Fate of Tiger-Cat Head Coach still
up in the air under new GM regime
December 11, 2007
Ken Peters The Hamilton Spectator
The wait continues for Charlie Taaffe.
He was expected to attend his third
meeting with O'Billovich yesterday.
O'Billovich, who was reportedly
in a series of day-long meetings
and unavailable for comment yesterday,
said last week
that a decision on Taaffe's future ...
could come as soon as tomorrow.
does anyone else think that the decision has been made and that the only thing holding up an announcement is the drafting of the severance papers for charlie? not far behind is the drafting of a contract for mr. dave ritchie...one would think.
i don't think that charlie is obie's type of guy because obie did stress team discipline and as everyone who passed through IWS gates this season saw first hand, the team was terrible when it came to team discipline and taking foolish, selfish penalties.
it's too bad cause charlie is a good football man but i think he is better suited for a team where he will inherit talent.
city legend
Dave Richies teams have always and i mean always gotten plenty of penaltys . So if discipline is the reason he is saying Taffe is being let go then its a coverup for the real reason . It will be because he wants his own man in here . I cant blame him for that but i have to wonder why GMs seem to have such paranoia about remaining coaches that are here when they take over . ' Taffe is a winner , hes done it in the past and he`ll do it again if given another season here !!!!
Sorry folks, if I was Charlie I'd tell Hamilton to go to, well you get the picture. A year ago the same people that were on this site calling for Charlie to be the next Head Coach are now calling for his head. Guess that's the way the game is played in the big leagues.
The longer this takes can only mean Obie is looking elsewhere, and if that falls thru then Taffe becomes the backup plan. Unfortunately he's under contract and can't do much about new employment until Obie decides.
I will go on the limb now, & make my predictions. I am guessing that Taffe is as good as gone.
Reasons:
2) If you remember a play, when Printers 'overrode' Taffe's decision to go on 3rd down, when Taffe wanted a punt. They went for it, & got the 1st down. If Obie saw the reel, how much confidence do you think he has, knowing the QB can make better decisions than the coach? We also know (Taffe said so himself) - that only he calls the plays; not the QB. I doubt Obie is happy about that decision, knowing how he likes QBs to know the plays (all 3) - & likely call some themselves.that is typical of a lot of good quarterbacks in football and not necessarily indicative of poor coaching.
I too think Taafe is probably gone but not because Obie thinks Printers has more authority.
I read an article today which suggests that the Ticats are deliberately waiting on announcing Taafe's future in Hamilton because they want to make it difficult for Montreal to talk to him. Which begs the question: if Hamilton thinks Taafe would be a successful coach in Montreal, why are they potentially going to fire him? Just because he and Obie "don't get along?" That doesn't make sense, does it?
I agree Habman
I said Charlie would be our head Coach Last year
I am not calling for his now
He needs at least 1 more season in Hamilton.
What did He have to work with last year
Not much.
I say he stays..
I REALLY hope you guys are wrong about Taffe being history. While I agree (to a point) that we needed a better football man at GM, I really think we need to maintain some continuity at coach, at least head coach.
If Charlie is gone, chances are that it will take another couple of weeks anyway to bring a new guy on board…I say this because the usual suspects are pretty much involved in other searches. If it does take that time, we lose more time recruiting new coordinators (which I think we all agree that we DESPERATELY needed) and the momentum gets lost.
Taffe has shown he can coach good players and I feel like Obie has the chops to identify good players without having to go through so many bad ones. The fact that he places value on Americans and doesn’t seem to have the “they’re a dime a dozen” mentality tells me that he will bring a sense of urgency to the talent side, with a better idea of quality. Give Taffe players, he will win, assuming he brings in good coordinators, which should be on the table when he and Obie talk.
I'm not going to shed any tears if Charlie leaves, he never showed any signs of being anything special or showed that he understands the Canadian game.. He reminded me a lot of all those coaches the American teams used to bring in.
I remember when The Don was still coaching and that he was not only good but he was also very lucky, he seemed to inherit teams that already had a lot of talent with a good organization ie Mont and Ed makes a coach look very good. Now when Charlie showed up in Hamilton the team was in shambles even the Management was a mess and Charlie was to fix it in one year, dream on boys and girls. :roll:
All you folks who think the decision has been made,
can you tell me why Charlie was told to be there
if he wasn't one of the people Obie was meeting with?
The article said 'O'bie was reportedly
in a series of day-long meetings.'
click here
Fate of Tiger-Cat Head Coach still
up in the air under new GM regime
December 11, 2007
Ken Peters The Hamilton Spectator
Does anybody care to speculate
as to who Obie was meeting with?
I will go first.
One could be Dave Ritchie.
Not for the Head Coaching job though
with Charlie sitting in the office.
Maybe for Associate Head Coach.
Charlie and Dave could be
getting a feel for each other
or Charlie could be interviewing
Dave for the D.C. position.
Let the speculation begin...
I just hope the drama doesn't stretch out too much longer. There's a point at which personnel decisions need to be made and acted upon, or professionalism is compromised. I'd rather see Charlie stay, but either way I hope a decision is announced in the next day or so.
I agree with another view in this thread, that the business of a GM needing to hire his "own" coach is overdone. Many, many coaches hired by a GM are subsequently fired by that same GM. And just because a coach worked for a previous GM shouldn't mean that the new GM cannot work with him. If the personalities or approaches aren't compatible, or if there's a power struggle, then fine, make a change. But if these things aren't present, then getting rid of a coach simply to have one the GM himself hired is not indicative of a GM with a flexible mind. In Toronto, the Raptors' coach Sam Mitchell, was hired by the previous GM, but the new one, Brian Colangelo, was shrewd enough to keep him on, realizing they were on the same page and that Mitchell's approach was a good one for the team. The results have been positive. I hope Obie is similarly open-minded, whatever his decision.
Good post, stevehvh.
but
in my opinion any General Manger who doesn't
take as much time as is absolutely necessary
to decide who they hire as the Head Coach
isn't doing his due diligence on the matter.
The G.M. must be sure in his own mind that
he is the right man to utilize the talents
of the players he will be providing for him
in a way that will bring success on the field.
or he might be kissing away his own job
Good point Ron, I agree with you.
I think there's room for both points. Obie needs to do it right and take the time required. At the same time I hope he will show the courtesy to Charlie to make a decision about him soon and not leave him "in limbo". The first thing is to decide if he wants Charlie or not. If so, he can say so pretty soon. If not, he ought to cut him loose soon, he doesn't need to wait until he's lined up someone else. Letting Charlie out sooner would give him a chance to find another job, which I think is the proper thing to do. Keeping him hanging on while knowing he doesn't want him here next year, just to make life difficult for Montreal or another team (others have speculated to that effect here) would be a crummy way to operate in my opinion.
If he does let Charlie go, yes he needs to take the time needed to find the next guy, but he also needs to get moving on it so we don't find all the good coaching prospects are taken by the time we're ready to move.
with colangelo he wasnt allowed to bring in any of his own guys for the first 18 months i believe. If he could, Mitchell would have been sent packing. By the time the 18 months was up Mitchell had the Raps in the playoffs so it was a lot easier for Colangelo to keep him. Taaffe didn't take us to the playoffs.
It may not be fair to keep Taaffe waiting just to eventually fire him but its business, and if it means that the Alouettes don't get him it's worth it.
Rest assured that Obie already has in mind EXACTLY who he would approach to become head coach.
My guess? Charlie is done. It will be a short list of possible replacements, headed by Dave Ritchie and Jacques Chapdelaine. The holdup may be re the Montreal coaching hunt and whether Chapdelaine will be named there first. I would think that Ritchie would be coming here as head coach at a minimum and that Chapdelaine would be the first choice of Ritchie (and by extension Obie) as the new OC. There would be also the possibility of an associate head coach title for Chapdelaine as part of a new setup, with Ritchie stepping down eventually in favour of Jacques in an ideal transition.
I also think that the coordinator and position coach roster will be filled out PDQ -- in other words, light years faster -- than the last go round of Taaffe's. The recent spate of meetings for Obie might have something to do with that process.
Be clear: if Charlie is retained, he will pick his coordinators. BUT. <<< (done for effect LOL)...Obie will have winnowed the list of candidates down in advance, I expect. I don't think that the on-the-job-training fetish that has haunted the Ticat sidelines for the last several years will be tolerated any more. The field of candidates will be CFL-ready. Charlie will have to live with that limitation or he'll be gone.
Oski Wee Wee,
I posted about this in my blog.
I am Charlie Supporter
What Tools was he given last year to win with.
That is perfectly true, Tom, but Charlie was Marcel's hire. Unfortunately, the dynamic of "being fair" to incumbents doesn't necessarily come to bear on a 3-15 post mortem with a new honcho aboard...
Familiarity does not breed contempt with new GMs and their hires. That's how it works.
IF Charlie stays, he will be in the coaching staff hiring loop. However, Obie's going to have his fingerprints all over the scope of the field. That may prove beneficial or not. Regardless, it won't be Charlie going on autopilot with a rook GM letting him have complete sway. Bet on that.
Oski Wee Wee,