Ticats.ca Staff
With training camp less than a week away, the Tiger-Cats held their annual season preview conference call with the national media today.
President Scott Mitchell, GM and Head Coach Kent Austin, and Marwan Hage, the team’s longest-serving player, fielded questions from the media. A transcript of today’s call can be found below…
Scott Mitchell (SM): Thanks very much, and thanks everyone for joining us on the conference call today. Some brief words from the business side of the organization… it’s very much a time of transformation for this great franchise. That starts upfront with Kent Austin and his team who have a very special attitude coming out of football operations. Secondly, we’ve had an unbelievably cooperative experience with everybody up in Guelph as we move into the 2013 season. And of course, everybody is tremendously excited for a phenomenal new stadium coming to Hamilton in 2014.
I had a chance to show Kent Austin some pictures (of the Pan Am Stadium) this morning that the general public and the media will get a chance to see in the next two months, and I think needless to say, Kent is an example of how impressed people will be once some of the great visuals come out for our brand new stadium.
From a business perspective, certainly it’s been a tremendous period of growth over the last four years – we’ve doubled our team revenues during that time, from partnerships and sponsorships, which were sold out in 2012, to an unbelievable demand for the new stadium in 2014… when you look at licensed products and merchandise, it’s a great example of the growth our franchise has gone through.
Five years ago, we actually lost money on merchandise, and this past year saw just over $1.3 million in gross sales in merchandise, which was number three in the league. Again, that growth is indicative of everything throughout the whole franchise – we’ve nearly doubled our paid season seat holders over the last four years, and I think that those numbers, combined with our new fans in 2013, give us a tremendous amount of optimism moving forward.
As far as 2013 goes, we’re obviously excited – that starts with the tremendous attitude and enthusiastic embrace from everybody in Guelph, from the Mayor to city council and of course, to the University, which has just been tremendous to deal with.
The stadium is being built right now, it will be completed on-time on June 1st, and I think everybody has seen some great pictures of that facility. It’s going to be a great setting and provide a lot of excitement for our players, our team and our fans. Around 80 per cent of our (2012) season seat holders will make it to multiple games in Guelph, around 60% of our season seat holders have renewed for this season or will have flex packs in 2013, and, of course, the people up in Guelph, of Kitchener/Waterloo, along the corridor and along the 401, the reaction has been tremendous, and we’ll have anywhere from 2500 to 5000 regional fans from up in that area for every game in Guelph.
That’s a culmination of all of our regional efforts, as many of you know, we are a regional team – 50 per cent of our fan base and our revenue comes from outside of Hamilton, and I think if you look at the multiple events we’ve held over the past few years in places like Niagara Falls, St. Catharine’s, Grimsby, London, Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, Brantford, Burlington and of course, in Guelph, coach Austin gave a great speech up in Stratford recently – and I think that speaks to the regional nature of our team and our franchise.
Moving forward, in 2013, we’re going to have a continued focus on our customer service – for the last two years, we’ve had the highest renewal rate in the CFL for season tickets, which I think speaks very highly of our customer service team and the experience we provide for our fans. We had an extensive survey done this past off-season – over 90% of our fans are very satisfied with our customer service.
I think we’ve done everything we possibly can to make sure this season is going to be a very, very positive experience for our fans. Not only for the fans up in Guelph but for our Hamilton fans… we have busses and shuttles, great access to parking, we’re working with the city on access to and from the stadium. We have also doubled our customer service team for the season in 2013, even though, of course, the attendance won’t be nearly as high. It’s been a very positive experience for us up in Guelph, and because of the positive nature of coach Austin and his team, I think it will be a great season.
A couple of quick notes: (Black and Gold Day) will be held in Guelph on June 8, which gives a chance to our fans and our team to experience the surroundings in Guelph.
We’re thrilled with having the opportunity to play in Touchdown Atlantic – I know the ticket sales have been outstanding already, and we anticipate a packed house there. I know Marwan, amongst other players had a great experience a couple of years ago when we were out there, and we’re thrilled to be bringing the CFL brand back out to the Atlantic provinces this season.
You’ll see us launch our official campaign for the new stadium in 2014 in the next four to six weeks. I can’t tell you how excited we are; I can’t tell you transformational that stadium is going to be for us. It’s going to be a phenomenal stadium that delivers a second-to-none fan experience, anywhere in North America.
We spent the last three years touring stadiums in North America, and we are extremely confident that this stadium’s going to deliver an incredible experience for our plans and our players. I know there’s a massive amount of excitement around it – from an anecdotal perspective, when we launched our construction camera, it was the highest piece of content consumed in the history of Ticats.ca, more than triple the second most popular piece of content, which was when we signed Andy Fantuz last year.
That speaks to the tremendous amount of interest in the new stadium, both in Hamilton and regionally. Lastly, it’s hard to quantify, but, I can’t emphasize enough the special attitude and the inclusive nature of the relationship between the business side and the football operations side. There’s a tremendous amount of positivity and we’ve had a heck of a lot of fun working together for the past six months. Everybody from the training staff, to the video crew, to the players, to the coaches and of course to Kent, and I know there’s probably never been a stronger relationship between the two sides as there has been in the last six months.
Kent Austin (KA): Thank-you everybody for being here. I just want to briefly say that, speaking on behalf of my entire staff – and that’s not just the football coaches; that’s everybody in operations on the other side, from personnel department to football operations – it’s been an unbelievable experience since I took over. It’s been a lot of hard work, but I have a very special staff. I’m very, very proud of the guys that we’ve been able to assemble.
They’ve worked extremely hard in preparing for this season; they all have a little bit of ‘cabin fever’ right now, they’re all ready to get out on the field this week, which is outstanding. I just really feel very blessed to have this opportunity and to be a part of something that is going to be very, very exciting experience for all that are involved.
QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD
Q: This question is for Marwan… for the last couple of years, you’ve been kind of ‘snake bitten,’ with some rather unfortunate injuries, I just wanted to ask how are you feeling, personally and what is your sense of the team and the vibe with Kent being in charge?
Marwan Hage (MH): Good questions! I feel good – I’ve had a long time to heal and to get everything in order. The last two years have been kind of frustrating for me, but I would say that if you play long enough, injuries are bound to happen – it’s just part of the game. As far as right now, I feel very good; I would say it’s all downhill from here (laughs). Once camp starts, don’t ask me that question again (laughs).
The environment has been great, having coach Austin everybody come in since January has been positive, everybody is excited about this season – we’re all eager to just jump on the field and get going and start playing some football. Everybody’s worked so hard to make this happen and make this a good year for everybody and all the players.
Q: Marwan, how do you envision your role on this team?
MH: I envision my role on this team as a player – first of all, I’m a leader on this team and in this community and my goal is to get our players going. I still feel like I have a lot to give and I feel like I’m a very good player and I trained hard this winter to develop and perform on the field and produce for this team and bring wins to this city.
Q: Marwan, just go back when you first entered professional football – you were 22, 23 years old and how you perceive your career and what you were like back then? Now in the present, how do you perceive the game and I’d like to know your thoughts about your youth, now that you’re in “the fall,” so to speak, of a football career and how different it is?
MH: I’ve been very lucky to be drafted by and play ten years for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and I’ve been through the whole system from A-Z. You’re involved as a player, you know, you come in as a young kid, and you don’t know much about anything, you’re just trying to make it. As you get on the field, you evolve a bit more and you grow, and once you grow, there’s an understanding you gain of the CFL game and it becomes more fun. So over the years, it’s become more of a chess game for me – it’s not about just going out there and ‘pounding,’ and trying to make the team, it’s about evolving my game and evolving the players around me. As you get to the later stages, you start developing the players around you and making guys better, and teaching them what you’ve learned from the previous guy.
It’s a very unique situation, because I’ve been through the whole process, from the draft, to coming to Hamilton as a young kid, to becoming a starter, to playing and getting injured, so the whole road has been great and I’m very grateful for it. Now, the most I want to do is help out in any way and help the young guys, because along the way a lot of the older guys helped me, not only in football but also in life, and our football team (our football family) on the business side, have helped me a lot to grow personally and have taught me a lot about life, not only about on-field stuff. All-in-all, it’s been a great, great stage in my life and ever since I’ve been a Ticat.”
Q: Coach Austin, you wear a lot of “caps,” and I’m just curious about the skill sets you need to be effective in all three of your responsibilities
KA: I think first and foremost, it’s important that to do well in your job, regardless of the how or the where, you’ve got to have great people around you. I’m a big believer in having people that are more talented and more skilled than I am in those roles, so I have a great support staff and we were able to identify their individual skills and to pass off different aspects of the football operations side to harness and leverage those skills to take some of the pressure off of me individually.
As far as some of the things off the top of my head, and being able to play those roles and do a quality job, I think you have to have great discernment – discernment of people, discernment of the environment, discernment of where we’re going, to be able to establish an ethos and a culture with the associated qualities that we believe in.
Obviously, you have to have people skills, negotiating skills and an over-all understanding of business; you have to have an understanding of how to build a team and an organization (I would say) from the ground up, and in essence, it is from the ground up because there’s a lot of new faces. First and foremost, it’s making sure that I understand that my ability to perform is going to be going to be directly proportionate to the abilities of those around me and I think I have outstanding individuals that are supporting each other, not just supporting me, because I don’t believe in a hierarchy – we’re supporting each other and working together.
Q: Kent, I’m wondering what it’s been like for you coming back to the CFL after so many years in the NCAA. Has it been difficult to adapt and what’s been the biggest change for you to get used to so far?
KA: Well, you know the old saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” right? It’s been awesome to come back! I feel like the opportunity that I’ve been given is just really an outstanding opportunity for me and my family individually and for those that are with us and employed here, all feel the same and share the same convictions that I do in that regard.
The league in some respects is very, very similar, but it has changed in some respects as well, there’s a little bit different type of play than there was back in 2007, but it doesn’t take long, right? When you’re in it as long as I was, and you’ve put the number of years that I’ve put in, it comes back pretty quick. So, again we’re just excited – the staff is really excited to coach these guys. Players win football games, it’s not so much the “x’s and o’s,” it’s who you’ve got. Again, it’s not what we know, it’s what our players know and my coaching staff understands that.
Q: Marwan, obviously the team will be playing the season in Guelph this year. Are there any specific challenges for a player playing in a completely different location and a stadium like that where there are some logistical challenges? Is that something that the players have talked about and what do you see as the potential pitfalls?
MH: That’s why we’re going out there to (host Black and Gold Day), that’s the only day that we’ll have to adjust. It’s just going to be another football game, it doesn’t matter where we play. The way we have it set up there, it’s going to be very comfortable for all the players, the leaders in the locker room will provide that and make sure it’s a non-issue where we play. Everybody knows we’re playing in Guelph, we all know we have to bus up there, I think it’s going to be fine, it’s not going to play a huge role in our performance, I don’t think our players are worried about it.”
Q: This year is a rebuilding year obviously, both in terms of the team and the stadium. What kind of additional pressure is that going to put on you trying to reform a team that is also, not exactly homeless, but not as comfortable as they might be if they were at the new stadium?
KA: I think I understand the purpose of the questions, not sure that I agree directly with the premise behind both thoughts.
I don’t believe in rebuilding, I believe in putting together a team that right from the jump has the ability to compete for championships, that is our attitude and our belief. I don’t think I have a single staff member on staff that doesn’t share that same belief. As far as being comfortable and uncomfortable football has a way to make you uncomfortable in many areas.
It exposes that side of your nature in a lot of different ways, it’s
not just your environment it’s a lot of distractions. We will focus on a team as eliminating all distractions and focusing on what is under their control, and to make sure they understand the value of living in the moment, not worrying about the past not worrying about the future, and understanding that a distraction, whether positive or negative, is in the same category, is still a distraction.
Our players will not live in fear in those areas because that’s what it creates. We’re excited about Guelph, we’re excited about that being our stadium, we’re excited about the players we have, I’ve got an unbelievable staff and we don’t focus on the underlying premise that was presented.”
Q: Are there any areas then of the team from last season that you feel you are comfortable with and you feel you have some depth and some strength going forward?
KA: “Well we certainly feel there are lots of areas where we’re comfortable with the quality of our personnel. That may change slightly once I get pads on them and we implement our schematics on both sides of the ball and teams. But going into camp we’re obviously very confident with our players and their ability to perform.”
Q: Which particular areas? Your receivers for example? Quarterbacks?
KA: “Well at the start its all areas. Until we see our players’ ability to absorb what we’re trying to implement, where their skills really shine and where they don’t. Where we might have to piece the puzzle together a bit differently and move players around. But all of that is part of the process and that’s why you go to camp. To get our coaches to be able to evaluate all those areas while our guys are in pads.”
Q: Kent can you talk generally about the challenge that you face of taking over a club that finished at the bottom of the league last season? Do you thrive on that challenge, do you look at it as a chance to put your stamp on the team? And further, obviously the team finished last defensively last year most points against, is that the biggest area of concern, biggest area of need for improvement going into this season, on the defensive side of the ball?
KA: “Our philosophy is that you win and you lose as an entire team, not as an individual unit. I also believe our record demonstrates what we are. If we’re 6-12, that’s what we are, we’re a 6-12 football team last year. That being said, we can always strive to reach a higher level of excellence and to be more competent, and to get better in every single area.
I haven’t coached or seen a football player that’s arrived yet as a player, nor as a team for that matter. The challenges are obviously a huge attraction for me, I’m attracted to a challenge, but I think most guys in this profession are attracted to challenge. I’ve got a great opportunity here, we’ve got a great opportunity here, this isn’t about Kent Austin and the challenge that he has or the roles that I’m playing, this is about an organization that is going to turn this team around and be able to have sustainability in our ability to challenge for championships down the road.”
Q: Last year you guys finished number 1 offensively, worst in the league defensively. You’re not prepared to say that the defensive side of the ball is the area that needs the most work?
KA: “It’s not that simple. When you look at the offense, you have to take everything into context. If you look at our turnovers, the time of our turnovers, when we had an opportunity to maintain and or seize increasing levels of momentum, the two and outs, lack of ball security, there’s plenty of opportunities offensively that we can nitpick and say that we have to get better and will get better in many areas. Same thing with bringing context to the defensive side of the ball. Obviously we’ve identified areas of weakness, where we need to get better, but I think that overall fundamentally as a football team, across the board we were not a good fundamental football team. I’ve stated that publicly already.
I have great fundamental teachers on my staff and we have to get the players better fundamentally and have them have a better understanding of what we’re doing and how to attack either the offence or the defence in a way that is more consistent so they can play faster with less thinking.”
Q: I just want to talk about the chance to work with Henry Burris, an established quarterback. He put up some very good numbers last year, just your thoughts on what he can deliver in 2013?
KA: “Well first, Henry is an outstanding person. He has the respect of his players which is important. Henry, in my three days with him in the minicamp, was very eager to learn, he understands that he needs to draw on the positive experience he’s had in his career and eliminate some of the things that haven’t been positive in his play. He understands he has to have a clean slate that way. I’m looking forward to coaching him. I think the guy still has talent to play, and we’ll get him prepared.”
Q: Kent, just wondering during your evaluation of the team when you took over, did you get a sense of the competition in the East? And if so, just your thoughts in general when you look at the Argos, the Als, and the Bombers.
KA: “The competition is always stiff. Listen, it’s not easy to win football games. Anyone who’s been in the sport as long as I have, and others have been much longer than I have know that. We’re going to focus first and foremost on getting our team better physically, fundamentally, schematically, their understanding of the game, their overall level of preparation, their approach to the game, all of that. And we’ll deal with the outside opponents once we get that in order according to the philosophies that we embody.”
Q: Coach, (a 6-12 record) last year, a lot of turnover in the coaching staff obviously, a lot of turnover among personnel, and some challenges this year in terms of logistics. You say this is not a rebuilding year, do you think that you have the talent and the team to compete for a championship right off the hop?
KA: “That question might be better served to be asked in a couple of weeks. I’m not dodging the question, I certainly understand the question, it’s just that my staff has not coached these guys, certainly not coached a lot, when the bullets are flying. We’ll have a better idea of where we’re at and how quickly it will take us to rise to the level to compete week in and week out after we get the pads on these guys. That being said, we’ve made a lot of personnel changes that we believe has helped the football team become more athletic and faster. We needed to get faster as a football team on both sides of the ball, and some other areas of need for us.”
Q: “Is there an update on Moe Petrus and Frederic Plesius, whether or not they’ll join you guys for training camp this year?”
KA: “Moe is not going to be joining us for training camp, his career has been temporarily put on hold. It’s not a completely closed door, I’ve spoken with him several times, but as it stands right now you probably will not see him during camp, but that is subject to change. We are still working on getting Plesius signed, it’s not been an easy negotiation, but we’re confident that we’ll get something done here shortly.”
Q: “Mr. Mitchell, how soon will the city of Hamilton host a Grey Cup with the new stadium on the horizon?”
SM: “Well there’s a process that has to be undertaken by any potential bidders, and of course it’s become a hugely competitive business to land a Grey Cup. Clearly we’re excited about the fact that the league has endorsed the stadium as a facility
worthy of a Grey Cup, and once we get through the 2014 season I think you’ll see us working with the city to line up a Grey Cup as soon as possible.”
Q: “Kent … the Chris Williams situation, has it been resolved?”
KA: “It has not been resolved yet, we went to arbitration a couple of weeks ago and we’re currently in the stage of awaiting the results of that ruling. We as a staff have put together two plans: one that would include Chris and one that doesn’t include him, and are ready to implement either.”
Q: “Do you have any sense of whether he’ll be in camp or any feeling along those lines?”
KA: “I would say at this stage it’s not looking good (that he reports on Saturday). I am a pretty optimistic guy and positive in my approach, and hope that Chris will be here, but as of today there has been no communication with respect to his following up with us to get his (travel) arrangements in order.”
Q: A question for Scott Mitchell, you talk about having the Guelph stadium done in this coming month, when are you expecting to have the new Pan-Am stadium complete? Do you have a specific date in mind yet or a month? What’s your goal for that?
SM: “Nothing’s changed from the original plan that’s been discussed in the past couple of years, and that’s to be on time and on budget, it’s a very sophisticated intricate process that demands accountability both on price and timing, nothing’s changed whatsoever. We get very regular updates, the new stadium is to be on time and on budget, the Pan-Am folks held a press conference here last week that spoke to that and their confidence of that. We expect the same dates that we’ve always been expecting the past couple of years.”
Q: Marwan, I’m curious with the Chris Williams situation, if Chris were to lose his arbitration and decide to return to the Ticats this season given all that’s happened with his contract dispute, how do you think Chris would be treated in the locker room? How would his teammates respond if he decided to come back?
MH: “He is a part of this family, when he comes in he’ll be welcomed as part of this family and part of this team, and we’ll just move on. This has nothing to do with us as players.”
Q: Marwan, what’s the most important thing you can pass on to young offensive linemen coming in?
MH: “The biggest thing is communication. I always tell guys, when you play together you have to talk and overtalk. The more you talk the easier it gets. When everybody’s quiet on the field you know we’re in deep trouble. I always emphasize with the young guys you have to talk, talk about football, talk about anything but keep talking on the field, because the more you talk, the more engaged you are in the game. That’s the one thing I work the most with the guys, even in meetings. Talk, talk about tape, talk about anything while watching football. That translates to the field, and eventually the more you talk the better it is.”
Q: How do you develop that with the younger players that come in so they’re able to speak out and not hold things in? If they have a question, and no question is a stupid question, how do you get them to come forward with it?
MH: “That’s the thing, during camp, you do it during practices, when you’re a young guy not in the game plan maybe it’s not the right time to ask the question, because the guys who are playing are asking questions. But take the vets on the side, on the field during warm-ups ask anything you want, during individuals, this is where you do the most learning is on the field. I remember I had Carl Coulter in front of me and I asked him a million questions, but I didn’t ask him an hour before the game. I picked my time and place and he was always there to help me, and he helped me a lot.”
Q: Scott can you tell me what the capacity is for the stadium in Guelph?
SM: “That’s going to depend on a couple of different things as we mill out the final details here. There’s a seating capacity and a total capacity depending on what we do with the festival or hosting areas. From the outset we said it would be in that 13 to 14 thousand range, I think you’ll probably see us at the start of the season making sure the experience is as positive for the fans as possible, and if that’s the case and its comfortable with those numbers we may be able to add some fans as the season goes on but it’s going to be a total capacity of somewhere between 13 – 14 thousand.”
Q: Marwan I asked Coach about expectations going into this season and I’m curious as to what your expectations are? Do you see every season as having the potential to be a Grey Cup season from a playing perspective?
MH: “That’s the beautiful thing about playing… every time we step on the field we really feel we’re going to win, and every season we approach it really feeling we’re going to win it all. It’s just part of being a competitor. I think every boxer that goes into the ring believes he’s going to win too. We put our best effort and out emotion into winning and that’s the reason why we’re doing this, so yeah I strongly believe we’re going to win this year.”
Q: You’ve been a part of this team through some lean times, I imagine you start some seasons with lower expectations than others. Do you feel the team underperformed last year and has more talent on the roster than the record last year indicated?
MH: “I can look back every year I can tell you a different thing. Every year we walked in camp everybody is positive and everyone is gearing towards winning the Grey Cup, and I think every team has the same goal, same as us. The past years are past years, we can look back and nitpick at a million different things, but this is a new year for us, new management, new objective, and one goal is to win it all.”
