Dave Campbell
CFL.ca
On September 14th, the slate was wiped clean for Richie Hall. Eric Tillman stepped in as the new general manager of the Edmonton Eskimos. The Eskimos record at that time was 2-8. Tillman gave Richie Hall a chance to fight for his job. The team went 5-3 down the stretch and came within a whisper of clinching a playoff spot in the Western Division. On Friday November 12th, Richie Hall’s time as the head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos came to an end as Eric Tillman dismissed the 50 year-old of his duties after just two seasons.
“Richie is a wonderful man, a very good coach,” said Tillman. “I have great respect for him but the decision has been made that he’ll not return as head coach of the Eskimos for the 2011 season. We certainly would like to thank him for so many things. For his work ethic, for his perpetual smile in the midst of tremendous adversity over two years. He quite frankly dealt with more controversy in two years than most coaches would in five or ten years.”
Most of that controversy occurred this season, starting with team’s 0-4 start. Then there was the firing of Danny Maciocia as general manager, Dan Kepley resigning as linebackers coach and the dismissal of Jeff Bleamer as offensive line coach. There was the hiring of Mark Nelson and Tim Prinsen as replacements. The release of veteran offensive linemen Joe McGrath and Calvin Armstrong added to the list.
Hall basically was the de-facto GM along with help from head scout Ed Hervey, manager of football operations and Canadian scouting Dan MacKinnon, and assistant general manager Paul Jones. The Eskimos enjoyed a magical run down the stretch, the players rallied around their head coach. At the end of the day however, the general manager and the head coach didn’t see eye-to-eye on a number of issues. And in the end, the general manager will always win that battle.
“There’s always areas that you don’t agree on but there are certain areas that are very important,” Tillman explained. “The most significant one was that Richie felt very, very strongly about continuing as defensive coordinator and head coach.”
An example of that was when backup quarterback Jared Zabranksy threw four interceptions against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on October 30th. Tillman says that’s a time when a head coach needs to talk with the quarterback to find out what he’s seeing on the field. Hall as defensive coordinator according to Tillman wasn’t able to manage the game effectively enough.
The other area of concern to Tillman was Hall’s desire to retain most of the player personnel for 2011.
“Richie is more of a traditional guy, he likes people that he knows,” said Tillman. “In golfing terms, I probably play like Tiger Woods. On a par-five I’m going to try and cut the corner. He’s more like Tom Kite, and Tom Kite won a lot of championships and did a lot of things down the middle.”
So Tillman has an aggressive type of personality football wise. Hall is more of the conservative type. One thing is for certain. Tillman will gut this current roster leaving the new head coach with a much younger group to work with. Hall liked veterans and familiarity.
There were a couple of instances in particular that disappointed Tillman. The first was Hall declining to play defensive tackle Walter Curry who Tillman had acquired during the trip to Moncton from the Toronto Argonauts. The second was failing to use kicker Justin Medlock in the final game of the regular’s season in Regina to give the team a bigger leg for kick-offs. If the head coach refuses to use the people the general manager brings in, that won’t sit well with the G.M.
Tillman says he won’t micro-manage the new head coach, something Richie Hall was a victim of before July 31, 2010. Hall did speak to the media showing the grace and class he always does. And yes, he did crack the familiar Richie Hall trademark smile.
“I’m very proud to have been the head coach for the last two years,” Hall said. I’m very proud to have accomplished the things that we have accomplished. We didn’t win as many games as we’ve wanted to have won but at the end of the day, when I look at the thing we were able to accomplish outside of the W’s and L’s is something that myself, the coaches, and the players have something to hold their heads up about.”
Yes Richie Hall can hold his head high. He can say he’s leaving with the assurance the players had his back this season. Hall will take some time to himself to recover from what has been a taxing season both physically and mentally. Will he be back in the CFL? Most definitely. Will he be a head coach one day? Perhaps. He might be more comfortable going back to his trademark as full-time defensive coordinator. He still has the great respect of many football minds in this country.
There’s no timetable for the hiring of a new head coach. Tillman says it won’t before the Grey Cup game on November 29th. The candidates are former Riders head coach Kent Austin currently with Cornell University, Winnipeg Blue Bomber defensive coordinator Kavis Reed, Calgary Stampeders offensive coordinator Dave Dickenson, and CFL veteran coach George Cortez who’s currently with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
There’s also the question of what will happen to the rest of the coaching staff? How much change will occur among the group?
Ah football, a great game but a crappy business.
