Wow, ronfromtigertown, I was going to start the exact same thread with quotes form the same article.
I would like to add this part though:
[i] When Rob Katz was parachuted from the business bunker into Ivor Wynne, he began to unravel the tangled mess, by searching for a long-term GM. He made the right decision in Desjardins, and Desjardins has been tearing things apart and reassembling them in the proper order.
And the proper order was to hire the head coach who can instill the proper discipline in the team: a determined, committed focus without being counter-productively uptight. Taaffe made his first big mark in the game at The Citadel which, in case you didn't know, is a military college. In Dixie. Say no more.[/i]
Good job Rob Katz and props to Steve Milton for the astute recognition.
What a laugh…right from the start Bob said that Rob’s position was Interm GM and that he was going to search for a GM who would than find a coach. Then you have ignorant ‘ticat fan’ (and I use that losely) jumping all over him. Well as you can see he did his job and did it well.
pickup2
Just wanted to thank Rob Katz for assembling this heap of Ticats. Must be nice to spendBob's money assembling this group
and this is what I wrote in the same thread:
Do remember Katz was the interm GM whos job it was to best put together this team but to find a replacement for himself. He was never the GM that was going to be here for a while. And to me it looks like he has found a strong Gm in Marcel.
We don't know whom Taaffe has in mind for any of his staff positions, but perhaps a guy like Matt Dunigan would be a nice fit as offensive co-ordinator. He learned a ton in Calgary -- like, don't try to do three jobs -- is young, hot-tailed, and deeply absorbed in the 21st century CFL, but still needs guidance from a veteran head coach.
I'd love to see Matt on the sidelines. Anybody else agree?
Well, so far so good. Buts let's not engage in revisionist history. If things had gone well with the Katz, Marshall, Pao Pao unit it's very liklely Rob would still be the GM. As far as I can recall it was only after things fell apart that we started reading quotes that Rob was an interim guy. Anyway, doesn't really matter. We're starting fresh. It will be interesting to see how many years it takes to put together a competitive program. Anything is possible in the CFL, but we all have to remember that the other guys are also trying to improve.
The back slapping and a** kissing towards Katz by Steve Milton and some posters here is increadable.So, for once Katz does something right......well maybe that is cause for celebration.After all the wrong coaching moves, bad signings (think Brock Ralph) and lack of direction since Bob Young took over he's bound to get something right. If Mr. Katz ran my buisness like he has ran this organization we both would be unemployed by now. But in fairness to Mr. Katz he should have never been put in postion to run a football team,just like Greg Marshall should have never been hired to coach it. One bad decision after another around this team and it all started at the top.
Bob's the Puppet Master here, hiring of Desjardins and Bob's meeting with Chucky down in the states for "final approval" is proof that he's still calling the shots. Desjardins is a rookie (yes anopther rookie) on a very short leash right now.
Katz is a golf tournament organizer and marketer that has aspired to other roles in sports administration.
I'm really hoping that the script for "educating bob" is complete and part of history. Then again, the demise of argos $uck is far from over. I even heard Leaf fans chanting "ottawa $ucks" last night. Although not with the same sense of history and rilvalry.
Katz did the right thing by doing nothing? Seems like a backhanded compliment at best. Katz didn't give up the GM position until it was far too late IMO. The result may work out longterm but it certainly doesn't look like a well thought out plan but rather a good deal of blind luck form this chair
“Whether he becomes the full-time general manager, I think we just want to wait and see … to make sure we’ve made the right decisions everywhere,” Darnley said.
Seems like the Nova Scotia kid nailed it and you didn’t bother reading the article you linked to
I think Ron was referring to the comment about the timing of the “interim” tag rather than the wait-and-see approach the Ticats took.
As far as I recall the words “Katz” and “interim GM” were usually found together in the same articles right from day one, as that CBC piece from August 10, 2005 exemplifies.
“The winless Tiger-Cats (0-6) replaced Lancaster with Rob Katz, who was introduced Wednesday as the Canadian Football League team’s chief operating officer of business and football operations as well as interim GM.”
Personally, I think Katz did a pretty good job getting the players the coaching staff wanted. The problem was with the coaching staff, which is where Rob failed and why the Cats should probably have replaced their interim GM with a permanent football guy.
“Well, so far so good. Buts let’s not engage in revisionist history. If things had gone well with the Katz, Marshall, Pao Pao unit it’s very liklely Rob would still be the GM. As far as I can recall it was only after things fell apart that we started reading quotes that Rob was an interim guy.”
Nowhere in the article quoted did they mention interim and Nova is bang on with the observation that Katz would still be GM if things had gone well according to the quote I gave from that very article. Others may have been saying interim but not in that story. Had he been referring to the timming of the label interim he should have posted a link that actually mentions the term. Again I say it appears he didn’t even read the article.