Rod Pedersen
CFL.ca
The first few weeks on the job have been busy ones for new Saskatchewan Roughriders General Manager Brendan Taman. Since being introduced as the successor to Eric Tillman on January 21, 2010, Taman has been plunged into an organizational restructuring of the franchise and been faced with the prospect of re-signing the club’s lengthy list of free agents.
Although Taman’s role will be similar to the one Tillman performed with much success through three seasons from 2006 – 2008, he’ll be advised and supported by head coach Ken Miller who’s taken on the added role of Vice President of Football Operations.
One of Taman’s first tasks was dealing with Joe Womack who was an original hire of Tillman’s and handled various capacities including player personnel, team strength and conditioning and safeties coach. Womack and Taman were the top two candidates for the GM’s chair but in the end, Rider President Jim Hopson opted for Taman. That left Womack’s future with the team up in the air.
“Joe was very disappointed he didn’t get the GM job so after the announcement we had a long meeting,” Taman revealed. “Afterwards we offered Joe a position within the organization and it’s different from what he had. He won’t be coaching anymore. His forte will be working for us a director of U.S. scouting, based out of the U.S.”
“He’s going to take some time to think about it, and whether or not it’s something he wants to pursue. If there are other things out there, I’d be happy to help him in any way I can. But we’ve offered for him to stay with us, and I think he’d benefit from it.”
With the new position now having been offered to Womack, Taman can turn his focus to the other areas of the club which need attention. Right now though, the ball is in Womack’s court.
“To be fair to Joe, and he’s done so much work here, he can work on his timetable,” Taman reported. “If it’s two weeks or three weeks, it’s his job to take if he wants it. Having said that, we want to bring somebody else in.”
“I’ve talked to Kenny and we want to have a progression plan in place in the organization. That means if I leave in two years, we’d like to have a GM in place to take it. Or if Kenny leaves, we’d like to have an assistant coach ready to take over. And from the management side, I’d like to have a guy here in Regina like an assistant GM and Joe in the States. With that, I think we’d have a pretty good organization.”
The Roughriders are also in search of a new offensive line coach as Bob Wylie left the club in late-January to take the same job with the NFL’s Denver Broncos. Miller said he hopes to have a replacement named within the next few weeks. Wylie may prove to be tough to replace, as he was regarded as one of the top offensive line bosses in the CFL and was very popular with the players.
And Saskatchewan is also waiting to learn the future of offensive coordinator Paul Lapolice. Lapolice has twice interviewed for the vacant Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coaching position and has stated he covets the position. His wife Tina is a former Blue Bomber Blue Lightning cheerleading coach and hails from Selkirk, Manitoba. Lapolice was also approached by new Cornell University head coach Kent Austin about running the offense with that program, but has expressed his desire to stay in the CFL.
Regarding the free agents, the Roughriders have already signed a handful including DL Luc Mullinder, OG Chris Best, SB Chris Getzlaf and CB Omarr Morgan. However there are still over a dozen players left to sign, most notably the team’s 2009 sack leader Stevie Baggs, rushing leader Wes Cates, power back Chris Szarka and popular tailback and special teams veteran Stu Foord, a popular local product.
As always, times are interesting in Riderville where there never truly is an off-season.
