MontrealAlouettes.com
CFL.ca Staff
With files from MontrealAlouettes.com
MONTREAL — It’s only his first week coaching the Montreal Alouettes’ practice and Jim Popp is already making a change he thinks will help the Alouettes win close football games.
“What I’ve noticed right away at practice, and it’s just subconsciously what happens, is we’ve started on a high and we started coming down a little bit,” explained Popp. “We didn’t finish strong. I don’t know if there’s a correlation but that’s kind of how our games have been.”
Popp replaced the recently-dismissed Tom Higgins less than a week ago after the team’s road win in BC, coincidentally a close matchup that the Als were able to come from behind and win in the fourth quarter.
But while Higgins’ last game coaching the Als was a success, the Alouette front office felt that the team has underachieved over the last few years. The Alouettes started 1-7 last year but bounced back to win eight of their last 10, eventually playing in the Eastern Final but losing to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Amid higher expectations this year, the momentum didn’t carry over. Whereas the Alouettes are a 3-5 team, Popp said in a press conference after the coaching change that he expects his club to be among the CFL’s elite teams – a 6-2 team instead.
WATCH: Popp addresses media on the coaching change
