expect the unexpected?

Saskatchewan Roughriders
21

Of course I cheer for ET! And I actually find him somewhat amusing at times.
And he isn’t a bad guy. But he has a nasty, kinda sleasy aspect about him.
I don’t want this to escalate–I really don’t. So I’ll say this, you can respond, but I’ll shut up.

Promise!

ET has 3 rings, sure. But he has never remained in one place as a GM more than 3-4 years, And he snubbed us in 1999.
In Montreal, he wasn’t the GM, so I am sure it wasn’t his fault they were no good and went bankrupt. In Vancouver, yes, they won a cup, but as the third place team. No home play-off game.
He did take over a weak franchise and may have somewhat turned it around. And again, I am sure it was not his fault they went bankrupt.
In Toronto, he was GM for one year–he took over a stacked team, defending champs, QBed by Flutie, and they won a cup. I give him very little credit for that one. 05 could have got that team to the Cup. And once again, it likely was not his fault the team went bankrupt.
Next, he snubbed us. He apparently was our first choice (which I suspect factored into the decision in 2006)We were very nearly bankrupt, the team was a disgrace, and so perhaps twice burned, three times shy–and he says he had a new girlfriend, whom he is now married to.
I suppose I can’t blame him…
So onto Ottawa. They never had a home play-off game. They never even made the play-offs. And they also went bankrupt.
Of course if you ask ET, he definately doesn’t think that was his fault.
With the Riders, he had, in my mind, at least the second most talented team in the league. So how much credit does he deserve if with that talent we found a way to win?
And he hasn’t bankrupted us (yet–unless Mike is right about us being 400,000 over the cap).
So what I am saying is, his track record is not all that stellar, despite 3 rings.

Was I bitter at the way they treated Roy?
You bet I was. I think that was a no class move and Hopson won’t ever be forgiven for that. But I repeat–it was not the act of firing him–it was the midseason boot to the ass!!
But frankly, I think us winning the cup this year vindicates Roy (who by the way has 3 Grey Cup rings of his own) and if we keep winning, I believe it is because Roy did what ET refused to do in 1999–take over a floundering franchise and stabalise it, make it profitable and returned us to respectability.
Now all I ask from ET is maintain that.
I don’t think I expect too much.

So it isn’t that I hate ET. It is that I think his career record is questionable–he must over come that…winning a Grey Cup was a nice step in the right direction.

And I also hope Richie gets his shot.
But my gut says its the yankee no one has heard of…

22

Will say more when not half slepping. Nice though. Makes disagreements ok. We can learn from each other. Maybe see things different after seeing what we all think.

23

St. Louis Rams quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier is the guy who I think is the frontrunner. No inside info--just my gut says so.
I can never remember his name....
We might know later today....

24

If it is today that would be good. Ready to see what Riders free agents are going to say. If its not Hall do we lose Eddie Davis?

25

Yes. Another reason to choose Richie. The players love him.

26

That may be a factor, but I doubt it is very high up on the list of “reasons to hire a coach”.
Nor should it be.
When they fired Danny and Roy there were rumblings and rumours that quite a few players would not return.
In the end, maybe, just maybe, it had a minor impact on one or two guys like Omar Morgan or Davin Bush.
But you replace them and move on.
No matter who the new coach is, the one thing you can be certain of, is that players come and go.

So I doubt ET is polling the players or the fans to decide this.
If everything else is equal–there are two candidates that ET thinks are indistinguishable in every other way–then and only then might those considerations come into play.

But you don’t sign a new coach over fear of losing one free agent. Or even of losing any of your assistant coaches.

27

I didnt say it was a huge reason... But it would help us retain our team.

28

And I agreed it was a reason…just pretty close to the bottom in importance.
Maybe the guy from Winnipeg should get the job because maybe Matt Sheridan, Goodspeed and Tom Canada love him and might follow him here…I think we could afford to let Eddie Davis go…
No matter who the new coach is, some players will love him, some won’t. Ability to recruit new players is a more important factor than the ability to retain players.

Anyway, no news today.
Jim Hopson called into the Drew Remenda show, tonight and they tried to worm a name out of him, but no luck.
It did sound like it is just a question of dotting some i’s and crossing some t’s though.

29

I heard on the radio, and I hope to goodness it was a joke because I turned it off right away, that Jim Hopson may be hired as head coach. I will never go to another Rider game if that is the case. I can't stand the guy doing the stuff in behind the scenes let alone our head coach.

30

trust me. Not only was it a joke, it wasn’t even a good joke.
The guy couldn’t coach high school football, though lord knows he tried…

31

Thank goodness. I can't stand having to see the guys mug the amount of times that it is shown during the year as is, let alone the amount it would be shown if he was a head coach. I heard he was a terrible high school coach.

32

i don't think that richie hall is going to be the guy-i'll tell you why, with the help of a newspaper column i read. if ET hires richie hall, they've got to find and hire someone to be the new DC. that's too disruptive and goes against what ET has said all along-that he wants continuity. if he hires miller, who's the OC right now, they can just promote from within for the new OC- either lapolice or gibson,no harm there. if he hires dave ritchie, ET will insist that he keep the entire coaching staff as it is,therefore promoting-you guessed it-continuity.
that being said it's either dave or ken miller.

city legend

33

News talk 650 is suggesting Ken Miller has been made the offer and ET will neither admit or deny it. A press confress is being held tomorrow morning to announce it.

[url=http://www.newstalk650.com/incoming/20080205/its-apparently-miller-time-riderville]http://www.newstalk650.com/incoming/200 ... riderville[/url]
34

Oh I don't know how about
Don Matthews....Montreal, Toronto, Baltimore, BC Lions, and that doesn't count as an assitant in Edmonton.

or how about

O'Billovich as a Head Coach, Director of Player Personnel and player.

Austin as Head Coach and Player

35

I'm willing to bet Richie will leave the Riders, think about it he wants a step up as head coach has been denide what 3 times now by the Riders already has two cups with the Riders. He will move on to another club.

36

He may well move on after next season, but it’s not only the Riders that he’s interviewed with for a head coaching position and been turned down.

Perhaps he just does poorly in interviews or people don’t see him as having the make up of a head coach. I’m sure there’s something out there that we the fans don’t know about, otherwise what separates us from those GMs?

37

Great point Dust. When it happens with more than one team, one begins to think it's not just the GM's that are missing sometihng.

38

I'm sure Richie will learn from the process and he will probably be a head coach someday, but until that day comes I'm more than happy to have him coaching our defense.