TBURGESS

I'm on http://www.tsn.ca/live/player.aspx#v=887581&i=887581 and it's working properly for me.

Stubler doesn't need to build a legacy. Calgary hasn't offered him the job yet, so the choice may be made for him. Calgary offers a way better chance of success because they are a contender with a good to great management and coaching system around him. Winnipeg offers a full rebuild with unknowns at all levels. I know what choice I'd make.

People were just as sure that Mack was on the right track in the first couple of years. Remember IMWT? Lets see what Walters can do before we pass judgement or assume that he will be the next great CFL GM.

If that was the case then why did O'shea sign here when he could of went elsewhere? Cuz we offered him the HC job?

After listening, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Swiston wasn't protected.

I like it too, but isn't that exactly the same thing that Doug Berry got raked over the coals on these forums for a few years back?

Putting a good Ref in charge of officiating? That's so radical that it could work. Good choice IMHO. I never did understand why Higgins was given that job.

That was after the playoff loss (link). Regardless after giving it some thought this is a pretty solid hire for O'Shea. Stubler has a proven track record (one that has more success than failure) and one that has a lot of experience in this league (valuable considering how young this whole staff is). While O'Shea is a huge wild card, I would argue he can't possibly be any worse than Burke and so this makes it 2/2 in upgrades at the coaching staff spots right now in my opinion. The vets on that BC defence really like their scapegoats. Last year it was all Cauchy Muamba's fault. Apparently this year they're picking Stubler to blame their early exit on. After watching Cauchy play last year, it's hard to disagree with them.

Not surprisingly, I like this rumor.

While I'd like Cortez as the OC, I don't see it happening. There is no upside for Cortez to leaving the GC champs who already have a great offence. I'm expecting another ex-player with little or no experience and ties to our leadership team.

My first choice is Collaros, but Burris is a valid plan B if he is available and we don't get Collaros. We could use the next 2 years to bring along a young guy, while having a bonafide starting QB. Signing Cortez as HC wouldn't mean bringing Burris in was a higher probability IMHO.

Good luck to Burke. I think he's a very good DC and I'm not surprised that he's got another job so quickly.

It's not about Dressler or some fictitious stud NI O lineman. It's about Dressler or Edwards and the choice isn't even close. It's not about the money. Sure Dressler would be more than Edwards, but not so much more that it would mean would couldn't upgrade elsewhere. Dressler is a game changer. He is one of the top guys at his position and we only have one guy, Muamba, who is one of the top guys in the league at his spot. Adding Dressler would make us a better team and isn't that what its all about?

I like what Walters had to say too. I hope he can follow through with it. I don't expect the fans to give him much leeway, just because he is new to the GM chair. The fans expect a winning team and that's Walters job to create. Getting to a .500 season next year would be a huge win for the all rookie management team IMHO.

Experienced people can see the cluster-truck and would want full autonomy before they would be the least bit interesting in our GM job. Knowing you have to keep Walters on and that he has the ear of the CEO, isn't going to attract the best candidates. I heard during Grey Cup week that a couple of experienced folks even turned the Bombers requests for interviews down.

Nope. I wanted someone with experience, and no 6 months as assistant GM + 3 months as Interim GM isn't enough. Good luck to Walters though. He is going to need it with a full rebuild coming and no one to mentor him.

If we are looking for a GM/HC, then Higgins is the only choice, but if it's just HC, no thanks. I'm going with Cortez, the same guy I championed when we hired PLAP. I was leaning towards Berry, and he would still be my second choice, but Cortez's offenses have been superior to Berry's and Cortez doesn't have that ex-bomber stigma.

IMHO Collaros is the best available QB this year (I expect Burris to resign with Hamilton), but I hate the idea of giving up a 1st rounder, 2nd overall, for a Free Agent, especially since we already gave up our 2nd rounder. It sounds like a desperate move to me. I'd rather take my chances in free agency and keep the 2nd overall pick.

After that, the CFL said that the 'lock down on announcements' starts tomorrow (Nov 14).

Bye Bye Burke. I'm not the least bit sorry to see him go as HC. I am a bit surprised to hear he would be in the running for DC next year from the CEO. That's the HC's call IMHO.

Khari as HC? Really horrible idea folks. I'm begging... please bring in an HC with some experience.

You mean guys like: Burke, PLAP, Kelly, Hawkins, Reed, Hall, Marshall, Cortez, Bellefeuille and Taffe? All guys who were unproven, said to have the right qualities and failed at least in their first season. Sorry but your argument is terribly flawed. For every failure there is as an unproven head coach, there are success stories like Huffer, Chamblin, Benevides, Trestman, Milanovich, Austin. You're going to have to do better than that. You can also scratch Taffe from that list as his first HC job was in Montreal and he did very good things there. His time in Hamilton was marred by a clueless GM in Marcel Desjardins, and free agent busts like Josh Ranek and Casey Printers, and the failed Jason Maas trade. Also, since you mentioned "first season" in your post, if you're expecting this team to do a complete 180 in a single year, you will be terribly disappointed. It is going to take at least 2 years to make this team good, 3 years to make it elite, assuming the correction decisions are made by all involved. ...Did I just win the internet? You've got it wrong. For every success there are 3 or more failures and most of the successes have a good to great vet support system around them, which we don't have. I do expect a turnaround next year. The 2 or 3 year plan is just an excuse to be bad for a couple of years. Drafting to become a winner doesn't work in the CFL where your best players can leave for the NFL or go to FA and play where they want to. Didn't you learn anything from the Mack years? Vet management, coaches and players speed up the rebuilding process. An all rookie team of Miller, Walters, newbie HC, and newbie starting QB would pretty much guarantee a bad year filled with potential. Fans would talk all day about how much better it will be when they have played together for a while. Rookie HC mistakes will cost us some games, but 'He's just learning his job'. Rookie QB mistakes will cost us other games, but 'He's just learning his job'. It will get better soon. After winning a couple of meaningless games at the end of the season folks will search for stats to show how we are 'on the cusp' of a good season next year. We're just a couple of good players away from a competitive team they will say. If all the newbies turn out to be good, they will be right. If one or more of them don't have the right stuff, then blow it up and start over yet again. Wow...a clairvoyant! Nope. Just a guy who has seen this movie over and over. BTW: The last Bomber rookie HC that did well was Doug Berry in '06. Before that it was Mike Riley in '87. A case could be made for Bowman in '92 but that was Murphy's team and Bowman gave it back to him when he came back.

You mean guys like: Burke, PLAP, Kelly, Hawkins, Reed, Hall, Marshall, Cortez, Bellefeuille and Taffe? All guys who were unproven, said to have the right qualities and failed at least in their first season. Sorry but your argument is terribly flawed. For every failure there is as an unproven head coach, there are success stories like Huffer, Chamblin, Benevides, Trestman, Milanovich, Austin. You're going to have to do better than that. You can also scratch Taffe from that list as his first HC job was in Montreal and he did very good things there. His time in Hamilton was marred by a clueless GM in Marcel Desjardins, and free agent busts like Josh Ranek and Casey Printers, and the failed Jason Maas trade. Also, since you mentioned "first season" in your post, if you're expecting this team to do a complete 180 in a single year, you will be terribly disappointed. It is going to take at least 2 years to make this team good, 3 years to make it elite, assuming the correction decisions are made by all involved. ...Did I just win the internet? You've got it wrong. For every success there are 3 or more failures and most of the successes have a good to great vet support system around them, which we don't have. I do expect a turnaround next year. The 2 or 3 year plan is just an excuse to be bad for a couple of years. Drafting to become a winner doesn't work in the CFL where your best players can leave for the NFL or go to FA and play where they want to. Didn't you learn anything from the Mack years? Vet management, coaches and players speed up the rebuilding process. An all rookie team of Miller, Walters, newbie HC, and newbie starting QB would pretty much guarantee a bad year filled with potential. Fans would talk all day about how much better it will be when they have played together for a while. Rookie HC mistakes will cost us some games, but 'He's just learning his job'. Rookie QB mistakes will cost us other games, but 'He's just learning his job'. It will get better soon. After winning a couple of meaningless games at the end of the season folks will search for stats to show how we are 'on the cusp' of a good season next year. We're just a couple of good players away from a competitive team they will say. If all the newbies turn out to be good, they will be right. If one or more of them don't have the right stuff, then blow it up and start over yet again.

You mean guys like: Burke, PLAP, Kelly, Hawkins, Reed, Hall, Marshall, Cortez, Bellefeuille and Taffe? All guys who were unproven, said to have the right qualities and failed at least in their first season. Being said to have the right qualities and actually having them are entirely different things you know. Of course I understand that. The point is that we don't know if they have the right stuff until we give them a chance and if we are wrong, we are back to square one and we have to spin the rebuild wheel yet again. Another point is that all the successful newbie HC's have vet staffs all around them. We simply don't have the vet staff in place to support a newbie HC to give them the best chance to be successful.

You mean guys like: Burke, PLAP, Kelly, Hawkins, Reed, Hall, Marshall, Cortez, Bellefeuille and Taffe? All guys who were unproven, said to have the right qualities and failed at least in their first season.