[b]"One day after general manager Joe Mack was fired and CEO Garth Buchko was shown the door, the franchise has added to its football staff.
Sportsnet.ca has learned the Blue Bombers are expected to announce the hiring of former Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach Marcel Bellefeuille as a coaching “consultant.?
Bellefeuille’s hiring is not good news for offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, who was said to be quite close with Mack. Sources in Winnipeg told Sportsnet there has been friction between Crowton and head coach Tim Burke. With the former GM out of the picture, it’s likely Bellefeuille will be taking over more responsibilities on offence."[/b]
for Marcel,how long now will it be before Crowton and Burke both walk the plank? I guess this now squelchs any rumors of Bellefeuille becoming the CheckerBoards new coach.The Bomber boat has certainly been taking on a lot of water lately,with heads rolling everywhere,from C.E.O's to G.M's to Q.B.'s .What a mess this team has been,a brand new spanking state of the art stadium,and total chaos everywhere else.Hopefully their now moving in the right direction,but this season seems like a total write-off at this point.
Crowton has been an offensive coordinator at some 8 NCAA schools and with the NFL Chicago Bears, even been labelled as a "wizard", you would think that he would be able to generate a viable scheme for the Bombers. He even had LaPolice at one point as his boss, an offensive mind coach himself. He's into his second season and can't get it done (Bombers placing near the bottom in most offensive categories).
Bringing in Bellefeuille to consult should be, at the very least, a wake up call for him.
Ottawa can still ask permission to interview Marcel for a HC position as it would be a promotion from his job with the Bombers.
A consultant really has no power in an organization, he can only offer advice and opinions, the HC and OC will still have the final say.
That being said, there have been rumors of bad blood between the HC and OC on the Bombers.
“Bellefeuille’s hiring is not good news for offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, who was said to be quite close with Mack. Sources in Winnipeg told Sportsnet there has been friction between Crowton and head coach Tim Burke.”
Also Doug Berry just took control of Montreal’s offense and although the original OC retained the title he has been pushed aside by Berry.
I wonder if this is a similar arrangement, we will find out who is wearing the headset, very soon.
Who knows what the understanding is behind the scenes with the Bellefeuille hiring. With Crowton failings in Winnipeg, Marcel may have more clout than we are being led to believe.
Not terribly surprising that Burke and Crowton are not seeing eye to eye since their specialties exist on opposite sides of the line of scrimmage to begin with. Also, Crowton is not a Burke hiring.
My understanding with Montreal`s situation is that Berry is the defacto OC and Miller has been demoted to a Quarterback coach.
Good Post, Congratulations to Marcel Bellefeuille, always liked Marcel and think he will be a huge improvement in Winnipeg and has the potential to take over as head coach if and when Burke is fired, I think it’s only a matter of time now!!
Justin Goltz is okay as a QB but he’s not great by any means and will take some time to get him established and more consistent as a QB, Winnipeg really needs a starting QB or they will be playing the QB revolving door for some time? Buck is done like Dinner, they should just drop him altogether, Maybe Marcel will bring in Porter as a QB in the Peg, at least he’s big, can run and not injury prone like Buck!
This was Miller’s first move Burke just has to smile and say MB is a great addition. Burke;s decision making powers outside of the roster, is now next to nothing.
It appears that Burke did ask for some help on the offensive side of the ball.
"About two weeks ago, Bombers head coach Tim Burke talked openly about the team considering bringing in an outside consultant, saying an extra pair of experienced eyes could help"