Mike Sherman - the new Montreal Alouettes' Head Coach

I am not keen of seeing the Als of hiring a candidate out of left field and with no CFL experience.

But well, welcome to Montreal Mike Sherman!

Kavis is explaining his Matrix, lights seem to be out in the hotel meeting room and reporters falling asleep everywhere.

Looking at the musical chair of post-Trestman Head Coaches, I think we need to be a bit wary and skeptical. So I looked into his Wikipedia profile. Sherman was GB Packers HC / GM for 5 years. Then he kind of regressed, to the point that his last position was a high schoolfootball coach. What happened?

He couldn’t fold Brett Favre in his luggage.

Sherman donne une bonne première impression en entrevue, mais ce n'est pas le plus important pour être un entraîneur-chef de football. Oui il semble avoir une fiche intéressante dans la NFL, mais ça commence à dater. De plus, sans expérience aux règlements canadiens ça peut être très risqué (n'est pas Marc Trestman qui veut). Comme il n'a pas de réseau au Canada, ça laisse deux options pour la suite comme disait Mathieu Proulx: soit Sherman va choisir des entraîneurs qui ont peu au aucune expérience du système canadien, soit Kavis Reed va lui imposer des entraîneurs qu'il ne connaît pas.

Ça aurait pu être mieux (Claybrooks, Condell) comme ça aurait pu être pire (Bellefeuille, Crowton). Cependant le problème central reste le même, à savoir l'ingérence dans la chaîne de commandement et les choix douteux du DG. Outre la capacité organisationnelle de Sherman, la capacité de Reed a amener de bons joueurs déterminera la saison 2018.

Traditional methods married with analytics lead to a matrix in determining what lead to what the #AlsMTL wanted in a head coach. Holistically, Mike Sherman fit the bill in what they were looking for - Kavis Reed.

:o



I thought Sherman made a very good first impression. He also seemed to indicate he would be hiring an offensive co-ordinator with CFL experience.

His NFL pedigree will also go over well with NFL obsessed Montreal media and football fans.

And once he starts to get a feel for the CFL, he will certainly have a say in choosing personnel. He was a GM in Green Bay and definitely wont be Kavis puppet.

Like all things only time will tell, but I am certainly more optimistic than I was a few days ago.

And good on Kavis for keeping his name under wraps, considering Sherman visited Montreal 10 days ago.

Far more positive than some of the other names we were hearing (Bellefeuille, Crowton). What is key now is who will be the OC and the DC.

For the latter, Mark Nelson has been demoted in Ottawa, I'd sure look at him for DC. And then Condell for OC.

Yes…those two names would be my choices as well if I was Sherman.
Also, if I’m Sherman I’d look at ways to bring in Kerry Joseph if I could in some role. He has always impressed me as potential coach material.

Well I'm glad we agree on Nelson and Condell; but sorry we don't agree on Joseph. Seems to me his success as a player was more due to his physical abilities as opposed to anything cerebral in terms of football acumen, so I am not sold on his coaching abilities; but I could be wrong, sure wouldn't be the first time.

The reason Trestman and Jones were successful was that they had very strong football operations around them. That is the pitfall for this very nice man. Not sure they will be able to provide him the quick answers and pieces he will need. I wish him well. He seems like a great guy. Obviously surrounding himself with guys like Condell, Chiu, Nelson would go a long way in helping him out.

Yeah…I spent some time with an ex teammate of Joseph.

He was very high on this guy…as he said Joseph went from Free Safety in the NFL to QB in CFL. You need football IQ to do that. Very humble, loyal, hardworking guy and well respected apparently. He’s coaching in the NCAA now somewhere so he’s making the transition.

He’s just starting his coaching career, he doesn’t even have the level of experience Calvillo had. I don’t see how Kerry Joseph fits in the picture, other than he’s a “buddy” of Kavis Reed. Wrong guy! Sherman would be wise to fill his office with his guys and keep Reed’s snitches out of his office.

I agree with you,Sheldon. Mike Sherman definitely made a good impression on me. Much more has to be done, but it's a good beginning/a good base.

The Wetenhalls definitely committed large amounts of dollars in order to bring Mike Sherman to Montreal. He will most probably be paid in the $500,000 range. Thanks to the Wetenhalls and thanks to Kavis Reed.

The off-season now looks better.

Richard

Why would it cost 500k ??? The man was reduced to coaching a mid-level High School football team for $5600.00 a year?

Mathieu Proulx semble optimiste quant à la nomination de Sherman, qu'il considère comme une belle prise (ce qui est en partie légitime considérant qu'on aurait pu avoir Bellefeuille ou Crowton...ou Reed). Cependant il croit comme tout le monde que ce choix est celui de Wetenhall et non de Reed. Si les sourires sont uniquement pour la caméra on risque de se retrouver comme Chapdelaine avec Reed ou Higgins avec Popp. De plus le problème principal reste l'incapacité de Reed à faire les bonnes transactions pour l'équipe. C'est ce point qu'il faut travailler pour que l'équipe puisse progresser.

Good to have you back MadJack.

I agree with you here on this post.

My fear with having Sherman as HC is the lack of CFL experience. A completely different game than the NFL.
Hopefully he surrounds himself with coaches that know the game and can help him get up to speed.

Time will tell.

Richard - Have to love your optimism.

He sounds willing to delegate responsibility and manage the “big picture” philosophy; so with the right hires issues surrounding his CFL inexperience could be minimized. He is also a veteran coach who was a QB/offensive “guy” and certainly didn’t seem put off when he referenced the CFL being almost 75% passing this past season … so no 3 yards and a cloud of dust mentality.

The proof will be in the pudding as they ( or in the Wins and Losses).
Easy to stand there and say the right things at this point.

There is allot of work to be done for this organization, for Reed and Sherman.

The next few weeks will be the next hurdle in who they will choose for OC/DC and rest of coaching staff.