MontrealAlouettes.com
When Alouettes GM Jim Popp began his search for a new head coach, Mike Miller was among the many candidates he reached out to.
Miller was so surprised Popp called him about the vacant position last winter; his first reaction was ‘who told you to call me?’
Though he was ultimately chosen as the team’s offensive coordinator, Miller and the Alouettes offence could definitely use a ‘phone-a-friend’ these days.
While Miller’s first football job would come with his hometown Steelers, he must confess his first sports idol was a Montrealer who worked his magic on ice.
Super Mario Lemieux.
“I never got the chance to see Mario Lemieux play against the Canadiens at the Forum, but I feel a connection with Montreal because of him,” Miller told me when he was first confirmed as offensive coordinator and assistant head coach to Dan Hawkins.
After an internship with the Penguins’ communications department, Miller had an opportunity to devote himself to football coaching. Opportunity knocked around the time the Steelers and the rest of the NFL were trying to figure out how to contain the closest thing to Super Mario the CFL may have ever known, Doug Flutie.
Miller would himself end up coaching in Buffalo as well, several years after Flutie’s departure for San Diego and New England.
Popp has longstanding ties with the Steelers organization going back to his late father’s heyday with the Steel Curtain Defence.
Montreal’s football architect also liked what he was hearing about Miller in Arizona, from former scout Drew Grigson to current Als’ scout Justin Casey, hired by the Als after a regime change with the Cardinals as well.
“He’s worked with great people, successful players and teams,” says Popp from his North Carolina home-office.
“I thought he’d be a good fit for (Anthony Calvillo), in his demeanour and personality. They’re a good fit 1-on-1 and they have a great relationship…AC feels very good about it.”
“We have a lot of great new stuff, but it’s up to us to execute it right now,” says Calvillo of the Miller offence. “That’s part of a growing offence. That’s what’s great…we’re surprising the defence.”
“But for us, we have to make sure we do that extra study so we don’t make those little, small mental mistakes because if one guy makes a mistake on offence it can affect and disrupt the entire play.
“Our challenge is to get locked in and be more consistent.”
It’s not just a case of Miller getting a better handle on AC and vice versa. It’s about finding a voice and letting fresh voices be heard.
“I think Doug Berry and Ryan Dinwiddie are having a lot of input as well,” Calvillo pointed out on the eve of the Als-Eskimos game.
The CFL “veterans” of the coaching staff are making their voices heard, just as Brandon Whitaker reveals, the veteran players are speaking out.
“Getting to know Coach Miller has been an experience,” says the 2011 rushing king who set a goal of 1,000 yards both on the ground and through the air. “He’s a really good guy; I have nothing but respect for him. He’s starting to get to know me and I’m getting to know him at the same time.”
“We’ve sat down and we’ve had talks among ourselves (the players), just because we are a veteran group. It doesn’t matter what the coaches call. What’s going on, we have to make it work. Being together so long, that shouldn’t be an issue. Calvillo is definitely the leader of this group and we can’t go anywhere without him.”
“When he speaks everybody listens…he’s a coach out there on the field. Scott (Flory) with his injury he’s Coach Scott now. He’s had his thing to say. (Jamel Richardson) is another one of the big leaders on this team. It’s a veteran group, we just have to pull together and make it work.”
The sad truth is Richardson looks broken.
Richardson is having a horribly sluggish start, but had no major training camp injury to hold him back as in 2012. He scored his first TD in Week 6 last season. The Als can’t afford to wait another day.
“I joked around early in the season that it’s going to be up to our offensive coordinator to make sure everyone stays happy,” Calvillo admits. “And it’s a challenge because we have a lot a lot of weapons.”
It was assumed the 4×1000-yard relay team would be gawking at each other’s stats in envy. After four weeks, Richardson and Brandon London are starved for attention.
Miller has been there, done that. He coached a trio of receivers in Arizona with 1,000-yard pass-catching campaigns in 2008 (Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston).
“What could help is if we could stay on the field and be more consistent, then everyone is going to get their share of opportunities,” reasoned Calvillo.
“Getting the ball early and often is definitely a plus for receiver,” explains Richardson, whose yardage total for the season is almost outpaced by SJ Green’s yards vs. Calgary last week alone.
“I haven’t been playing well enough to win,” Calvillo offers by way of further explanation. “But I’m still having fun,” he responds to a probing question trying to lure him indirectly into discussion about thoughts of retirement.
Anthony knows “Jamel Richardson’s Time” is now also “Miller Time.”
