’d be pretty good I think for sake of management of staff on the field and definitely for some needed improvements for the entire organisation now sailing at the lowest tide in decades from what I can tell.
As a bonus the fans in attendance likely would be treated also to an annual “Beer Night” and a “Whisky Night” too perhaps.
The jury is still out however on the “Eskie Cabaret” for only fans 18 and over, featuring female members of the the “cheer team,” but we’re still working hard on making that happen too. :cowboy:
I hereby nominate Artie, Grims, and Hit-Em-Hard for the committees for starters but the ultimate calls will be up to The Chief Lord of course.
Thanks Chief; how is this going to work? You are in Ontario and I’m on Vancouver Island. But that don’t matter I guess because we can still communicate and thus pass on the message to the Clarke facility practice field. The facility at Clarke Field is a beauty too. Anyways, back to the topic on changes coming on Wednesday.
Backer pursuant to The Chief Lord’s recommendation I’ve appealed to the Eskimo High Committee as well. An exception will be granted for you to serve provided that you swear-off any and all admiration for that Fireman Ed or whatever that douchebag’s name is. Laughing at him is still permitted of course, but not with him.
I guess now as for the others, perhaps we’ll just spy on them or something.
With the likes of that Artie and others lurking around a lot, make effective use of ciphers, brush passes, invisible ink, and dead drops for all messages of course.
And for sake of back to the topic, I just provided ample video evidence in a separate post to incriminate also Hall and in my more than humble opinion:
Anyways, back to the topic on changes coming on Wednesday.