Max Hall to start in Bombers' QB Carousel

[WestCoastJoe]

http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=429410

Joe Mack's days with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers could be numbered.

According to the Winnipeg Free Press, Bombers CEO Garth Buchko made a recommendation to the team's board of directors to fire the general manager.

It's expected the Bombers will promote assistant GM Kyle Walters on an interim basis if the board approves the recommendation.

The board is reportedly scheduled to meet Tuesday, but an emergency meeting could be convened in the interim.

The Bombers are 1-5 this season and have a 21-39 record in just over three seasons with Mack at the helm.

[WestCoastJoe]

Karma: 00 Yeahs/0 BoosYeahBoojordin22rules
2 hours ago
This doesn't say he has been fired. Just our stupid CEO is trying to save his job by saying Mack needs to go. Well so do you bud! report this comment

Karma: 05 Yeahs/1 BoosYeahBoobuds1
2 hours ago
True north (Mark Chipman) should buy the bombers.Problem solved. report this comment

Karma: 02 Yeahs/1 BoosYeahBoogordofthunder
2 hours ago
CEO Garth Buchko should find who leaked the story and fire them and then quit himself for not having a better handle on this. As for the team I would fire the coach and start over with guys with some track record. Edmonton is showing why you cant have a fired up coach with no experience also. Bring in Tom Clemments to run the show

What they have there is a mess.

QB shuffle.

Mistake firing LaPolice IMO.

Earlier mistake hiring Mike Kelly.

Tim Burke? Doing what he can do. I don't like the QB shuffle though.

[WestCoastJoe]

Blue Bombers fire general manager Mack

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have fired their Gm Joe Mack. (CP/John Woods)

Sportsnet Staff

August 9, 2013, 10:24 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are holding press conference Friday morning where they will announce the firing of general manager and vice-president of football operations Joe Mack, Sportsnet’s Arash Madani is reporting.

Mack had been with the Bombers since the start of the 2010 season.

He previously held positions with the Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns of the NFL.

Wrong man for the job? I think so. Biggest mistake? Firing LaPolice?

I think they have pretty good talent on that team. Last year the uncertainty about the stadium got them off to an unsettling start it seems to me.

[Dan_Payne_fan!!]

according to Sara Orleskys twitter Garth Buchko (CEO) has been let go as well

[Toppy Vann]

according to Sara Orleskys twitter Garth Buchko (CEO) has been let go as well

Bizarre press conference with their board chairman introducing the acting CEO as the HOF Wade Miller and ranted about the leak putting Mack and them in a bad spot. I haven't seen anything this bizarre in a long, long time. Kind of speaks volumes about the state of that organization. Appointing an Acting CEO not from within rather than bring in Lyle Bauer to act and get this thing going smacks of more of the same old bad management from the board on down. Granted Bauer hired his pal Mike Kelly as HC but at least he had success there. Now that the Flames own the Stamps he is not working.

[JohnHenry]

Winnipeg had the right idea in hiring a "superboss" like Buono and Hufnagel, who would stay with the team for several years, rebuilding the franchise and developing players...rather than the scatter-brain management approach of the past 10 Bomber seasons. The problem was their selection of Mack, who had been out of the CFL loop for several decades. While Mack was a competent scout, he was unqualified to be a general manager.

Firing Bushko as CEO was also a great move for the future of the Bomber franchise.

[cromartie]

You have to start somewhere, and cleaning house is really the first step.

However, understanding you have a problem is the easy part. Getting rid of the cause only slightly more difficult. Making the right decisions after cleaning house is the tough part. I wish them luck.

[notahomer]

Maybe the right decision but is this the right time? Chatted with a couple Bomber fans at the last game and that was what they self identified as their teams biggest weakness "MANAGMENT"........

[TheLionKing]

Maybe the right decision but is this the right time? Chatted with a couple Bomber fans at the last game and that was what they self identified as their teams biggest weakness "MANAGMENT"........

Remind me of the 2 Bomber fans sitting in my section with SACK MACK and WE'RE BUCKED on the back of their jerseys. They must be happy today.

[notahomer]

Saw some of the interviews of the current captian of the good ship Bomber on tonights CFL halftime show. Certainly is confident and doesn't seem worried about being tactful. For eg said that Mack's record leading the Bombers 'spoke for themselves'. True but blunt. Then again, its not too hard to be worried that he can do better.

[Toppy Vann]

Saw some of the interviews of the current captian of the good ship Bomber on tonights CFL halftime show. Certainly is confident and doesn't seem worried about being tactful. For eg said that Mack's record leading the Bombers 'spoke for themselves'. True but blunt. Then again, its not too hard to be worried that he can do better.

Very true and more data that this organization is proof that "a fish rots from the head down."

This is a gong show.

Board hires an Acting CEO whose first act is fire the GM?!!! You want proof that this guy has more guts than brains - there it is. Also the "Acting" title is not always smart unless it is an insider. But you don't have the new CEO fire the GM. The gutless board should have had the board chairman do it.

The Board doing the dirty deal lets the new CEO who has no GM (bizarre) focus on the future as he's not been part of the past and he can't be blamed for firing the GM if they stumble for here as they might.

Look at how Ed Hervey started as GM - trashing Tillman.

This shows these organizations from the Board on down are failing as newbies need to be able to say - I wasn't part of those decisions. All I know is my role here is to get this heading in the right direction and then lay out the key priorities to settle things. Miller firing the GM is not smart as other than possibly scaring the others - it doesn't help him stabilize their floundering ship.

[TheLionKing]

Rather unusual the new guy in charge starts by trashing his predecessor even if it's true. What does that achieve ?

[Toppy Vann]

Rather unusual the new guy in charge starts by trashing his predecessor even if it's true. What does that achieve ?

Like Hervey and Tillman it can come back to haunt you as you were the one who brought up the prior guy. You lose the media keep bringing that up.

It is just not smart for a new person to ever speak of the past yet this guy went one step further and fired Mack.

The pros always just take the talk back to what happens in future.

Amateurs like the Bombers seem to be - speak of the past.

[Blue In BC]

I'm ok with both firings but I'm not too sure about the replacement even in the short term. He does have good business back ground for the CEO part of the job. It's in the GM role I have concerns.

He's been out of the game and at this point is only a fan of the game. He probably isn't " up " on current CFL rosters, coaching staffs, university programs and all that.

I can't see how he'd have any connections for recruiting players either in Canada or the US.

If his CEO role is to find a new GM, I hope that happens soon. My fear is that he wants to retain both roles and that wouldn't be a good thing.

[WestCoastJoe]

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2013/08/09/b ... ng-presser

Blue Bombers clean house: Garth Buchko, Joe Mack out and Wade Miller in 62

By Kirk Penton ,Winnipeg Sun
First posted: Friday, August 09, 2013 09:01 AM CDT | Updated: Friday, August 09, 2013 09:53 PM CDT

WINNIPEG - The football team can’t win, and the brand new stadium isn’t full.

As a result, the Winnipeg Football Club made massive changes on Friday, firing the top two employees in the organization.

Everyone saw GM Joe Mack’s dismissal coming based on the 21-39 record his Bomber teams had produced over three-plus seasons, including 1-5 this year, but the firing of president and CEO Garth Buchko, only a year and a half into his tenure, came as a bit of a surprise.

The club appointed former Bombers fullback Wade Miller as acting CEO with a “mandate to do what he does best, and that’s to roll up his sleeves, excite and motivate people, and effect the kind of change that will move the Winnipeg Football Club in a different direction starting now,” board of directors chairman Brock Bulbuck said during a hastily called press conference Friday morning at Investors Group Field.

Miller, who spent 11 seasons playing for the Bombers ending in 2005, will work with assistant GM Kyle Walters and head coach Tim Burke to determine a football plan going forward. Director of player personnel Ken Moll is still employed by the club.

“We are going to figure out what we need to do to start moving the yardsticks and start winning,” Miller said.

Buchko may have recommended to the board to fire Mack earlier this week, but what Buchko didn’t know was the board was gunning for him as well. It was Miller who officially axed Mack.

“A GM has a responsibility to win football games,” Miller said. “Let’s call a spade a spade. Under Joe Mack the record speaks for itself.”

The board of directors had been evaluating Buchko’s work for “some time,” Bulbuck said. He didn’t offer specifics, but the transition from Canad Inns Stadium to IGF wasn’t exactly smooth. The year-long delay in its opening wasn’t Buchko’s fault, but the former radio station general manager often spoke before knowing all the facts and the IGF parking fiasco earlier this year, which cost the club some patrons, happened on his watch. The Bombers have to begin paying back a nearly $100 million loan to the province next year.

A major problem, according to at least one board member, was the fact the stadium’s only sellout came in the home opener. Then again, the team has yet to win in four attempts, including the pre-season, at IGF this season. That largely falls at the feet of Mack, who failed to come up with a solid quarterback plan and simply couldn’t find enough talent to put a winning team on the field.

Then again, it was Buchko who made the easy decision last year to keep Mack instead of firing him then and finding a more qualified GM. It was another mistake Buchko made, but it wasn’t the only one that led to his dismissal.

Thanks to Mack’s firing of head coach Paul LaPolice last year, the Bombers are now on the hook for paying three big contracts to people who don’t work for the team anymore. LaPolice’s deal is done this year, Mack’s will end next year, and Buchko’s, likely the most expensive of them all, is believed to have two and half years left on it. Add it all up, and it’s well past the $1 million mark.

“It is a significant issue, but it’s an issue we’ll have to manage through,” Bulbuck said. “The consequence of not taking action today was evaluated, but in light of the alternatives, the action taken today is necessary action.”

In the end, Buchko and Mack will simply be two more names added to the long list of coaches, players and staff members who have failed to bring a Grey Cup to Winnipeg since 1990, the longest drought in the eight-team CFL by nearly a decade.

Miller will have the authority to hire a new GM even though he’s the “acting” CEO, although rumblings throughout the league suggest that could be a tough task. One CFL executive said if Miller wants to hire a solid GM, he will have to prove first that the hire will have complete control of football operations. There is also concern throughout the league about the team’s board of directors and its penchant for meddling.

In other words, even though Mike Kelly damaged the Bomber brand during his one-year stint as head coach in 2009, not much has been done to make it better. Miller, who has proven to be a solid businessman, gets a chance to make that happen both on and off the field. Making the playoffs in the weak East Division is not out of the question, he said, even if Friday’s moves don’t improve the talent on the field.

“We have two thirds of our season left,” Miller said. “We’re in a division where other teams have stumbled as well, so I do believe that we have that opportunity. You need to make the playoffs, and then you need to win two games and then you’re in a Grey Cup. But we need to start winning those games now.”