Bombers Board has Balls

Author: Scott Taylor

February 8, 2010

Scott Taylor's E-Take is sponsored by Biotech Laser, who utilize a low intensity laser that stimulates the natural healing of tissue.  www.biotech-laser.com

The local corporate media didn’t want Joe Mack to be named the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ new general manager.  The two newspapers and the radio rightsholder were all pushing and pulling for (a) Brendan Taman and then (b) Jim Barker.

The local corporate media didn’t want Paul LaPolice to be named the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ new head coach.  In fact, they didn’t even want to believe it had happened after the deal was done.  They almost desperately wanted their old pal Greg Marshall to get the job.  You can bet most of them weren’t happy when Marshall became a CFL head-coaching bridesmaid for the 10th time.

The local corporate media has long owned the Blue Bombers.  In a city where the sports departments of the two daily newspapers seldom write about anything other than the Blue Bombers (at best, the Moose are relegated to Page 3 of the sports section; amateur sport is on Page 5, when it’s there at all; and the local media doesn’t even travel with the Goldeyes anymore, let alone actually “cover” them) they obviously feel they have a level of entitlement, one that allows them to select who the Bombers hire and who they fire.

And for years, the board of the Bombers has caved in.  In fact, ever since former team president Lynn Bishop went out on a limb in 1997 and hired the wild surprise, Jeff Reinebold, over the high-scoring Bombers offensive-co-ordinator Mike Kelly, the board has been as careful and as conservative as possible and has quite often directed the people in charge to hire the folks the local media wants and release those who have fallen out of the media’s favor.

LaPolice was one of the releasees.  Like Khari Jones, Kevin Glenn and Mike Kelly, Winnipeg’s corporate media did everything possible, from simple daily criticism to outright personal attacks, in order to get those people banned from Winnipeg.  In each case, they were successful.

But for the past month, we might have seen a change in how business is done at the Winnipeg Football Club.  A much stronger board that includes real football people such as Joe Poplawski and Paul Robson and young, sharp businessmen like Jeff Thompson, have been making some sound, although perhaps unpopular decisions.

First they hired Mack, a former Bomber personnel guy as the GM.  He’s sharp, committed and knows the lay of the land.  He’s a lot like former head coach Mike Kelly in many ways and he has the passion necessary to make this work.  Although the chattering classes wanted Taman and later, Barker, although a couple of the commentators backed off when they decided (Were told? I doubt it) Mack was hired because he was going to hire Greg Marshall as head coach.

Of course, they were wrong.  Despite making a pretty strong case for Marshall’s hiring, the local corporate media types were disappointed last week when Mack and the board decided that LaPolice was the best choice.

This is the same guy who was run out of town after the Bombers lost the 2003 Western semi-final 37-21 to Saskatchewan.  The media didn’t want to blame Dave Ritchie, so they ripped LaPolice and forced the club to send its offensive co-ordinator packing.

Imagine the media’s surprise when he showed up in Winnipeg late last week for the news conference announcing him as the team’s new head coach.

According to two Bomber board members (both of whom will remain anonymous here), the team went through a “strong hiring process and found, “absolutely the best candidate for the job.”

For the longest time I would have laughed at that statement.  This time, however, I believe it to be true.  The Bomber board has made some solid moves since the firing of Kelly as head coach and the resignation of Lyle Bauer as president and CEO.

Mack was an inspired choice.  LaPolice was grilled and vetted and turned out to the best person available to coach this team.  And I’m not going to argue.  One board member told me Kelly wasn’t ready to be a head coach and I’m not sure LaPolice is any more ready than Kelly was, but he’s a rock-solid offensive coach and he deserves a shot at a head job. Why not in Winnipeg?

Meanwhile, there are changes throughout the organization.  Ken Moll replaced John Murphy as director of player personnel.  Shirley Preteau has left the club as director of sales and a new sales and marketing plan has already been put into practice.  The Bombers are moving forward rapidly.

Most importantly, the club has stopped listening to the media and started doing things like a professional football team.

At this stage of the Bombers rebuilding, all signs point in the right direction.

« Back