Atomic

There was some speculation on Twitter that these contracts may not have included signing bonuses, so they would not put any additional money towards this year's cap and would make their contracts unattractive to Ottawa. Of course, in Labatte and Getzlaf's cases, the Ottawa factor is irrelevant because they will obviously be protected.

I'm a fan of the ECHL's "Wheeling Nailers". Doesn't get much better than that.

Well, the coaching & management baggage is now gone totally. We have a team. We at least have a base to work off of. We do have experienced talent albeit not a lot. What's Ottawa got? Three unknown signed players? Whoop de freaking who??? And 24 fringe players they'll select in the expansion draft. Yeah, maybe they'll draft a good qb but who'll be blocking for him??? Who'll be the go to receiver or running back? Same on defense with all unknowns. Anyone going into that situation with 2 failed teams before them thinking there'll be no pressure to win will be in for a shock. Like I said, the unknown is the exciting part for a new head coach. Don't go thinking that a guy like Rick Campbell is just looking for an easy ride. He wants a challenge, and thrives on challenge. That's what motivates these guys. And sure, in Winnipeg the coaching and management baggage is gone. But what about the 60 players on the roster who know nothing but losing for the past 2 seasons? The impatient and pissed-off fanbase and media? Maybe he just didn't like the sound of how Wade Miller was running things. That's what I mean by baggage.

Well it's really not hard to imagine why a coach might prefer Ottawa. Ottawa is a completely blank slate. Lots of opportunity to prove yourself as a head coach and form the team in your image. And Winnipeg... well Winnipeg has lots of baggage, to say the least.

Did he say that? I don't recall hearing it.

When was the last time Worman coached?

Walters prefers Collaros that's all that matters at this point. Wanna bet that's who he prefers? Who do you think he prefers?

I'm thinking it had more to do with being an unemployed former head coach who took his team to the Grey Cup in his second season.

Four teams now looking for a DC (EDM, CGY, WPG, OTT). Five teams looking for an OC (BC, EDM, WPG, OTT, MTL). Great time to be looking for a job as a coordinator in the CFL.

Agreed. Great choice, IMO.

I found the 2009 defence to be exciting and aggressive. But yes they did give up a lot of yards as a result of that aggressiveness. It was just great to see how many turnovers they forced. We talk about how bad the offence was this year, well it was far worse in 2009, but that defence kept us in it until the last game of the season. And Kavis Reed is just not a likable person, IMO, at least not the public-facing version of him. That said, I wouldn't mind having him back as DC because I agree that he did a decent job here and he also has lots of coaching experience for O'Shea to lean on.

Let's look at some of Hamilton's offensive rankings from 2011, when Khari was OC... not great but also not terrible: Points Scored - 4th TDs - 4th Passing TDs - 5th Rushing TDs - 2nd Field Goals - 2nd First Downs - 4th Yards per Game - 6th Fewest INTs - 6th Fewest Sacks Allowed - 4th Fewest Fumbles Lost - 2nd

I didn't mind Marcel's offence in the latter stages of the season... however his use of Boltus is very troubling. I agree we need some experience at OC, but I also feel like we need to clean out the entire coaching staff from last year and make a fresh start. It's a tough call. If Bellefeuille had never come here at all this year, he would probably be my #1 pick right now for OC. As it stands, I would be very pleased to see Jacques Chapdelaine as our OC, though I doubt that will happen. The top 5 on my wishlist right now would be: 1. Cortez 2. Chapdelaine 3. Khari Jones 4. Marcus Brady 5. Doug Berry At DC, I'm not sure what I want. Barron Miles is certainly intriguing. Rich Stubler would be my #1 choice, but can we get him out of BC? I'd be happy to see Mark Nelson back here. I also wouldn't be overly opposed to Kavis Reed. As far as Cooper Harris, can't say I'm wild about the prospect of bringing an NCAA defensive coordinator in and making him our DC right off the bat, even if he does have CFL playing experience... maybe we could get Rick Campbell out of Calgary with an assistant head coach designation? I think that would be a fantastic move, but somehow I doubt it will happen.

via Kirk Penton http://www.winnipegsun.com/2013/12/04/oshea-goes-straight-to-work-building-blue-bombers-coaching-staff

Not the Senator anymore! Except in your heart, perhaps!

I imagine the coordinators will be hired pretty quickly so we've got to get our opinions on here quick so the Bombers can consider them. Who do you guys think should be OC and DC? Try and poach a current one by giving them an assistant head coach title? Go for more young blood (a current CFL positional coach, for example)? Bring in someone with experience who is currently unemployed? Someone totally out of the box? Current League OC's - BC - None EDM - Doug Sams CGY - Dave Dickenson SSK - George Cortez TOR - Marcus Brady HAM - Tommy Condell MTL - None Other interesting names - Doug Berry, Jacques Chapdelaine, Khari Jones, Jason Maas, Jason Tucker, Jarious Jackson, Mike Kelly, Mike Gibson, Rick Worman, Martel Bellefeuille. Current League DC's - BC - Rich Stubler EDM - Greg Marshall CGY - Rick Campbell SSK - Richie Hall TOR - None HAM - Orlondo Steinauer MTL - Noel Thorpe Other interesting names - Mark Washington, Richard Kent, Barron Miles, Mark Nelson, Devone Claybrooks, Will Plemons, Jeff Reinebold, Mavis Reed. Ok.... GO!!!

I love this. O'Shea has been my number one pick all along. Interesting side note, is there any staff more Canadian than the Bombers' now? Miller, Walters, Goveia, O'Shea... not that being Canadian means anything football-wise, I just think it's neat.

Sure, that's what the #2 and 3 spots are for.

True, but other than Collaros, is there anyone you'd rather have here than Burris? I think he's a good plan B.

I read the post. The problem is that this councilor is taking the wrong approach. He shouldn't be going down the "nothing is wrong, we've been framed!" route. He would be better off doing something proactive, starting up anti-discrimination groups, campaigns, etc. That's how you clean up your town's image. Not by saying "No, no, no!! They're lying! Everything is GREAT here!" Do I believe everyone or even a large percentage of Morris are racist or homophobic? Nah. But that post does absolutely nothing to help their cause, in fact it makes them look worse.

They've found some good players, but the thing about Hamilton is that they haven't been afraid to utilize the free agent market so they don't fill as many holes through pure scouting. Some good players they've brought in (aside from Gable, Ellingson) include Brandon Boudreaux, Torrey Davis, Rico Murray, Brandon Banks, Delvin Breaux, Eric Norwood, Onrea Jones and Luke Tasker. I'm not going to pretend to know who was responsible for getting those guys up here, but those are just a few names who came up here in the last year or two and made an impact.

I'd prefer to just wipe Morris off the map but I guess I'm just old fashioned that way

I guess I'm just missing the part about how this increases accountability. Whether an individual board member does a great job or terrible job (which we would never know), they are off the board after three years. How does this increase accountability? The fact of the matter is that we will be successful when we get a strong president and GM in place (not saying Miller and Walters aren't). Success will follow naturally. Now, it is up to the board to hire that president, but do the chances of a good president hire go up if the fans have voted in the board? I don't think so... they stay the same at best. It's not like 20,000 season ticket holders are doing thorough research on each candidate up for election... it would just be the same **** in a different pile.

@PentonKirk Kirk Penton Henoc Muamba is going to work out for the Denver Broncos, one of six to eight #NFL teams interested in#Bombers linebacker. #CFL

gary lawless ‏@garylawless2m Just been told that Riders OC George Cortez will have a second interview this week for #bombers HC position #bn #cfl race getting tighter