Jamie Nye
CFL.ca
The message has been sent in Saskatchewan.
Head Coach Greg Marshall and Offensive Coordinator Doug Berry have lost their jobs after the Roughriders started the season 1-7.
But not for one second should the blame for how the Roughriders started the 2011 season lay at the feet of these two coaches.
There aren’t enough fingers to point at all the men in the organization who should be hanging their heads, watching Marshall and Berry take the fall.
The players, the men who hired these coaches and the coaches that remain on staff all share in the mess that is this season in Riderville.
Marshall’s first attempt as a head coach in the CFL failed after only eight games, but even General Manager Brendan Taman acknowledged the veteran coach had an incredibly tough task taking over the Roughriders after back to back Grey Cup appearances.
Part of Marshall’s problem was that he had to be the new boss and create his own atmosphere when the locker room didn’t need one or feel like they needed one. Marshall didn’t and couldn’t be asked to understand how and why this team was so cohesive. He just wasn’t around to witness how this team was built.
He was an outsider from day one.
Just hours before the news of Marshall and Berry’s dismissal, quarterback Darian Durant talked about the family atmosphere that seems to be lacking this season.
“It’s tough,” said Durant. “When you’re four points away from a dynasty and then the team is kind of broken up, it’s sad.”
“I felt like we were playing at a high level with our team and we’re just a different team. When you’re a different team you hope and you wish that the results will be the same as previous years but it’s obvious that we don’t have the guys and we’re not the same team.”
You have to ask, did Marshall have any chance at replacing beloved Head Coach Ken Miller?
Well, the players have their preferred head coach back as Miller will step down from the booth and put on a head set for the remainder of 2011.
Miller, however, gets a share of the responsibility because he was the one who spearheaded the charge to make Greg Marshall his heir apparent.
Interviewing and hiring a new head coach was the first thing Miller had to do after moving into his Vice President of Football Operations role full time. Firing Marshall just eight games into the season is an indictment on Miller’s ability to find his successor.
Something he may be doing again in four months.
But is Miller going to be a miracle worker? Just because Miller is back on the sideline doesn’t mean this team will improve.
That’s where he and specifically Brendan Taman share some of the blame. The players brought into replace the players that were released, traded, retired or injured haven’t come close to carrying the torch.
The roster may just not be good enough to win.
And, the players shouldn’t take Friday’s news as a sign they’re off the hook for the 1-7 start. They deserve a good portion of the blame for the lack of execution and being the most penalized team in the league.
As for Berry, his offence has regressed from last season. The Riders are the lowest scoring offence in the league and have never shown little consistency through eight games.
While at times you see flashes of that big play offence from 2010, it only comes once or twice a game.
Too often play calling was head scratching in certain situations. The latest moment leaving people dumbfounded was when Durant lined up in the shotgun, handing off to rookie Brandon West on a third and one gamble. Needless to say, the Argonauts got the ball back when the Roughriders barely got the football back to the line of scrimmage.
But again, did Berry have the talent or support to be successful? Miller, whose list of duties continues to grow, will include offensive coordinator as well.
We’ll soon find out if Marshall and Berry were indeed worthy of wearing the goat horns or if they were merely scapegoats for much deeper problems within the organization.
If Miller is able to achieve his goals of getting the team into the playoffs and into another Grey Cup, we’ll know he and Taman made the right decision.
If this season continues to spiral out of control, the two men who faced the media on Friday to discuss why they fired Marshall and Berry should be on the hottest of seats in the off-season.
