Creehan Staying?

Found this on twitter. Hope it’s not true.

Kirk Penton ?@PentonKirk The more people from Hamilton I talk to this week, the more it sounds like Casey Creehan will be staying in Steeltown. #Bombers

That would surprise me. It does nothing for my confidence as a fan, going into 2013. I agree there were personnel continuity and injury issues on defence in 2012, but a good DC would have worked around that. Creehan is not a good DC.

I don’t have a problem if Creehan returns next year. He was a first-time coordinator and struggled. No different than the guy who was here before him who is now getting rave reviews as a head coach. Hopefully he learned from his mistakes this year and comes back a better coordinator next year. If not, then get rid of him.

I am sure the fans don't want the Tiger Cat defence to become a lab experiment for an unproven unmotivating rookie defensive co-ordinator. Good teams seek experinced coaches who can make adjustments on the fly and who motivate their players. A good defensive coach is able to mix up the coverage and keep the opposing team guessing. Creehan brought nothing to the table. If Creehan is back, I will take the year off and forget about my season tickets in Guelph. Just how credible is the the original message???

You won't see any major news out of the CFL that might take some light off the GC, he won't be released until after that.. if he is going to be

HE STAYS and I can tell you new stadium or not this season ticket holder is gone I don't know about you panzies but this guy couldn't coach high school Defence :thdn: this coach cost us 2012

There is absolutely NO CHANCE that Creehan will be back next season ... zero, zip, zilch.

You don’t want a rookie DC – which Creehan won’t be next year, seeing as he has a year experience – but you want Creehan gone. That’s fine and his dismissal could be justified after the terrible year, but which experienced DC could the Ti-Cats bring in? The popular response to this question is Greg Marshal, but he was here for two years and I there were a lot of complaints about him.

And I’m not saying Creehaan should return, but since the popularly held sentiment is that a rookie DC is not wanted, I want to see some names of experienced DCs that could take his place. If none exist, why make a change?

I wouldn't put much into this either way. Kirk Penton is not what I'd classify as an insider or someone with a great track record of accuracy in his predictions, prognostications, or simple rumours.

The rumour didn't say he'd stay on as DC.

I don't know how anyone could actually be surprised if the Ticats keep Creehan. The Ticats will do the dumbest most enraging things. Period.

Expect the offseason to be even worse than this past regular season.

I don't entirely disagree with blogskee on this one, but its clear to me from reactions on this thread that if the
TC management doesn't fire or trade Creehan, they stand to lose a significant segment of their fan base.

Obviously changes need to be made to the d coaching staff.

I would keep Creehan as DC (and fire all of the other d coaches) but bring in someone (and I apologize I have no suggestions who that might be) to be a d assistant (linebackers, db’s or d’ine coach) who has a ton of coaching experience but might be ready for the DC position. Then if Creehan does not show marked improvement in the first half of 2013 over 2012 you would have his replacement already on staff.

Arash Madani, while not my favorite, is a fairly reliable CFL source, said that you can bank of Creehan to be going back to Winnipeg. Expects DC changes in both Hamilton & Montreal. Means Reinbold would be yet another veteran name to add to the list of candidates.

Mikefrmthhammer wrote:

"I would keep Creehan as DC (and fire all of the other d coaches) but bring in someone (and I apologize I have no suggestions who that might be) to be a d assistant (linebackers, db's or d'ine coach) who has a ton of coaching experience but might be ready for the DC position. Then if Creehan does not show marked improvement in the first half of 2013 over 2012 you would have his replacement already on staff."

I like your plan, Mike, IF the team plans on keeping Creehan, they should definitely have a plan B ready to go.

Blogskee, even with Creehan being a rookie, there seemed to be little or no improvement in his defense's performance through the season. I'm not so convinced that this experience is going to make him any better for next year.

Bringing in Reinebold, I suspect would NOT be an improvement for Hamilton, should the Als cut him loose.

Yes, like some others, I don't have an alternate name to offer. Shoot me now!!!!

I don't know how to assess Creehan's performance and whether it warrants his re-signing or not.

How much of the D's woes were attributable to injuries/personnel/line-up instability or Cortez' influence and vetoing of decisions (if in fact it even occurred as was rumoured) or Creehan's decisions themselves?

It will be interesting to see if the "braintrust" does make these assessments diligently and thoroughly and makes the right decision in the end.

Fair comment, Kicker.

From what I've read earlier, Cortez and company are doing statistical and film analysis of players and COACHING. And with all the criticism that fans and media have directed towards this team's defensive performance, I'm sure it will be on the agenda.

rocky: They don’t have to fire Creehan if (as reported by another poster here) his contract was up after the season.
However…I agree with everything you have said.
if this team re-signs Creehan as DC it will indictate to me that the Tiger-Cats organization shows no interest whatsover in improving this team.
If they can’t find someone who has better potential than Casey Creehan, there is no hope for the future.

I don’t have an issue with a rookie DC. The issue I have with Creehan is that I didn’t see any improvement over the 18 games. There was 1 game where the defense looked good (blowout against Edmonton) for the whole game. There were other spots in games where they looked okay but when you give up 43 points (okay take off a pick 6 and a couple other offensive mistakes but you are still around 30 points) to a 2nd and 3rd string Argo team, it’s time to go.

The Cats do have a lot of money tied up in the defense. R. Williams, Johnson, Knowlton, Peach, B. Smith. I think the talent is there for this unit to be good but I didn’t see any improvements throughout the season and saw no half time adjustments. Toronto’s defense steadily improved throughout the season with a lot of plug and play guys. I couldn’t name you most of their defense. The get pressure which disrupts everyting, as you saw tonite vs Calgary.

This team needs a new direction on defense. I’ll take a rookie co-ordinator but need to see an upgrade very early in the season. I would go veteran DC. We need a calming presence who has seen more than what Creehan has seen.

Exactly. How we started in the 1st game of the season is how finished the last game on defense. The same problems plagued us all season. No QB containment or pass rush. Ineffective at stopping the run and poor pass coverage. Not only would an experienced DC have better schemes but would also know how to assess talent better.