CFL Panic Button?

[Belize City Lion]

What do you all think, do CFL clubs tend to push the panic button too quickly and fire coaches without giving them a fair chance to turn their teams into competitive ones?

Here's my thoughts:

Hamilton
Sure they are 2-8, but they are no worse under Taffe than they have been under the last few coaches. Taffe has some serious credentials as a 2 time coach of the year and unless he and Obie have some serious philosophical differences I think he should have been given the rest of the season, and part of next year to try to turn this team around.

Toronto
Not sure if Pinball hit the panic button, or just wanted to avoid the pressure that may have been mounting for him to return to the sidelines. In either case, I think firing your first year head coach (whom you chose) 2 weeks after trading away your 1B quarterback, after losing to the best team in your division, is a bit hasty. Toronto is a pretty safe bet to make the playoffs no matter what, so I think Pinball could have waited until the end of the season to decide if Stubler needed to go. The Don feels like a band-aid solution right now. Does the 69 year old really see himself spending 2 or 3 years working to make the Argos an upper echelon team?

Winnipeg
Doug Berry took the Bombers to the Grey Cup last year, after they had been a laughing stock prior to his arrival. Maybe last year was an fluke and what we are seeing in 2008 is what the Bombers really are? But I there are rumblings about Berry getting the boot in The Peg and I also think that would be premature. His handling of the Roberts situation does raise a red flag for me however.

BC
If it had been anyone other than Wally Bouno, we probably would have seen a coaching change in BC this season. For whatever reason this team greatly underperformed for most of the first half of the season. After back to back impressive efforts (albeit a loss in Montreal) optimism has returned to lotus land, and it seems like people may actually be OK if we have to go through the east to make it to the Grey Cup. David Braley did not push the panic button, and (so far at least) neither have Lions fans nor the local media.

[Rammer]

I would suggest that Taffe was a season to late and Berry is still going. If anything financial considerations seem to factor into the equation more than anything else, postponing some coaches from getting the pink slip earlier. Stubler is about on target, although that hand may have been pushed due to Taffe's firing and the want to sign Matthews. You also have to think that hiring a new coach now, allows them to have the NFL expanded roster window to work with as well, giving them the potential to make some immediate changes for the stretch drive.

[Bosco]

With Taafe, you have to remember that any GM wants "his guy" as coach, and Taaffe was inherited when Obie took over last November.

The other factor that seemed to sink Taafe was the woeful lack of overall talent and depth that Hamilton currently has - and that can't always be blamed on the head coach.

[Big Time]

Taffe never should have started the season. He was as clueless this year as last year. Firing him makes purrfect sense because like you said, they are going to be no worse with him than without him. You might as well promote someone from within on an interim basis and give him the rest of the season to get his feet wet and gain some experience. You can then decide if you want to stick with the interim guy or find someone with more experience.

With Stubler, while you normally would wait until the end of the season to fire a guy, in Stubler's case I saw enough to know that he needed to go immediately. This guy was publicly throwing his assistant coaches under a bus, yelling at them on the sidelines in front of the cameras and did not handle his QB's well at all. The Argos are clearly a team divided and it's up to the coaches to bring them together. That was never going to happen with Stubler as head coach. Pinball obviously had an opportunity to bring in an established guy so he pulled the trigger. Good move IMO.

As for Berry, as much as I enjoy watching Powderkeg Berry on the sidelines, this guy has lost his team completely and is the most deserving of the pink slip. Ironically, he's also the coach most likely to stick around until the end of the season because Winnipeg does not want to eat his salary. The players aren't playing hard for him, his act has grown thin and they are just playing out the stretch at this point. Much like the Argos, I don't think the Bombers are nearly as good as some think they should be, so part of the Bombers record is them coming back to earth.

Finally, with regard to Buono, I never once considered that he would be fired as this team is simply too talented to warrant a firing. They are having an off year and Wally has shown some signs of slippage. No matter how he tries to justify it, the trade for Roberts makes no sense from a football perspective. The Smith situation has all the makings of an ego move. Wally has been more reluctant to change things up on offense until it has been forced upon him. At least he's been willing to make some changes and the team does not appear to be lacking in talent or cohesion. I'm hoping that rather than having a strong regular season and then flaming out in the playoffs, that this team will be the opposite and catch fire at the right time, like Wall's Stamps in 2001 did.

[DanoT]

I agree with Big Time big time! IMO it is best to fire a coach when you have a choice of quality replacements to choose from. So getting Matthews makes sense and doesn't allow him to go to Hamilton or Winnipeg.

[cromartie]

Berry's about five weeks past his expiry date.

Stubler surprised me, slightly, but his shenanigans with sticking his nose in the offense in an attempt to throw Burratto under the bus earlier in the season told me he was on borrowed time.

I'm not so sure I wouldn't let Taffe finish out the season. Yes the Ti-Cats are on the road to nowhere. But if you're in a rebuilding mode, as Hamilton is, you can at least gather as many opinions on personnel from the existing coaching staff as possible before giving them the hook.

[Soundy]

What do you all think, do CFL clubs tend to push the panic button too quickly and fire coaches without giving them a fair chance to turn their teams into competitive ones?

Depends on how you define "too soon". By comparison, your average fan pushes the panic button after every missed play. The media aren't far behind.

[Toppy Vann]

What do you all think, do CFL clubs tend to push the panic button too quickly and fire coaches without giving them a fair chance to turn their teams into competitive ones?

Depends on how you define "too soon". By comparison, your average fan pushes the panic button after every missed play. The media aren't far behind.

Were you advising Bill Clinton Soundy? "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

I think the football media writers and the media in BC don't panic like you suggest so eloquently. Rick, Guilio, Dunigan, Shultz, Climie and the writers are pretty darn good and know this game and don't panic.

You'd be hard pressed to come up with one statement by Lowell Ulrich where he pushes the panic button or the TSN announcers even.

[Canuck_4_Life]

Think about the names you just rattled off (Caravatta, Dunigan, Schultz and Climie). They are all ex-players and have probably, at some point in their career, been on an underachieving team, much like the Lions are right now. So, for them not to hit the panic button, shouldn't be anything new to them.

Someone like Dan Russell, on the other hand, who's probably never touched a football in his life, probably hit the panic button after Week 2.

Honestly, I think the only media types that hit the panic button are those that don't cover the CFL closely. However, Sportsnet should be commended for their coverage of the Lions, seeing as how they've got SFA in the way of CFL broadcast rights.

[Wakesbetterthanyou]

Here's my thoughts:

Hamilton
Taafe was a dud as a head coach and the Cats are better off with nobody than him.

Toronto
As it turns out, Stubler is the most non-head-coaching material of all the Coordinators in the league. He was so out of his element, it wasn't funny. He was a poor communicator with nothing to say.

Winnipeg
Doug Berry just signed a 3-yr contract extention this year. Knowing how cheap the Bombers are, he'll be around for awhile.

BC
If the coach hasn't signed a 3-yr contract extention recently, the GM should offer Wally a nice juicy raise.

I'll agree with the last three statements, but taafe is a good coach, hamilton just sucks. you dont go from two time coach of the year to being a "dud". Otherwise Wally would have been considered a "dud" after he was let go in calgary, as we've seen, he's not. Hamilton is just lousy, you wont see much change under there OC. And wally is the gm, he negotiates his contract with braley directly.