TBURGESS

For those who missed the press conference like I did:http://www.bluebombers.com/video/index/id/107775

We finally get the presser to tell us what's going on and I miss it. Is there an audio link to it that I can listen to?

I voted for Benevides too. Lots of great experience and BC's defenses have been way above average in the last few years.

I think it's a poor decision to keep MB. I expect Willy to take huge punishment this year and to be broken down by mid-season again. I expect we will be having lots of discussions about how poor our O line is again too. Oh well. If we could only fire one coordinator, I'm glad it was Etch.

I can see why, given you are wrong so often. You don't get many chances, so take your cheap shots now.

I'm happy to be wrong Mike.

I can't remember a time I was happier to be wrong. Great move to get rid of Etch. I wish it had come a month ago, but that's just splitting hairs at this point.

Starting NI's are always great signings.

What do I expect them to do? Stand pat and assume that the decisions they made last year are all the right ones. I'll be shocked at this point, and so will Doug Brown, if our OC and DC aren't keeping their jobs. Neither will suddenly 'Get It' and change the way they've always been. Our QB will continue to get killed because MB's offensive leaves much to be desired in the protection schemes. Even Calvillo looked like he was done under a MB offense. Etch's defense will continue to be weak against the run and we will be told that doesn't matter. We need to re-sign guys like Wild and Sears just to maintain the current level of the team and we need some better players. Some will come from the draft, some from the scouting and some from FA. All places that every team picks from. We need to do a better job than 6 other teams to move forward in the standings. I think we are a lot farther away from a good team than most. My worry is that the first half of next years season will look a lot like the second half of this years now that the other teams OC's and DC's know what we do.

I consider Wild to be a must sign if he doesn't make the NFL. Sears, not so much. Hurt too often and takes too many undisciplined penalties for my liking.

Congrats DoD. Great news.

Doesn't make any sense to me. Cut a guy and you don't have to pay him for the season, unless it was a guaranteed contract of some sort. If it was, then huge mistake by the Bombers.

Another good signing. How much 2014 Cap space did we have left?

How do you know they don't already have arrangements in place with someone? And the notion that Ritchie Hall is a highly desirable candidate for DC? Check the battery on your watch, it might have stopped in 2006. I didn't say highly desirable. I said better than Etch. Two totally different things.

Sigh. I know. This is head against the wall stuff. And yet... Please list all the candidates. Benevides and Washington if the new BC HC doesn't want him are two that immediately come to mind. So out of curiosity ... let's say hypothetically Washington is our first choice. Then would you be alright with the current silence? Washington is my first choice and I know we have to wait until things fall out in BC to see if he's Wally's choice for HC. I'd still get rid of Etch because he's not good enough. You just finished criticizing Sask for firing Hall without having a replacement in another thread...now you want us to do the same? You don't get sarcasm do you?

Add Richie Hall to the list assuming today's tweet is accurate.

Sigh. I know. This is head against the wall stuff. And yet... Please list all the candidates. Benevides and Washington if the new BC HC doesn't want him are two that immediately come to mind. So out of curiosity ... let's say hypothetically Washington is our first choice. Then would you be alright with the current silence? Washington is my first choice and I know we have to wait until things fall out in BC to see if he's Wally's choice for HC. I'd still get rid of Etch because he's not good enough.

Another better than Etch candidate. What a bunch of incompetent boobs in Regina. How can they fire a guy without having his replacement hired?

Sigh. I know. This is head against the wall stuff. And yet... Please list all the candidates. Benevides and Washington if the new BC HC doesn't want him are two that immediately come to mind.

They're doing what competent management does... operating away from the public spotlight. Almost immediately after BC canned Benevides, Calgary announced their succession plan for Huffer with Dickenson. The moment the WBB discard either or both of MB and Etch, other teams are going to make power plays to keep their top assistants. Why would we make our intentions publicly known, if there's no apparent benefit and a potential downside to doing so? #6 is an extremely well-crafted statement. "We look as good as the rest of the sub-.500 teams." You couldn't possibly be too wrong when you say that... But you are. Winnipeg DC is not a destination job right now. Given potential options in Saskatchewan and BC, those situations will be easier to slide into than Winnipeg's. We've got a lot of personnel that were brought in specifically for fit within Etch's scheme; so there's a lot more work than would be required in a conventional CFL defence here. High reward is available in Winnipeg, but it comes with a higher risk. So again I ask... if it's a high risk/high reward job if it does open up... why wouldn't we hunt for it behind the scenes? The headhunter approach would seem to work much better in this situation than placing an ad in the paper. Are you saying that BC and Regina acted in an incompetent manner? I disagree. They both decided to get rid of coaches. Told the coaches. Told the public. Started interviewing to replace them. Nothing at all incompetent in that. In fact, it's the best way replace coaches that need to be replaced IMO. Downside? What downside? This isn't the Benevides situation. Neither are going to become top contenders for other teams OC or DC. If we want to interview other teams coordinators, we need to get their permission, so it doesn't matter one bit to other teams if we fire them first or not. Winnipeg isn't a destination spot. So what? Maybe it costs more to get the better OC/DC's to come to Winnipeg. Maybe you need to give them 2 year contracts instead of 1 year. Maybe you need to give them a /Asst HC title. Whatever it takes. The biggest risk is keeping our current coordinators and hoping they can do better.

When you don't have a destination HC or co-ordinator job (and coming off of 5 really bad years, we don't), you can't walk around like you have one. If you'll recall, the exact same line of thinking you are espousing, is what got us stuck with Etch last year. The better guys took the better jobs, and we got stuck with what was left. The old 'Let's keep the incompetent guys around in case no one better wants to be here' argument. 1. I don't think our management's incompetent so I'm sure they can make the job worthwhile to good candidates. 2. There's more than one candidate that's better than Etch. 3. We know exactly what Etch brings to the table and that's not good enough IMHO. 4. The other teams OC's already figured out Etch's defense. Not likely he will get as good results next year as he did this year. Think continuing the last half of the seasons results instead of the first half. 5. The worst case scenario is to bring in someone without CFL DC cred and hope they are better than Etch. That at least gives us some hope. 6. Assuming that no one we want will sign with the Bombers is a highly negative way to think. Pay them enough, give them enough anatomy/responsibility and Winnipeg looks as good as the rest of the sub-.500 teams.

Great signing. Leggett's one of the best safety's in the league.

Yes burg, we know you think our team as an organization is a joke.. Yes burg, we know you think this team will never make a proper decision or do the right thing by you... Yes burg, we know you will only be happy when the team goes out of its way to be transparent and let the world know every little facet of it's functioning.. Did I miss anything? Yes Spuds, I know that you think our organization is the best and ALWAYS make the right decisions. Yes Spuds, I know your happy with knowing only what the team tells you and you don't care about transparency. Going back to Royal Blue and the off season signings are good decisions by the Bombers, so you're wrong when you say I think that the team never makes proper decisions. I think the Riders and the Lions did it right. Fire the guys you don't want and then replace them. Assuming that the Bombers are going to fire any of their coordinators, and I doubt they are, then I think they are gong about it the wrong way. If it was in the middle of the season, then you have no choice but to find the replacement before you fire the old guy because you can't afford to have an empty coaching spot for even a couple of days. The same can't be said in the off season. Sort of. He's not actually interested in hearing about how the organization functioning. He really just wants them to say over and over that nothing is functioning. It seems to be the only thing that could bring joy to his world. I don't know why. The Bombers winning brings joy to my world. I don't want to hear them say nothing is functioning even once, let alone over and over, but that's what I've had to hear over and over in the last few years. I want them to take the steps they need to to bring winning football back to my favorite team.

Do assistant coaches even get multiyear contracts? IIRC both MB and Etch got 2 year contracts.

More like: WBB: MB, we're keeping you until the end of your contract so we don't have to pay anyone else to do your job. MB: Great. WBB: Send in Etch. MB: Etch..They want to talk to you next, WBB: Etch, we're keeping you until the end of your contract so we don't have to pay anyone else to do your job. Etch: Great. O'Shea, Walters and Miller high fives all round. Miller to Walters: Better not tell the media until after the season tickets have been sold. Walters: Wasn't even thinking about it. Fans don't need to know anything until we tell the what they need to know.