Should The Redblacks Fire Rick Campbell?

I wouldn’t mind seeing Lapo get another shot as an OC there, but as a HC I wouldn’t want him in that department again, he micromanages his teams too much. I saw Bellefeuille mentioned in another thread, he certainly could fit the bill. If you want to go another route with a current OC or DC, if Noel Thorpe in Montreal or George Cortez in SSK were to get another shot at a HC position, I would consider them in the running. Yeah, Cortez didn’t do so well in Hamilton when he got his shot, but his mistake there was hiring Creehan as DC. Give him a better DC like Kavis Reed or something like that, and he might do better. I also agree that mr Desjardins needs to stay out of the way and let the coach do his job.

Desjardins did a good job IMO

Pruneau, Gavins, Finch, Macdonell, Kanneh, are all talented kids, he just needs to continue to build his roster.

I could see some changes in the coaching staff. You can’t have Burris running his own show and be successful on offense.

Okay Hfx I’ll give him props for the small group of talented kids as you say…and I totally agree with your last statement about Burris,actually it makes me laugh at the irony of it…You can’t have Burris running his own show and be successful on offense. LMFAO !!! Really ? and just who do you think was the genius who signed Burris in the first place ? As for some of the talent that is actually on the RB roster(and there isn’t a lot to speak of),well as the saying goes…Even a blind cat finds a meal now and then. :slight_smile: Desjardins ? he reminds me of a one legged man at a butt kicking contest :lol: if you know what I mean. :stuck_out_tongue:

http://www.shwadogg.com/product_images/highres/One-legged_arse_kicking.jpg

If I was Ottawa. I'd clear out Gibson and Burris and trade for Tanner Marsh, sign Lefevour in Free Agency if he's healing well. That would be an exciting young pair of Quarterbacks that would be exciting to watch while they build a team around them.

Then go into free agency and use the Burris money to sign some guys like Ben Heenan, Sam Giguere, guys who can improve the Canadian Starters and keep scouting down south.

Insane to judge anyone in Ottawa after just one season.
there is a football guy or two in that ownership group. Going through interviews to put a GM / HC in place there had be a plan that was presented to ownership as to a time table

You can’t put single digits in half your games. That offense needs to be scrapped. But the GM and the HC did a great job.

about one legged head kicking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pL6uUYdWbU

From afar, Campbell and Desjardins should both be fired for a horrible job.
The best pretty much recruiter next to Jim Popp is Eric Tillman, bring him in back again in Ottawa as the GM.
Then maybe someone like Paul Lapolice should be the coach.
Retire Hank and have the new HC bring him in as a QB coach.

I get the joke now FYB; Einstein - Cartan theory :wink:

Defensively, they were pretty good. The problem is there offense couldn't stay on the field and the passing game sucked. They can build this team with the defense. The secondary is all rookies and same with the line backing core. If they can find another defensive end opposite Justin Capicciotti, then the defensive line gets that much better. So if they find receivers, olineman and a quarterback, they will be fine.

Stupid Wikipedia…

There is no one person who can be singled out for the stagnation of the Redblacks offense, the guys who assembled the team are just as much at fault as the coaches, but that doesn’t vindicate Campbell in any way.

Personally I would not have expected a playoff trip out of these guys in their inaugural season, but I have no doubt Campbell is not getting as much out of his guys as he should. 5 wins would not have been unattainable for the team to get, but they didn’t get them because Campbell mismanaged a lot of games badly and did little to help inspire his players.

Burris at 400k a year (according to Kirk Penton), age 39 and declining performance needs to go. Lefevour? Maybe, but the ACL tear is big question mark. Tate and Nichols will likely want out of their present situations and either could be had for half of what Burris is making. One or two receivers who aren't happy or want more money than they're presently getting elsewhere (though I admit I don't know who might be available) would be a better way to spend that 400k.

I say Yes. Scott Milanovich is frustrated in Toronto, I would fire Campbell and bring in Milanovich.

I think, if you want to replace the head coach, Marcel Bellefeuille is your guy.

The man took over the Ti-Cats in 2008 and went from post-season elimination to two Semi-Final home games and an East Final appearance.

He may or may not be the guy who can get you to the cup, but he's certainly the guy who has a proven track record of turning a poorly performing team into a competitor.

Although a great deal of the credit for that also goes to CFL Manager veteran Bob "Obie" O'Billovich.

And Fire Dejardink :thup:

Maybe Dave Ritchie will come out of retirement to be a GM for Ottawa

In my opinion, it's too early in their history to start firing coaches for poor performance. I can't imagine how hard it must be to build a team from scratch, from managers to coaches to players to trainers to waterboys. Winning a bunch of games in the first year would be virtually impossible.

First year sets a baseline. Next year determines whether or not they can improve on that record. Two wins this year, I would say if they can't win 5 next year, dump him. I think if they had won 7 games this year, it would have set the expectations unrealistically high for next year.

I think signing Burris may have been a mistake. You're trying to build a team for the future, and your future doesn't rest on the shoulders of a 39-year-old quarterback. Burris gave them the best chance to win today, but didn't help them win tomorrow. His role should have been more to help develop the younger guys, and to step in and save the day when necessary. Whether Elliott or Demarco is your guy, or someone else entirely, we really don't know because no one got enough playing time under Hank. It's time for the old man to step aside and let the kids play.

But even the QB is not the biggest problem on offence. As was already mentioned in this thread, RedBlack receivers consistently dropped passes all season long. Cut the dropped passes in half and you probably double your wins. They'll probably need to look to free agency to get some receivers they can rely on.

Defensively they seemed to improve as the year went on. Continue with that improvement and they should be a factor next season.

Firing a coach means starting over from scratch. Teams that fire their coach every time they miss the playoffs never get an opportunity to improve.

Just my opinion.

Oddly despite improved drafting rules, didn't Ottawa Redblacks (2-16) won fewer games than Ottawa Renegades (4-14) in first year? If Ottawa or any team can find better personnel, they should replace them.

Exactly. I’ve gotten as frustrated as anyone, but you have to keep the above perspective.

The “problem” is that things looked like good in the off-season. Most people were pleased with the players acquired in the expansion draft and a lot of the guys acquired in free agency looked like they had a lot of potential. Then the team started talking about not wearing the “expansion” label and people bought in.

But in reality, every week they went into the game with about 20 first-year CFL guys in the line-up. Most played rather well; if anything it’s the veterans that let the club down. Focus goes to the QB, naturally, but Marcus Henry, Matt Carter, Eric Fraser and a few others too often failed to step up when given the opportunity.

Meanwhile, a secondary with four 1st-year CFL’ers held up pretty well most of the year. Two rookie linebackers, too. The team played five running backs and for the most part they all did well when called upon.

So the expectation wasn’t really realistic but there were enough good signs for me to want to see what this group can do going forward. The players seem to play hard for Campbell and I think that’s a good sign. With Paopao and the Renegades, it felt more like they were taking advantage of his good nature.

Besides, my own experience with blowing up and starting from scratch isn’t really good and I don’t think I want to revisit quite this soon.