SpeedFlex27

My son played JUCO in Northern California. He quarterbacked his school to a California State Championship in 2012. He was working out with his private qb coach at a rival school in Oakland called Laney College. It was in a rough part of downtown Oakland. They didn't have on campus housing. Attending students had to find an apartment themselves to live. It was a dangerous area. Drug dealing, gangs, etc. The HC at Laney came on the field to talk to Tyler. I remember him saying that students there see a lot of bad things everyday in the neighbourhood around the college. There are areas of Oakland that look like a war zone.

I thought fans singing, "O'Shea, O'Shea, O'Shea" was pretty cool, actually. From what I saw, he seemed to enjoy that.

Alright, you're right that is true. I was wrong about osh being a LB coach.

I was just saying that coaches get all the credit when they win & get fired when they lose. Whether Osh accepted the platitudes & congratulations or not, he still got the credit. If Osh didn't want to accept it publicly then that's his perogative. He still got the credit. On the flip side, if he has a losing season then he'll face criticism. That's all I was trying to say. You & Noeller just calm down now...

Osh followed the same path. He started coaching linebackers & then became a STC. He was never an OC or DC.

The Head Coach of a football team is like the Captain of the Titanic. Had the luxury liner made it to New York in safety, he would have been lauded as a great leader. Instead, his ship hit an iceberg & sunk killing 85% of the passengers & crew as the most expensive passenger ship ever built at the time went to the bottom of the ocean. As Captain, that's on him as it happened when he was in command. The Bombers won 2 Grey Cups & Osh took in all the credit from fans. If Osh goes 1-17 this season, he'll be forced to take all the criticiam that comes with a losing season.

A guy like Baldwin can go back to the NCAA as seamlessly as water running from a faucet. He'll etiher be given an OC position with the Stamps or another CFL team. Otherwise, he'll just go back to college football.

Here's the Calgary Stampeders coaching staff in 1960. All older American coaches. Head Coaches were much older than they are today. Today, we have younger & less experienced coaches. The CFL was looked upon favourably. Coaches didn't think of it as a stepping stone to the NFL. Although Jerry Williams on the far left used his success as Stamps HC from 1966-68 to become an NFL HC. Winnipeg Blue Bomber Coaching Staff in 1974. Again, all American coaches & they were older than coaches on the staffs of today's CFL.

U Sport Head Coaches like Faulds, Dobie (recently retired), Wayne Harris Jr in Calgary (now also retired) & Blake Nill at UBC all have./had lecturing positions & are probably tenured. They're being paid to teach & coach. And they have benefits to go with it. As a CFL assistant, they never used to have any benefits health or retirement so to give all that up to be a lowly position coach in the CFL isn't much of an incentive. To make it more attractive, assistant coaches in the CFL need to make a lot more money as well as receive health & retirement benefits. Coaches in U Sports are under a lot less pressure than they would be as members of a CFL coaching staff. Nik Lewis is a great example. He broke into coaching with the Riders & then was let go when the coaching cap came in. On social media, he was practically begging for a job in the CFL somewhere. He finally got hired by the Stamps, his old team. Coached one or two seasons, I believe. Then left saying he had a business opportunity in Texas so he quit. Juwan Simpson was coaching linebackers with the Stamps & he suddenly quit to be a position coach with an obscure Junior College team in the eastern US somewhere. Until we actually pay these guys decent money, we won't attract or reatain quality coaches. It's just a life of low pay, long hours & obscurity until a coach become a coordinators. Then comes better money but more pressure. Even longer hours... My son had a chance for that life to coach college in the US & really wanted to do it when he was single. Then he met his wife. They bought a house in Seattle & he decided that family came first so he abandoned his plans to coach. He didn't want his future hinging upon a winning season or if his HC was fired or not.

All they have to do is watch. I have & it's shocking.

I believe you are right about that. Evaluations are done as a group. However, Head Coaches have final say on personnel. It's not a democracy.

Just trying to draw out talking points with Goalie my point is, maybe there are pending free agents who have decided that when their contract is up that they want to leave. That happens with all teams. However, not everyone wants to leave. They want to see what Walters & Osh think their financial worth is before they make a decision to stay or go. At the same time, not all free agents can "go home" in a small 9 team league due to roster restrictions & who is already playing their position on their Destination Team of choice. If an all star is already there under contract or the contract being offered elsewhere isn't up to the player's expectations then it's on to Plan B to go play somewhere else or stay here. Other than Ontario, where three CFL teams are, where players can still sign close to home on another team, they don't always have the choice to just leave to go play at home. But they will leave, if they feel that they aren't appreciated. You have to wonder why players are leaving the Bombers when the team in Winnipeg is obviously Number One, Even ahead of the NHL Jets,. A city where players are recognized, respected & loved by the fans & media. As well as playing in a sold out 33,000 seat crazy loud stadium. For the CFL, it doesn't get any better than that. So, where's the disconnect? Why are players leaving when they already have it as good as it's gonna get for a CFL team? You'd think that most would want to stay. When Saskatchewan can retain it's players & attract free agents from elsewhere then why can't we? Why would any player want to go from playing in a place like Winnipeg to some place in the wilderness called Calgary? A city that could care less about the CFL & playing in front of 15,000 people at the mausoleum called McMahon Stadium.. The concerning part for me is that despite all the Bombers have to offer free agents from other teams. they aren't flocking here to sign, either. We aren't a Destination Team anymore. What's changed?

For what the Riders paid McEwen we could have easily replaced Kolankowski but Osh wouldn't do that. Would have been an instant upgrade but nope.

Again, I don't know your point, either. Players go where the money is. All positions. Players do leave teams they like to play for & would stay but another team offered more. So they left.

Time will tell. We let Kolankowski start at the expense of developing other players like Eli so go figure.

If we keep letting our young Canadian OL get away then our will line get old fast. And having to replace them takes years as we found out in the middle of the last decade. We had to go to 3 American OL in order to keep our qbs healthy & upright. As well as being competitive again. Dobson is still young & improving. His ceiling is still in front of him. His footwork will improve as will his blocking skills. He hasn't hit his roof yet. If we just keep on saying we won't pay this guy or that guy our young players will leave. Thn where will we be?.

Suitor reminds me of Duane Forde who reportedly wanted to be a CFL GM but wasn't willing to put in the work to actually be one. He actually thought because he is a TSN analyst that teams actually cared about his opinion. Or that he knew the names of U Sport players he was more than qualified to draft those same players. He wasn't. He never got hired. Same with Suitor. He doesn't have the qualifications to be Commissioner. They need someone who is less of a football guy & more someone who understands marketng, streaming & is willing to try to grow revenues for the CFL. The CFL should actually split the Commissioner's job into 2 separate entities. One on the football side for a guy with deep CFL connections who understands how teams work, understands the league, the rules, roster management, coaching etc. The other for a person to grow the league revenues. It doesn't mean Suitor doesn't have some good ideas. Like abolishing CFL 2.0 Opening up the roster to more Canadians & Americans. As wellas doing things with kids to try & grow the league with the younger generations. The CFl should be talking to different people to get more idea.

Imagine giving up on one of our promising young Canadian Offensive Guard's in Liam Dobson. A guy who played every down for us last season & was an All Star. We know Neuf will get significant time off along with others at training camp. Osh is already fixing up & polishing his smoker.

Again, every free agent hasn't any idea where they're going until they get an offer they accept. You're putting the cart before the horse.

The back end of our linebacking corps is both old & on the decline.

Don't question The Trinity, you sinner.. That's every free agent. No one knows where they're going until they get an offer. They're all on the decline?

Sign all the subs from your old team heading down yet wanting your team to be heading up. Great start, Goveia. What a lazy ass GM. Nothing will change in Hamilton.

I think still playing at their age speaks to the lack of quality starters in the CFL. How many backup qbs on CFL teams are ready to step up to become bona fide starters or 'stars" at the qb position? I thought we might have some movement with a couple of young promising qbs like the kid in Montreal. I think he made a big mistake signing for less money than what he would have got as a free agent.

Great research. Thanks for that. Of course, we're all waiting to see what the Jets do in the playoffs. Will they have a deep run or be blown out in 5 or 6 games in the first round?

No, I don't. There's a few otthers here that do a great job carrying that themselves. Better than I do, I give as good as I get. I've been smacked around a lot here over the years. I just spit the blood out & keep getting off the mat. Collaros is 36 years old going on 37 on August 28th.