By Sean Millington,
CFL.ca
Week 4 of the CFL saw an announcement by its commissioner Tom Wright that he will be stepping down at the end of the current season. While this comes as hardly a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention, it is a disappointment. Now one could argue the extent to which Mr. Wright was responsible for — returning stable ownership to Toronto and Hamilton, the league seeing its television and gate revenues increase significantly and corporate sponsorship soaring — but one can’t argue that it happened on his watch. In his dealings with the media, the public, sponsors and the league itself, Mr. Wright, or Tom as he always insisted I call him, was ever the consummate gentlemen. Even his detractors would admit this about him, which makes it hard to understand why the CFL’s Board of Governors would be unwilling to offer him an extension, especially in light the successes during his tenure.
Mr. Wright’s leadership hasn’t been without its rough spots — the Ottawa debacle being one very obvious black eye — however, I don’t feel the blame for that situation can be placed solely at his feet. After all, the Board of Governors had to sign off on bringing the Gliebermans in. The truth is that Mr. Wright’s reign as commissioner was doomed before it began — when some of the most powerful members of the Board of Governors are against you from the start, that’s a recipe for disaster. Despite his few missteps — it’s been argued that he could have displayed stronger leadership or been more assertive — many will be sad to see him go, I among them. Good luck to you Tom, in whatever endeavor you next find yourself.
Tom Wright’s resignation was one black eye for the CFL this week and the situation in Hamilton has become another with Greg Marshall’s dismissal as head coach of the Tiger-Cats. In my opinion, this is a mistake. Now don’t get me wrong, I believe that a lot of the problems Hamilton is having are issues that can be laid at the feet of the coach. I don’t believe, however, that firing him is the answer. In fact, I believe that changing coaches mid-season usually creates more problems than it solves. Hamilton currently has two men in Ron Lancaster and Joe Paopao who between them have extensive experience head coaching in the CFL. Surely they could have worked together with Greg to create solutions to Hamilton’s problems. Does it really matter who gets the credit? Seeing that this didn’t appear to have happened, I guess it does.
One solution put forth this week suggested that the Ticats should start back-up Kevin Eakin over Jason Maas. Now I can only hope this opinion was only printed with the intent of getting the laughs it generated, as the idea is completely ridiculous. Eakin is a good young quarterback and someday may be an All-Star, but that time is not now. Jason Maas is the man who still currently possesses the CFL’s pass completion record. Determining which of the two should be starting isn’t rocket science.
The CFL itself has actually provided us with the answer as to how to deal with both the commissioner and the Hamilton issues. Winnipeg is one example of how to cope with a challenge. When there is a situation that needs changes, make the appropriate ones and then stay the course and believe in the work you have done. The Blue Bombers are a perfect example of this. Conventional wisdom would have called for them to be last in the league at this point, yet here there are threatening to jump into a tie for first in the East. After the Edmonton’s Week 3 meltdown they could have panicked and started to look for a quick fix; instead they stayed the course came to work each day and righted the ship. My point is the firing of Tom Wright — and make no mistake it was a firing — was an inappropriate response to a legitimate problem. Firing Greg Marshall is a similar mistake. In both cases, the personnel to get the job done was already in place and just needed the right guidance in order to be successful. Tom is on his way out and unfortunately Greg is following him to the exit.
Sean Millington played 13 years in the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, B.C. Lions and Toronto Argonauts and has been a panelist on the CFL on CBC since 2003.
(The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the Canadian Football League)
