I believe they are close to being a good offence.. another receiver or two and they will be tough to beat. Barker has the team on the verge of becoming a force again in the East... and who would have thought that at the beginning of this year?
well, the East tends to be predictable,
Montreal on top and then you choose from a hat who gets to be 2nd.
although lots figured Hamilton 2nd and then Winnipeg and Toronto fighting for 3rd.
If the Argo’s make the playoffs, I think it’ll be Barkers to lose. The voting is at the end of the regular season, so it’s irrelevant on who makes the Grey Cup.
Trestman gets my vote. To get a 9-4 record out of a team that loses at least one hour per practice to travel time (due to a lack of a permanent practice facility) is superlative.
Amusingly I was actually going to say Hall. Normally this thing goes to teams that turn around a bad season into a good one, so he probably won't win. But if you look at how Edmonton has transformed in the last three weeks as compared to the rest of the season, it's like a whole new team.
If they can keep playing the way they are now for the rest of the season, Hall should get some consideration. Barker hasn't actually done a lot offense wise, and that has been Toronto's real weakness for years. Huff has the best team in the league talent wise, and Trestman's defense isn't so hot these days.
Is that a joke...? 
Not at all.
Consider:
[ol]- We are at a disadvantage week in and week out due to the loss of practice time. It might not be significant to you, but in a league where players are not allowed to practice more than the allotted time (4.5 hours IIRC), losing one hour every practice because the players are stuck on a bus (and because the president is a cheapskate amateur hack who let the Montreal Impact take away the field we'd been using for 10 years) is a severe challenge.
- We began the season with a brutal three-game road trip out West yet came away with a 2-1 record, winning in two cities where we don't normally win (Edmonton and Vancouver). When was the last time a CFL team went on a three-game road trip?
- Our star center Bryan Chiu unexpectedly retired just prior to training camp, leaving us with no option but to convert Paul Lambert to center and hope for the best. And that 'best' hasn't been particularly good.
- Our existing special teams coordinator, Scott Squires, quit in the offseason, to be replaced by a man (Richard Kent) whose competence was questionable enough that Trestman and Popp had no choice but to get rid of him after training camp had started. Since then, we have been operating without a dedicated special teams coordinator -- Andy Bischoff, the running backs coach, oversees the teams, but he's stretched pretty thin.
- Our best special teams player (Walter Spencer) was the victim of a terrible assault.[/ol]
Despite all these setbacks, Marc Trestman has managed to keep his team on top of the east, with a 9-4 record and a pretty decent chance of advancing to the big game. To accomplish this the year after winning the championship, when almost every championship team experiences a Grey Cup hangover, is pretty impressive in my book. Moreover, looking around the league, I don't see any other head coach who is more deserving than Trestman.
you don't give coach of the year to a coach who's record is not as good as the previous years..
the Riders have had their best start in 33 years at 9-4 and especially when losing 3 top Defensive players that for many teams is huge.
I still think Barker has some work to do before he gets the honours.
if bc makes the playoffs without a QB, then its gotta be wally 
My original post said that if history is any indication, the three finalists will be Barker and the two GC finalists. That's almost always the way it goes -- the coaches of the two best playoff teams and the coach whose team made the biggest year-over-year improvement. With three more wins already, I think Barker is pretty well a lock for the latter. I did not say he would win -- I would expect that only if he got to 9-9 or 10-8 and won a playoff game -- but I will be stunned if he did not make the top three. You seem to be dismissing that possibility. You can make a decent case for Miller but IMO if he does not make the GC, he will not be a nominee.
Coming on here and saying Trestman should win because the Als get one less hour of practice was pretty weak, in my opinion. But these ^^ reasons are valid.
That said, I'd still rank Barker and Huf ahead of Trestman. Huf has his team playing excellent football right now. The Stamps are the best team in the league. The defence is stingy, and the offence can pile it on. I can see the Stamps easily finishing with at least 13 wins.
Edit: BTW, on the subject of retiring players, I'm pretty sure Calgary lost far more than Montreal.
Why, out of curiosity? That’s 25% less practice time than any other team in the league. Football isn’t a reactive game like hockey; if you aren’t on the same page, one player’s mistake can sabotage an entire play.
I’d like to see how the other head coaches would fare if they had one less hour of practice time each practice and their players had to change clothes on a bus.
That said, I'd still rank Barker and Huf ahead of Trestman. Huf has his team playing excellent football right now. The Stamps are the best team in the league. The defence is stingy, and the offence can pile it on. I can see the Stamps easily finishing with at least 13 wins.Edit: BTW, on the subject of retiring players, I’m pretty sure Calgary lost far more than Montreal.
Chiu’s retirement was tough because it was very late. He basically retired at the start of training camp, giving us zero time in which to find a replacement or groom a successor. We were forced to move Lambert to center; that move hasn’t worked particularly well.
But I do agree that the Stamps have had a few issues of their own. I agree that Hufnagel deserves to be in the mix as well. Barker I’m not sold on. For every good thing he’s done, he’s shot himself in the foot with an equally poor decision (like having no QBs with prior CFL experience on the roster). Their offense is dreadful (isn’t he also the OC?) and the defense can’t stop anyone. They got by on smoke and mirrors through the first third of the season but they’re essentially a one-man show (Cory Boyd). I give Barker credit for making them competitive out the gate but I don’t actually think he’s done the best job he could do in that respect.
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He's not the OC.
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The OP asked who the three finalists would be, I believe. If Barker is not one of them for you, who (other than Trestman and Hufnagel) would be?
Then who is? I'm pretty sure that Barker's in charge of the offense.
2. The OP asked who the three finalists would be, I believe. If Barker is not one of them for you, who (other than Trestman and Hufnagel) would be?Trestman, Hufnagel, Miller.
It's been said before and, evidently, it needs to be said again. Voting for Coach of the Year happens at the end of the regular season and before playoffs. What happens in the playoff must, by definition, have absolutely no bearing on CotY voting.
I dunno if that's true.
do you have a link to somewhere in CFL rules or their site that states it?
Negative. . . the Argos' offensive coordinator and QB coach is Jaime Elizondo.
It may have been said before, but that does not make it fact. There is no web link I can find to prove this one way or the other but I am 99.9% sure the award is voted on after the season. It is not presented until Jan-Feb. If anyone has evidence that the vote is conducted before the Grey Cup, please provide it. It is conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and is not part of the voting for the other awards, which is done late in the season.
Out of curiousity, where do they get bussed too? That's so crazy,
its almost hard to believe.
In my opinion I'd rank Trestman ahead of Barker. The guys good.
We have this discussion every year. I'd like some clarification, as well. People always say the playoffs don't matter, but it always seems like the voters are influenced by the playoffs.