Bad call.
:lol: Well, enjoy missing the playoffs.
FFS if you’re going to talk, get your facts straight. Jim Popp DID NOT HIRE TOM HIGGINS. That is well-documented. The owner stepped in and hired Higgins without Popp being involved in the process.
I echo the other posters in that the timing of the news is surprising. I get disciplineandpunish’s reasoning behind why they would want to make the move, still it’s pretty rare to see the trigger pulled the day after a win. Wetenhall evidently had made the call prior to the game and was going forward with it regardless of the outcome. Evidently he didn’t think the team was where it should be.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the decision to dump him, Higgins always looked dazed and confused on the sideline to me, just surprised it’s now that they do it. But is Jim Popp the man for the job at this time? You’re looking to a guy who’s had a middling record as HC to try turn around an underperforming team. And he also happens to be the guy behind the decision to give Sam that contract with the roster guarantees which apparently caused dissension in the locker room. Is all forgiven now that Sam’s gone? Should be interesting to see how the team responds to the move.
It's not uncommon for a team to fire a coach after a win. Mainly because there is usually a gap of time between the decision to fire the coach and the act of doing so. Happened the same way with Hawkins the last time around.
Popp will be an improvement just by virtue of not being Higgins. That I believe, sincerely. Higgins had to go because he added no value to the team. None. He wasn't involved in offense, wasn't involved in defense. He was so bad at coordinating ST last year that we had to hire Kavis Reed to do that job. He couldn't act as a proper check and balance on his assistants, and his game management left a LOT to be desired. He also couldn't stop his team from taking penalties by the boatload. Lastly, he had no contacts left in the league, and so couldn't act as any kind of recruiter for the organization (contrast with Chris Jones in Edmonton, who is HC, DC, and an unofficial assistant GM to Ed Hervey!). In this situation, you could put an inanimate carbon rod in Higgins's spot and likely get the same result, which put us at a deficit against other teams.
So that's why I think Popp will be an improvement.
[i]HOOOOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No more Higgins :rockin: [/i]
Popp always appoints himself coach, odd deal....Higgins always reminded me of Mr Kruger from Seinfeld with a cap on.
Have you read all the posts in this thread???
Wetenhall hired and fired Higgins.
It is likely that Wetenhall asked Popp to coach until the Als found someone else.
It may be just my memory, but I can’t think of another CFL team that’s done this. (Assuming we’re talking mid-season firings.)
Personally, I was absolutely thrilled with Higgins’ performance as special teams coordinator in last year’s Eastern Final.
So Popp the GM once again becomes Popp the Head coach :roll: Maybe Popp should just appoint himself as the Alouettes head coach for life. :cowboy: It seems like we've seen this movie before again,and again and again and.......................
http://f3nation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/rinse-repeat.jpg
He was so bad in Calgary , I'm not sure how he would ever get hired again :roll: It took Huf 2 or 3 years to clean up all the discipline issues that ran rampant with Higgins at the helm. Huf winning in 09 was a remarkable job .
People are acting like Popp is on some power trip. Don't let the facts get in the way of your ad hominem attack. :roll:
Popp did not hire Higgins, nor did he fire Higgins. It was the owner in both cases!
Popp is going to clean up the mess that his owner created when he hired the HC himself and failed to do due diligence (conducting a proper job search). This is not a power trip. You think Jim wants to go back into the trenches with a large, young family in the US? For no extra pay? Not a chance. Jim is doing this to clean up Wetenhall's mess at a cost savings -- no need to hire a new coach midseason, especially since we are still paying Higgins and Dan Hawkins to sit at home until the end of 2015.
These past two times, Popp has stepped in because the team was a disaster. The previous two, he did it due to the coach having health issues and being forced to leave (Matthews in 2006, Rust in 2001).
There is no power trip.
So Popp has named Calvillo as the QB coach, I don't know if that is a promotion from being the receivers coach. Seems to make sense that when you have a veteran exQB and a few rookie QBs that you would want him as the QB coach.
Next: Popp for Pope!!!
Zero surprise here. Higgins was hired last minute to fill a void. He’s a marginal coach with all the personality of a bowl of pudding. He hid at CFL HQ as Director of Officiating for reasons still unknown but even they got tired of him.
Maybe Jim Popp did not fire Tom Higgins, but he definitely agreed with Mr. Wetenhall to go ahead. He probably repeated his "salad' to Mr.Wetenhall-an old senile man,to some, at least until they agree with them- we have a very good team, we should be 6-2 we should more points, blah.blah. as he said to the Media. Tom Higgins was not the main reason why the Als are 3-5; Jim Popp with his lousy recruitment of Int. players is one reason,if not the main one.
Richard
Terrell Sutton, Brandon Rutley, Mitchell White, Dominique Ellis, Kyler Elsworth, Winston Venable, Corvey Irvin, Gabriel Knapton, Rakeem Cato ... all terrible players? 
Hey, if you think Jim Popp is at fault, why isn't your hero, Wetenhall, at fault for not firing Jim? Who signs Popp's paychecks? If you think Jim Popp should take the fall here, why aren't you criticizing the owner who tried to play chicken with him last season on contract negotiations, then folded and gave Popp the extension he wanted?
I commend Wetenhall for firing Higgins. However, he is still an old man, in his '80s, and to me he has lost the plot of how to run a successful team. It happens. Nobody can be on top forever. Do you want an 80-year-old man making critical decisions concerning this franchise on a daily basis? At his age, many people are starting to lose short-term memory and developing all kinds of health issues. Your brain starts to deteriorate. You just aren't as sharp as you used to be. It will happen to every one of us. And I think Wetenhall's age has played a large role in the unhealthy situation that's sprung up with Jim Popp in the past few years. He's reliant on Popp, clearly, which means that he can't act as an effective check on Popp or muster up the courage to fire him. Don't you think that is a problem?
Brandon Rutley. Hamilton reject. Corvey Irvin. Calgary reject. Fred Stamps. Edmonton reject. Nik Lewis. Calgary reject. Jonathan Hefny. Winnipeg and Calgary reject. Jonathan Crompton. Edmonton reject.
Oh yes, he brought Chad Johnson and Michael Sam.
Hamilton better watch out, since Jim Popp and his elite team are coming to Hamilton next Thursday.
Richard
LOL. Nobody is saying the team is elite but you. Strawman argument again. But many players are other teams' rejects. I didn't talk about Stamps or Hefney. I talked about players who have produced for us but who are relatively new to the league. And again, Rakeem Cato? Elsworth? Venable?
Nik Lewis has been productive for us FWIW.
You didn't address my point about Wetenhall, but I expected that. Take out all your hatred on Jim Popp, sure. Go for it. :roll: Yes, he's made mistakes, but he didn't hire himself. He didn't give himself a contract extension...
Jim Popp said that his team is the best in the league,on paper; unfortunately, games are won or loss on the field.
Regarding Mr. Wetenhall, I don't know if he has more brains than you do, but I am definitely positive that he has "un plus grand savour-vivre que toi".
I don't hate Jim Popp; he has been great for the Als, but not as much in the past 3 to 4 years. His ambition was to go to the NFL. Jim Popp is not a great Head Coach. Easy for him to say that every time he replaced a Head Coach, he brought the team to the playoffs; what he forgets to say 2 or 3 other teams had lousy records.
Enough said,at least from me. Hoping that Jim brings the Als to the playoffs.
Richard