The Ticats are cleaning house. New GM, HC, OC/DC, assistant coaches... new stadium, new president in 2014. As much as I can't wait to see Mitchell go see we can lock up this revolving door he keeps turning, if we can get the right places in now we can be set up for the long term. A new president is not going to clean the house again after a moderately successful season. Hire the right GM, an experienced and motivated young coach, and the proper coordinators and we may be able to hold the same set up and run an actual football franchise for the next few years to a decade. The Cats are a mess right now. They know firing Bellefuielle was a mistake, Cortez was a step backward, and now they repeat the process with a big "?" on a silhouette of a face of who is in charge of this team. But the opportunity is here to get the right people in NOW to turn this franchise around. We have a terrific owner putting his heart and soul (and wallet) into the organization and a brand new stadium in the works despite all the mess of a disorganized process it was to get it. We will get our wish and get a new president for next year, and EVERYONE ELSE BELOW HIM will be starting fresh. Now is the time to stop making silly mistakes with this team in hopes of building for the short term and start building a LONG TERM CONTENDER.
Didn't we have this golden opportunity last year as well?
Winning cures everything. If we had a defense and won 10-12 games and made it to the east final, none of us would be complaining.
One thing I do like is that it seems the majority of fans don't handle losing all that well, unlike Leaf fans. That is a positive I would say. 
:thup:
How would people feel about the Argos moving to Hamilton, still called the Argos, and the TiCats folding?
Why on earth would we think that the best choice for a GM will be made this time around .....when the same regime since 2003 has fired every HC it hired? Sometimes the wrong guy was hired..and had to be fired...and sometimes in retrospect it looks as if they should not have been fired.
Either way, the talent-spotting abilities of this regime have been disastrous.
I don't know how much influence Bob Young has had in the selections made for HC since Greg Marshall (the 1st) was hired but maybe this time around he should do the GM hiring himself. He didn't get rich in the computer programming business by making poor choices for his executives (Mitchell has at least been effective OFF the field) so I hope he puts his 9-10 years of ownership experience to work and is equally successful in choosing a new GM.
as long as Scott mitchell isn't doing the hiring, they might get it right!!!!!!!
I agree with the sense of frustration. To me the real question isn’t who should we hire for GM and/ or HC. It’s who can we find that would be fool enough to join such a messed up operation. Do badly, they fire you. Do mediocre, they fire you. Do relatively well, they fire you.
The kinds of people who would likely want this kind of gig are:
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those who are near the end of their career and don’t mind if they end up getting an “early retirement” severance package.
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those who are just starting out and can’t get anything better just now, and who figure they have lots of time to do better elsewhere later
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those who will do just about anything if the price is right.
Great post Mr.62cats, Bob is a great owner and we all owe him a lot of gratitude for keeping the franchise afloat.
But the revolving door of Coaches and co-ordinators and the yearly retooling of either the O or D has to stop we need to develop our players and stick with them, the league is littered with xTiger cats most of whom are Allstars or very close.
The Football decisions that are being made aren't very shrewd or smart.
Let's get this franchise back on the rails and turn mediocraty into a constant winning franchise.
Just one mans opinion
As long as Mitchell is involved in this process, I wouldn't bank at all on this being a good series of decisions.
Sad to say, but I fear for this team's future with the lack of wisdom and intellect at their hiring table.
old fan, if the revolt from the fans and people that are ripe to be fans (how you figure those ones out is difficult)- I could care less about what other Hamiltonians think about Scott Mitchell, those being those that if you had the nicest and most gentle man around that loved and hugged everyone and the TiCats were in the GC year in year out with this person at the helm they still wouldn't come to games - is that huge, Scott Mitchell is gonzo from the org fairly soon. I've seen that before in business, not fans, but employees that have clout want someone gone from the top, it happens.
Personally, I don't care really, I watch the Cats play on the field, Mitchell while having a big trap as we all know or perhaps an abrasiveness and demeanor that people generally don't care for, has little effect on me and my feelings towards the team. And I hope it stays that way and believe it will. If fans and others want to get upset with him, that is their right, whatever. I try and not get that personal with any organization or even place I work for.
I don't care really who owns the team for the most part, who is the president etc. I just care the team exists and that whoever does own the team actually cares about the team and the history there. That's a given here that we have an owner who deeply and passionately cares albeit and is still learning about what a pro sports franchise is all about in order to win on the field, which isn't always easy even with an owner fully experienced and has money, we see that in pro sports everywhere. The Leafs worth a billion the most of any team in pro hockey and the results? Well, nothing more need be said.
Hi Earl:
My comments have nothing to do with feelings by the fans of this team, or any of the residents for that matter.
My comment has to do with a lack of faith that Mitchell has the knowledge and/or skills to make a solid decision on the future GM of the Tiger Cats.
Ralph Sazio, could also be abrupt and abrasive. Yet, was a very capable manager and coach.
I'm not looking for a warm and fuzzy feeling, just someone who is capable of making intelligent decisions. Mitchell is not it. His arrogance betrays his success with this team.
He reminds me of J. P. Ricciardi, former GM of the Blue Jays, a lot of posturing, but the results left a LOT to be desired.
Earl wrote:
"I don't care really who owns the team for the most part, who is the president etc. I just care the team exists and that whoever does own the team actually cares about the team and the history there. That's a given here that we have an owner who deeply and passionately cares albeit and is still learning about what a pro sports franchise is all about in order to win on the field, which isn't always easy even with an owner fully experienced and has money, we see that in pro sports everywhere. The Leafs worth a billion the most of any team in pro hockey and the results? Well, nothing more need be said."
I kind of feeling sorry for Bob Young. He has put a considerable amount of money on the line with this franchise. Yes, he does care about getting this team to the promised land, not just once, but many times. However, he is not surrounded by the best advise.
As an owner, the buck stops at his door. Yet, he is supposed to have those around him to give him the wisdom and experienced knowledge to handle his team in the best manner possible. And that hasn't happened.
The Leafs are a bad example. They sell out game in and game out, yet they haven't hosted a playoff game in 10 years and won a stanley cup in...40 YEARS. Their lack of success doesn't seem to matter to their bottom line.
The Hamilton Tiger cats are not anywhere near the money machine that is the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The standard argument is that it's not good to saddle a new GM with an existing HC so you hire the GM first and he has input. Mitchell is leaving in 2014. Why shouldn't it be the same case with GM/President? Why should the new President in 2014 be saddled with a GM who was chosen by Mitchell? The same thing could happen all over again next year.
Sorry old fan, the Leafs are a perfect example IMHO but we'll leave that one unless you want to pursue it further. Different no question, yes, but their fans are with them thick and thin in droves with a crap outcome for the team. The Leafs are based in Toronto, the Cats in Hamilton, say what you want but the Leafs don't give a crap about anything outside of their city Toronto.
Bob feels he needs a tough guy like Mitchell in that position. Ok, I beg to differ that a tough-guy approach is needed in this business but that is the kind of individual Bob seems to want there and that is his right. I don't care. If Mitchell can't get the results Bob wants, then he can fire him and hire someone else.
But, Earl, the Leafs sell out ALL their games, the Tiger cats only occasionally. The Leafs have a LONG, LONG waiting list of people HOPING for the opportunity to purchase season tickets. Such is not the case with Bob's team.
Once again, I could care less if Mitchell plays good cop or bad cop, or how tough his character is. As a fan, all I care about is whether he can make good operational decisions for this team. He's failed miserably so far, and there's little hope that it will improve any time soon.
Yes, Bob Young has the right to hire and fire who he chooses, that's a given. However, I've been a fan of this team and its great and storied history long before he came along.
It saddens me greatly to see this franchise dragged through the mud as it has been for the last 10 years.
And I DO CARE!!!