Miller had a two year contract so that's another guy on the payroll next season.
Markets have been very good lately, don`t think we have to worry about Mr. Wetenhall. If finances were a problem then they would have been forced to keep Miller.
Nobody likes to bleed money. I wonder what Jim’s answer will be ? I have a feeling Mrs. Popp may not be excited at the idea. Or if he really wants to coach and the owners is interested in a long term contract, would he uproot his family again and move back to Montreal ??? What’s being asked of JIm is no life.
Plenty of people have to make worse sacrifices without getting paid well into the six figures for their job. If Popp or his partner have reservations about him taking on the HC job, he should tell Wetenhall upfront.
Popp has a choice. Step aside from being HC and get back to being the GM. That way he does not have to worry about uprooting the family while still enjoying a comfortable lifestyle.
I don't like the relationship between Wetenhall and Popp. In the past few years, it seems to have turned into a big case of dependency, with Wetenhall asking Popp to do things or assume certain roles only because he knows Popp, not because Popp is necessarily the best person for the job. This is no way to run a business...
Lots of news from Bujold in La Presse, must have had an off the record chat with Popp.
- Popp likely to remain Head Coach and is discussing contract extension with Mr. Wetenhall. Popp would like to include the infamous "escape clause" everyone here loves so much.
-Als were denied permission from another CFL team to interview someone for offensive co-ordinator.
I am curious about this, it would have been a team already eliminated, they wouldn`t have asked Ham. or Sask. Maas? Chapdelaine?
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The other offensive coaches are expected to stay.
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Dinwiddie highly regarded by the organization, and while not expected to get it, might be considered for offensive co-ordinator.
He wants to be HC but also wants an escape clause? This is madness. If he leaves, we're suddenly without a head coach and a GM all at once. To me, the precondition for him becoming HC is a contract extension with NO escape clause. You want to wear all those hats, then commit yourself to Montreal for the next few years.
This is nuts… I’d tell him to go pound sand. Bob get’s way too attached. The man already lives in North Carolina. Now he owns every job in the organization (at least the jobs that pay anything) and he wants an escape clause. So if I understand this right. He takes the HC job and we let all the other teams organized their football ops and then in Feb. He gets LUCKY and someone in the NFL is desperate enough to take him on as a GM. This team finds itself with absolutely no one with any experience to speak of to run this football team ! It might be a toy to our owner but he should be very cautious about the decisions he takes this off season… This team turns into a circus, his toy is going to draw 5000 people and cost him 10 million a year.
With regards to Doug Berry and Mike Miller, Miguel wrote,yesterday:
"La nouvelle-Berry and Miller not coming back- a été confirmé par un membre de l'organisation,hier soir."
Today,he writes:
"En raison d'un embargo de la Ligue canadienne en cette semaine de la Coupe Grey,l'organisation n'a toutefois pas pu commenter la nouvelle."
Two different comments in less than 24 hours.
Most of what he writes today, has been written or anticipated by many of us,on this forum. Many of us wrote that Jim Popp will be back in 2014, that Berry and Miller should not be back,that a new Offensive Coordinator will have to be hired,with or without CFL experience.
With regards to asking permission to speak to a coach from another CFL team, I eliminate Edmonton,Winnipeg,Calgary,BC,Hamilton and Saskatchewan. The only team/coach that comes to mind is Toronto/Jason Maas.
Richard
With regards to Jim Popp negotiating a new agreement, it does make sense,since his current agreement will expire in 2014. Does make sense to ask for an adjustment,if he remains Head Coach + all other of his responsibilities.
I do agree with an escape clause,beyond 2014. He would like to be in the NFL,one day, and I agree that,if opportunity knocks, he should be allowed to listen. Any top Coach and or GM in the CFL must have such a clause. Austin did not have such as clause,after the 2007 Grey Cup but he nevertheless went to the NCAA. Clause or not,it becomes difficult to retain someone who wants to leave.
Richard
But it should be the Santa clause - after Dec. 25 you cannot leave.
Tu es vite d'esprit et imaginatif,idealsheldon. I do agree with the Santa clause. Not after December,25.
Richard
They can’t give him an escape clause if he’s going to be both the HC and the GM… The NFL hiring season is after the Super Bowl, that’s way too late for a CFL team. He knows that so its his way of forcing the owner to hire a coach IMO. He knows Bob is desperate to keep him as a GM so he asks for a clause that no CFL owner can give a guy who holds all these jobs so the only thing Bob can do is hire a HC. This way Jim keeps making money from NC till he gets his NFL job. There is something really unhealthy about the corporate culture on this team. Last year every HC candidate worth his salt pulled himself out, none of the ex players want to have anything to do with working for him. Lapointe, Vercheval, Proux all turned him down. We can’t keep anyone here. Even Burke and Brady chose lateral moves elsewhere. At some point it becomes obvious. NO ?
I completely agree that the corporate culture here is unhealthy. Incestuous, even, in a figurative sense. To me, it looks like Wetenhall has come to depend on Popp so much that he'll let Popp do anything even if it runs counter to the organization's best interests. It is in no one's best interest to make Popp GM AND HC AND give him an escape clause, given the state of the franchise right now. If Popp wants an escape clause, he should find us a head coach first. If he wants to be head coach so badly, then no escape clause. This team is not merely a launchpad for Jim Popp's NFL career. We went through this garbage with Trestman and I am absolutely sick of it.
Hfx is right. We've been hemorrhaging coaches the past few years and a bunch of qualified candidates pulled themselves out of the search a year ago. Red flags to me. The amount of turnover we've had recently is abnormal. At some point, we need to know that the GM is here for the long haul, not looking to escape to the NFL season after season. No other team in the league has these problems annually. I respect the hell out of Jim for what he's done for this franchise, but no man is bigger than the team and it can be argued that the Als have done as much for him as the other way around. If not for the Als, where would he be? Would he even have a sniff at the NFL jobs he's chasing? Would he even be in football? He's been well-compensated to run this team, and the past few years, from NC instead of Montreal. You don't see Hufnagel, Taman, or Barker looking for NFL opportunities every offseason. Our situation has turned into a circus and it has to stop.
At some point, Wetenhall has to decide whether the Als are a vanity project or a real football team that is interested in winning. It's already bad enough that we're the coaching farm team for rest of the league, only to have other teams refuse to give us permission to talk to their coaches in return (hello, Toronto, thanks for being a$$holes, after you took Milanovich, Brady, and Himebauch from us). To have our GM chasing NFL jobs year after year is putting the franchise at serious risk. Montreal isn't a slavishly devoted football market. Put a losing product on the field for a few seasons and Wetenhall may be putting the team up for sale in a few years...
Jim: Yes Bob. I know the team's regressed for 3 straight years and your losing money but I still want to be the highest paid guy in the league, Live in North Carolina oh and I want to be able to walk if something better comes a long.
If I was Bob. I"d give Jim a big FU...
I know how you feel, d&p, but until and unless the CFL becomes a "big ticket" item in Canada, escape clauses, official or unofficial, will continue to exist in this league. No American player or coach makes the CFL his final destination. Rather, they end up here "faute de mieux". The same is true for other football leagues.
The real question now is whether Wettenhall is still committed to a having a great franchise in Montreal. Jim Popp has been able to find great talent for us over the years and was singularly instrumental in helping build the franchise the Als have become since their return to the CFL. If, however, he has his sights set on the NFL (in whatever capacity), he'll go.
Lest we forget, Montreal has had a rather checkered history where football is concerned. This off-season may see some dramatic moves. So, I hope for the sake of maintaining a good football team in Montreal that we have good coaches and players showing up for TC 2014.
Mr. Wetenhall is 78 and at some point in the next 2-3 years will have to turn over the team to his sons.
That becomes the unknown. Will they be the same benevolent owner as their dad, will they be bean counters, will they meddle?
In the meantime I am not concerned with the Popp off season soap operas. As we have stated, a NFL gig is more pipedream than reality. And I like the guy - his work ethic as a scout at heart, and the fact he is a straight shooter open with the media.
Disagree, jkm. Look around the league. Who else but Popp is doing this ridiculous NFL song and dance EVERY offseason? Players usually get one shot at the NFL, maaaaybe two, and that’s a small percentage of the number of players in the league. Most players and coaches do make the CFL their final destination once they realize their chances of catching on in the No Fun League are slim to none. You get older, you get much less inclined to throw away the bird in hand for one in the bush.
Escape clauses for promotions within the CFL are one thing. Escape clauses for NFL destinations are another when you’re doing it year after year AND you’re now gunning to be both GM and HC, so if you do get that NFL job, your CFL team is doubly screwed. Enough is enough. If Popp wants that escape clause, he can’t be the head coach as well as the GM.
Along with idealsheldon,I am not concerned with Jim Popp off season soap operas. I also like Jim Popp and appreciate all he has done for the Als; his NFL gig is more pipe dream than realistic.
Mr.Wetenhall is one of the best Owners in the CFL and, contrary to some, I definitely don't think that the corporate structure is unhealthy; Jim Popp won't force Mr.Wetenhall to hire another Head Coach. Jim Popp wants to be the Head Coach and Mr. Wetenhall wants Jim to be the Head Coach. Confirmation next week.
Richard