Yardsticks

Thursday, December 17 will go down as one of those days you remember for a long time.  It was a huge news day for the Canadian Football League in general, with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers stealing the spotlight.

Thursday morning started with news from Toronto, where the Argos fired their rookie head coach after a dismal season.  Not really a huge surprise.

Then around noon, Bomber President and CEO Lyle Bauer announced his resignation after a decade in the office.  There is no question that Bauer did some tremendous things for the club.  He was instrumental in saving the community owned franchise from going belly up.  When Bauer took over, attendance was extremely poor and so was the on-field performance.   The black marks on Bauer’s record include two trips to the Grey Cup but no championships, and the hiring of Mike Kelly as Head Coach caused some eye brows to rise. 

Shortly after the Bauer announcement, Head Coach Mike Kelly was arrested and charged with domestic violence.  By early evening, the Blue Bomber Board made a decision to fire Kelly.

Waking up Friday morning, one has had some time to think about the implications of Thursday.  While Bauer did some great things, he fell short in the one area Bomber fans care most about – championships.  Like Lyle Bauer himself said, sometimes change is good.  New blood brings new energy and new enthusiasm.  I suspect this change will be good for the Bombers.

But change is not always good.  The Bombers will play the 2010 season with their third Head Coach in three years.  That means rebuilding again.  That means it will most likely be another season of pain and suffering for Bomber fans.

But let us get one thing straight:  I believe the Bomber Board did the right thing in firing Mike Kelly.  Domestic violence cannot be tolerated at any level, let alone the Head Coach of a professional football team.  In addition, Mike Kelly himself was very quick to release players in trouble with the law (see Jason Armstead).  Kelly did a good job of selling his ideal of “team first”, and therefore he had to be released.

But I don’t believe Kelly deserved to be fired after the 2009 season.  It is true the season did not live up to expectations, but there were a lot of good things in place at the end of the season.  The defence is solid, the special teams is better than it has been in years, the offensive line is decent, there are good running backs, and the receiving corps show a lot of promise.  The one thing that is missing is a solid quarterback.

I also believe that Stefan LeFors was not given a fair shake, as the offence Mike Kelly planned obviously did not work out.  If you paid attention to the season, you will have noticed the offence changed and started being decent by the end of the year.  I think if Mike Kelly was running the 2010 team, we would see more changes in the offensive scheme which would result in a productive offence, and therefore a winning football team.

But, we are not going to see that.  Instead, we are going to see another new Head Coach take the reins and put his stamp on the team.  And knowing how fickle Bomber fans are, if this new coach does not win in a year or two, he will be fired and this cycle of rebuilding will continue.  In fact, the only way I see the Winnipeg Football Club return to winning is for a private owner to step in and take control.  A private owner is needed that has the guts to stick with a Head Coach he believes in.  A private owner is needed that won’t listen to the crying babies that Winnipeg Blue Bomber fans have become in the last 20 years.

Merry Christmas, Bomber fans.  May your team not rot in 2010.