blueandgoldguy

Ah yes.  Two posters taking opinions out of their butts and presenting them as facts.  What evidence do you have that that the fans here are the worst in the league?  Do you actually take the time out to look at how other fans treat there teams..and I don't mean watching a game here or there on TSN and looking and listening to the crowd on TSN and basing your judgement on that.  I mean really looking - visiting fan forums, reading newspaper articles written in that city about the team, being at that team's games to the get the pulse of the fans.  Somehow I doubt it.  
 
What stupid things have the fans caused the Bombers to do??  Please tell me.  Fire Doug Berry?  No, because he had lost the locker room.  The players were tuning him and his ridiculous out-of-control sideline rants out.  The fact he hasn't been hired as a head coach since and has lost two jobs as OC proves the Bombers made the right decision.  Fire Mike Kelly?  Ha!  Guy who was fired because of his lack of professionalism both on and off the field, his callous disregard for our free agents and draft picks, his poor handling of the QB position.  Getting into a fight with his girlfriend was the last straw.  Firing Joe Mack?  A guy who hadn't been with a CFL organization for nearly 25 years and we were foolishly led to believe would turn this franchise around.  A guy whose only saving grace with the Bombers was bringing in decent import talent from the US, and really no better than the average Gm in the CFL at that when you think about it.  Our O-line was crap when he came, crap when he was fired; our Canadian content was crap when he came and only slightly less afterwards (still worst in the league) and our Qbs were crap when he came and still crap when he left (Hall is a decent backup who can start the occasional game).  Joe Mack was the Ol Gill of the CFL - couldn't sell the good players on the Bomber organization if he tried - see Brendan Labatte, Greg Carr and Mike Reilly.
 
Were the release of Brink or Elliott on the fans' lack of patience?  Consider this - no one picked up Brink and kept him on a roster for very long.  Joey Elliott had to pay his way to BC for a tryout and was released a few games into the season only to be picked up again because of injuries to two of their QBs.  He might be back as a third stringer only due to circumstances.  Wally's criticisms of Elliott was pretty damning.  So it doesn't seem like any of the managers and coaches in the league think too highly of our ex-Qbs otherwise they would be kept on some CFL teams and groomed to at least be a semi-competent backup.  Geez maybe that's the reason these QBs were released by the Bombers - not due to fan pressure to see immediate results, but because their talent level and/or their abilities to take instruction and handle pressure are not at a level needed to be a starting or even backup QB.  I would apply this label to Goltz as well.
 
The only reason the media and fans appear harder on this team than other cities (and that's debatable) is due to the 23 year Grey Cup drought.  HOw incompetent can a franchise be to not win one Grey Cup in a 23 years in a 8 team league?  The last ten years have been especially embarrassing - something like a .350 winning percentage.  Those results rest on the BOD making questionable hires over the past decade and a half and in turn, the management they hire making questionable coaching hires themselves.  Jeff Reinbold, Mike Kelly, Joe Mack, Tim Burke, Creehan.  These guys were truly terrible at their jobs and yet the blame lies at the feet of the fans?  More like the blame lies at the feet of the organization, the managers and coaches hired, and the crap talent brought in at most positions to compete. 
 
So please provide me with some specific examples as to how our fans have prevented us from going into a true rebuild?  Because this is a 9-team league where all the GMs have access to the same pool of players (the majority of CFL teams are American) from down south deemed unsuitable or lacking the talent to make the cut in the NFL.  Rebuilding or rather reloading is something that should only take a year or two at most.  This isn't the NBA, NHL, MLB or the NFL - rebuilds in the CFL do not require 3 - 5 years..at least they don't if upper management hires a GM and coach who are capable of bringing in adequate talent, something that Joe Mack was unable to do. It certainly is not the fans fault that he couldn't identify and sign the proper talent.

You seem like a fun guy.

It's not the fans or the media's fault that the Bombers are a crappy team.  Place the blame where it belongs... on the management and BOD.  
 
Patience has nothing to do with it.  Every year we need to build a competitive team that makes it to the playoffs.  The draft is the time to do the 2 or 3 years down the road planning.  Other than that it's about doing the right things to win right now.     Want to develop a QB?  Don't give him playing time, make him earn it.  Make him beat the incumbent to get the job.  The coaches should be the first to know when it's time for the vet QB to lose his starting spot and the fans or media opinions means squat.  
It doesn't matter if we develop our own QB or if we get them from other teams.  What matters is that we have a good QB who lead the team.  The same holds true for every player and every coach.  
 
Our management needs to become way more aggressive. This year we have totally new management yet we have the same old problem.  We target players we don't sign, then we make the same lame excuse... "They wanted to be closer to family:  We are asked to ignore the facts that we have the worst team in the league, thats rebuilding from scratch yet again, with a rookie management team and a head coach who hasn't even been a DC or OC at any level, yet alone an HC.  In short, we have the worst available jobs in the league right now so of course players with options want to be somewhere else, but that doesn't mean we don't have a shot at them.
 
We can sign free agents if we pay them enough to overcome the fact that we have a horrible team.  We can't sign them if we send out 'competitive' offers then wait by the phone to see if they want to negotiate with us.  It's going to take 'overpaying' until we become a competitive team for a few years in a row and I couldn't care less if we go over the SMS limit as long as we don't go so far over that we lose our 1st round draft pick.
 
It's simple... We need to stop losing out on players and coaches in the off season or else we will continue losing in the season.

KJ's peak as good as Calvillo.ha.  Now I've heard everything.
 
Calvillo had several seasons that were better than KJ's best so that argument doesn't hold water.
 
Flip Calvillo's 3-5 Grey Cup record around to 5-3 with improved performances in the dreadful 2006 (was at this game and Calvillo was mediocre) and 2008 games and he has a shot at the top-3 all-time
 
1.  Flutie - 6 MVPs in 8 seasons and 3 Grey Cup victories and 5 trips to the big game.
2.  Parker - 3 MVPs and 3 Grey Cups. Excellent scrambler on top of being a good passing QB for the time.
3.  Moon - I was actually thinking of dropping him down the list, even with the 5 Grey Cups and 1 MVP.  Seem to remember reading stories or some box scores that suggest he wasn't all that great in the playoffs.  Think there was one game where he was relieved by Wilkinson in a playoff game (GreyCup?) because he was playing for poorly.  Wilkinson helped the team win that Grey Cup, not sure what year though.  Someone can correct me if that's wrong.  Small sample size and he was only the starter for half his time in the CFL.  Still, he was so dominant in the regular season that it's had to rank him any lower
4.  Jackson - tempted to put him at 3.  3-time MVP and 3-time Grey Cup winner. 3-1 in the Grey Cup.  9-5 as a starter in the playoffs.  Only a full-time starter for 7 seasons once Lancaster left for Sask yet he accomplished all this.  91 QB rating which is absolutely incredible for the 60s.  Excellent runner with over 5,000 yeards rushing. 
 
I'd rank Calvillo just behind these guys at 5.
 
Dunigan  - doesn't belong in the conversation.  Never won an MVP award.  3-time CFL all-star which is good though.  Put up some good regular season numbers but he was pretty average in the playoffs and below average in Grey Cup games (1-2 record).  Played like crap in 87 Grey Cup before injury, played decent in 88' Grey Cup and played OK in 91 Grey Cup in brutal conditions and played like crap for the Bombers in 92 Grey Cup.  Injuries played a role in his career, but the playoff resume and lack of MVPs means he should not be a top-5 QB of all-time.
 
Garcia while putting up some very respectable numbers certainly doesn't stand out as much as Moon did in a similar shortened CFL career.  1 Grey Cup. 1 CFL all-star. The fact that the Stamps had the same record in 1999 upon Garcia's departure and still made it to the Grey Cup suggests that the team surrounding him was quite good and may have very well enhanced his stats.  Bottom line - not quite a large enough resume and didn't stand out enough during his brief tenure.  IF we were to include him as a top-5, we would have to consider Dave Dickenson as well. 
 
Lancaster - accumulater with a decent but hardly outstanding QB rating.  13-13 playoff record which is actually quite good but the 1-4 Grey Cup record would have to be held against him especially when you consider some of those performances.  2 MVPs and a runner-up.  CFL all-star 4 or 5 times.  Great career, but the lack of MVPs and truly oustanding seasons precludes him from the top-5 conversation.
 
Clements - 1 MVP, 2 CFl all-stars, top- 10 in several QB categories, several divisional all-stars.  He was very good, but when you compare his stats to some of his peers at the time, he rarely comes out on top.  Also, while he was 2-0 in Grey Cups (assistance on the first one with Holloway) his playoff record is pretty unimpressive (sub .500 with several disappointing performances).  I remember as a kid, watching his last game at Winnipeg Stadium in the 1987 Eastern Finals.  Scored a grand total of 2 points on offense.  Brutal way to end your CFL career.  Same with Reeves as well.  Good argument for top-10, but regular season stats combined with middling playoff performances aren't worthy of top-5.
 
Allen - another accumulator, more so than Lancaster though.  Many OK to good seasons.  Few great seasons.  Only 1 MVP and 1 CFL all-star in a career that spans over 2 decades.  Impressive longevity and arguably the best scrambler and running QB in CFL history - over 10,000 yards rushing.  That and his 3-0 record and 3 Grey Cup MVPs puts him in the conversation for top-5 but ultimately the lack of regular season success pushes him down the list.  I mean really, other than one season, 2005, can anyone say he was the best player in the CFL?  Answer that question and you will know why he would not be considered top-5.
 
Ray could be in the running in the future.  Needs a few MVPs, a few more oustanding seasons and some more CFL all-star nods.

KJ's peak as good as Calvillo.ha.  Now I've heard everything.
 
Calvillo had several seasons that were better than KJ's best so that argument doesn't hold water.
 
Flip Calvillo's 3-5 Grey Cup record around to 5-3 with improved performances in the dreadful 2006 (was at this game and Calvillo was mediocre) and 2008 games and he has a shot at the top-3 all-time
 
1.  Flutie - 6 MVPs in 8 seasons and 3 Grey Cup victories and 5 trips to the big game.
2.  Parker - 3 MVPs and 3 Grey Cups. Excellent scrambler on top of being a good passing QB for the time.
3.  Moon - I was actually thinking of dropping him down the list, even with the 5 Grey Cups and 1 MVP.  Seem to remember reading stories or some box scores that suggest he wasn't all that great in the playoffs.  Think there was one game where he was relieved by Wilkinson in a playoff game (GreyCup?) because he was playing for poorly.  Wilkinson helped the team win that Grey Cup, not sure what year though.  Someone can correct me if that's wrong.  Small sample size and he was only the starter for half his time in the CFL.  Still, he was so dominant in the regular season that it's had to rank him any lower
4.  Jackson - tempted to put him at 3.  3-time MVP and 3-time Grey Cup winner. 3-1 in the Grey Cup.  9-5 as a starter in the playoffs.  Only a full-time starter for 7 seasons once Lancaster left for Sask yet he accomplished all this.  91 QB rating which is absolutely incredible for the 60s.  Excellent runner with over 5,000 yeards rushing. 
 
I'd rank Calvillo just behind these guys at 5.
 
Dunigan  - doesn't belong in the conversation.  Never won an MVP award.  3-time CFL all-star which is good though.  Put up some good regular season numbers but he was pretty average in the playoffs and below average in Grey Cup games (1-2 record).  Played like crap in 87 Grey Cup before injury, played decent in 88' Grey Cup and played OK in 91 Grey Cup in brutal conditions and played like crap for the Bombers in 92 Grey Cup.  Injuries played a role in his career, but the playoff resume and lack of MVPs means he should not be a top-5 QB of all-time.
 
Garcia while putting up some very respectable numbers certainly doesn't stand out as much as Moon did in a similar shortened CFL career.  1 Grey Cup. 1 CFL all-star. The fact that the Stamps had the same record in 1999 upon Garcia's departure and still made it to the Grey Cup suggests that the team surrounding him was quite good and may have very well enhanced his stats.  Bottom line - not quite a large enough resume and didn't stand out enough during his brief tenure.  IF we were to include him as a top-5, we would have to consider Dave Dickenson as well. 
 
Lancaster - accumulater with a decent but hardly outstanding QB rating.  13-13 playoff record which is actually quite good but the 1-4 Grey Cup record would have to be held against him especially when you consider some of those performances.  2 MVPs and a runner-up.  CFL all-star 4 or 5 times.  Great career, but the lack of MVPs and truly oustanding seasons precludes him from the top-5 conversation.
 
Clements - 1 MVP, 2 CFl all-stars, top- 10 in several QB categories, several divisional all-stars.  He was very good, but when you compare his stats to some of his peers at the time, he rarely comes out on top.  Also, while he was 2-0 in Grey Cups (assistance on the first one with Holloway) his playoff record is pretty unimpressive (sub .500 with several disappointing performances).  I remember as a kid, watching his last game at Winnipeg Stadium in the 1987 Eastern Finals.  Scored a grand total of 2 points on offense.  Brutal way to end your CFL career.  Same with Reeves as well.  Good argument for top-10, but regular season stats combined with middling playoff performances aren't worthy of top-5.
 
Allen - another accumulator, more so than Lancaster though.  Many OK to good seasons.  Few great seasons.  Only 1 MVP and 1 CFL all-star in a career that spans over 2 decades.  Impressive longevity and arguably the best scrambler and running QB in CFL history - over 10,000 yards rushing.  That and his 3-0 record and 3 Grey Cup MVPs puts him in the conversation for top-5 but ultimately the lack of regular season success pushes him down the list.  I mean really, other than one season, 2005, can anyone say he was the best player in the CFL?  Answer that question and you will know why he would not be considered top-5.
 
Ray could be in the running in the future.  Needs a few MVPs, a few more oustanding seasons and some more CFL all-star nods.

KJ's peak as good as Calvillo.ha.  Now I've heard everything.
 
Calvillo had several seasons that were better than KJ's best so that argument doesn't hold water.
 
Flip Calvillo's 3-5 Grey Cup record around to 5-3 with improved performances in the dreadful 2006 (was at this game and Calvillo was mediocre) and 2008 games and he has a shot at the top-3 all-time
 
1.  Flutie - 6 MVPs in 8 seasons and 3 Grey Cup victories and 5 trips to the big game.
2.  Parker - 3 MVPs and 3 Grey Cups. Excellent scrambler on top of being a good passing QB for the time.
3.  Moon - I was actually thinking of dropping him down the list, even with the 5 Grey Cups and 1 MVP.  Seem to remember reading stories or some box scores that suggest he wasn't all that great in the playoffs.  Think there was one game where he was relieved by Wilkinson in a playoff game (GreyCup?) because he was playing for poorly.  Wilkinson helped the team win that Grey Cup, not sure what year though.  Someone can correct me if that's wrong.  Small sample size and he was only the starter for half his time in the CFL.  Still, he was so dominant in the regular season that it's had to rank him any lower
4.  Jackson - tempted to put him at 3.  3-time MVP and 3-time Grey Cup winner. 3-1 in the Grey Cup.  9-5 as a starter in the playoffs.  Only a full-time starter for 7 seasons once Lancaster left for Sask yet he accomplished all this.  91 QB rating which is absolutely incredible for the 60s.  Excellent runner with over 5,000 yeards rushing. 
 
I'd rank Calvillo just behind these guys at 5.
 
Dunigan  - doesn't belong in the conversation.  Never won an MVP award.  3-time CFL all-star which is good though.  Put up some good regular season numbers but he was pretty average in the playoffs and below average in Grey Cup games (1-2 record).  Played like crap in 87 Grey Cup before injury, played decent in 88' Grey Cup and played OK in 91 Grey Cup in brutal conditions and played like crap for the Bombers in 92 Grey Cup.  Injuries played a role in his career, but the playoff resume and lack of MVPs means he should not be a top-5 QB of all-time.
 
Garcia while putting up some very respectable numbers certainly doesn't stand out as much as Moon did in a similar shortened CFL career.  1 Grey Cup. 1 CFL all-star. The fact that the Stamps had the same record in 1999 upon Garcia's departure and still made it to the Grey Cup suggests that the team surrounding him was quite good and may have very well enhanced his stats.  Bottom line - not quite a large enough resume and didn't stand out enough during his brief tenure.  IF we were to include him as a top-5, we would have to consider Dave Dickenson as well. 
 
Lancaster - accumulater with a decent but hardly outstanding QB rating.  13-13 playoff record which is actually quite good but the 1-4 Grey Cup record would have to be held against him especially when you consider some of those performances.  2 MVPs and a runner-up.  CFL all-star 4 or 5 times.  Great career, but the lack of MVPs and truly oustanding seasons precludes him from the top-5 conversation.
 
Clements - 1 MVP, 2 CFl all-stars, top- 10 in several QB categories, several divisional all-stars.  He was very good, but when you compare his stats to some of his peers at the time, he rarely comes out on top.  Also, while he was 2-0 in Grey Cups (assistance on the first one with Holloway) his playoff record is pretty unimpressive (sub .500 with several disappointing performances).  I remember as a kid, watching his last game at Winnipeg Stadium in the 1987 Eastern Finals.  Scored a grand total of 2 points on offense.  Brutal way to end your CFL career.  Same with Reeves as well.  Good argument for top-10, but regular season stats combined with middling playoff performances aren't worthy of top-5.
 
Allen - another accumulator, more so than Lancaster though.  Many OK to good seasons.  Few great seasons.  Only 1 MVP and 1 CFL all-star in a career that spans over 2 decades.  Impressive longevity and arguably the best scrambler and running QB in CFL history - over 10,000 yards rushing.  That and his 3-0 record and 3 Grey Cup MVPs puts him in the conversation for top-5 but ultimately the lack of regular season success pushes him down the list.  I mean really, other than one season, 2005, can anyone say he was the best player in the CFL?  Answer that question and you will know why he would not be considered top-5.
 
Ray could be in the running in the future.  Needs a few MVPs, a few more oustanding seasons and some more CFL all-star nods.

Some nice revisionist history going on here.  Check his record as a coach, Gm  and asst. Gm and get back to me.  Also note the 3 Grey Cup appearances.  As for director of officiating no one's going to fix that unless the league puts a significant increase in their investment  in officials.
 
And if Higgins struggled, I'd love to see how you would describe Joe Mack's tenure as GM.

Some nice revisionist history going on here.  Check his record as a coach, Gm  and asst. Gm and get back to me.  Also note the 3 Grey Cup appearances.  As for director of officiating no one's going to fix that unless the league puts a significant increase in their investment  in officials.
 
And if Higgins struggled, I'd love to see how you would describe Joe Mack's tenure as GM.

Heard Rod Peterson from the Roughriders on the TSN morning show this morning, he was saying that it was likely Dressler was going to hit FA and that Winnipeg may be a possible destination for him since it is close to home in Bismark, ND.

Experienced people can see the cluster-truck and would want full autonomy before they would be the least bit interesting in our GM job.  Knowing you have to keep Walters on and that he has the ear of the CEO, isn't going to attract the best candidates.  I heard during Grey Cup week that a couple of experienced folks even turned the Bombers requests for interviews down.  

No surprise you'd hate the halftime show seen as how you pretty much seem to hate everything.
 
That being said, the halftime show isn't meant to cater to people already at the game or watching the game on TV. They're already watching, it's not meant as a "bonus" for them. The halftime show IS to cater to, as you put it, the 12 year old girl demographic. Get TV sets that wouldn't normally tune in to switch the channel. Up the ratings, up the ad revenue, it's that simple. And as much as I can't stand Hedley, I'll take them over outdated acts like BTO mumbling out lyrics nobody can understand.

I like Walters a lot.  Still not happy that they hired the guy in the next closest office once again.  Thinking maybe I'll hang around the stadium a lot this year, probably be promoted to assistant GM.

Wonder how "many stones were left unturned" in the search to fill this position? 

PM thanks!  #ProudlyCanadian
 
And Mike, Burris just isn't a winner in crunch time. Summer time QB, and chokes in the cold. For my money, he's the worst cold-weather QB in CFL history.

Pretty sure there was the same reaction when Mack was hired by some. Not worried. Imwt and all that.
Walters seems like a good football man to have in the organization, but i fail to see how he is any bit qualified to handle such an enormous task as transforming a horrible team that has been mostly crap since 2008 into a highly competitive team that push for division champions each year.
Cis coach to shitty st coach to assistant GM to intermin GM, Not seeing the cfl experience in building a great team from the dog pile we currently are. Sure he has CIs experience but how does that translate into the cfl?
I rather someone like Higgins or someone with similar amounts of experience helping manage teams that have turned from crap into top 4 teams in the league.
Settling with Walters May turn out to be great, but i don't understand our perpetual gravitation to rookie management hires..

I don't mind Walters getting a shot, I just think that right now given what this team has gone through since 2009 a more experienced person would have looked better. Now granted there maybe aren't a lot of those guys available, the optics of this looks kinda iffy. 

ahh that's not a real good thing to say. Glenn is what he is. He is not the guy to elevate his teams play, he's the guy who goes along with how the team is going. If the team is playing well he plays well if the team isn't playing well he's not the guy to turn it around. Nothing wrong with that but because he's the qb he gets **** on for not being the super star player who can flip things all by himself. 

Those guys swore up and down during the pre-game of the last Bombers/TiCats game, that there was absolutely no way they'd be behind schedule at any point. They had assurances, and yada yada yada. They were snickering about what happened with the Bombers site, and said without any hesitation that it wouldn't happen to them and everything would be done on time, no questions asked.
 
God, how I'd love to see them get ****** right around, too...to hell with those guys.

Just because Berry was a better coach than any Bomber coach that came after him doesn't mean he was a good coach.  Because he certainly wasn't.  HIs out of control raging on the sideline coupled with emotion-based decision making with the challenge flag that rarely resulted in overturning of a play in the Bombers' favour as opposed to using cool rational judgement.  Grey Cup 2007 trying to challenge a challenge flag  Brilliant Doug, that's worse than any coaching mistake from Lapo or Burke!
 
Berry is the type of fiery coach who only lasts three years before the players start tuning him out.  It happened early in his third season here and it would most likely would happen here again should the team be foolish enough to hire him as head coach. 
 
I guess I would be OK with him as the OC although I think the Bombers could do better.  The Bomber offense was only ever above average for the first ten games or so of the 2007 season during his tenure.  Otherwise, it was consistently below average.  Yes, I know we had Kevin Glenn at the helm his entire stay but the offense had three pretty good receivers in Armstron, Stegall and Edwards and a pretty good running back in Roberts and a solid O-line.

Big time.  The inmates ran the asylum when he was here, luckily he had some pretty solid inmates who could lead.  The total loss of control in 08 and downloading of the OC duties to Dinwiddie and Glenn in the second half of the season proved the guy can't handle any of the positions that require management skills.  Good coach, not a manager.  Not cut out to be a head coach or co-ordinator.  OL coach or maybe even QB coach would be a good role for him, along with advising a young head coach.  Don't want him in charge of anything.

Why would we want doug berry, if he wasn't good enough for us before and he's not good enough for the Als now...

I'm not going to pretend that I know that the Riders organization is run more or less professionally than ours... but here are a few things I can see that they do better than us:
 
1) Go outside the organization for coaching/GM hires.  We seem to continually hire former Bomber people.  Joe Mack, LaPo, Burke, Miller, Walters... now we hear about Khari potentially as an HC.  I get that in an 8-team league, many players play for 25-50% of the teams; so hiring former players is going to happen.  Some will end up being very good coaches/personnel people.  But sometimes you need to do what the Riders did... bring in some outside perspective.  Taman was a long-time Bomber... Chamblin's bounced around between other teams and kept a good name as a good coach.  I for one think that given the 5-year tailspin we are in... that some outside perspective and attitude would serve us well.
 
2) The Riders spend on an appropriate coaching staff.  How can you expect to develop a QB at the same level as the rest of the league... when you throw less money at less coaches; than everyone else?  Hate to say it, but the way out is lit with spending in the right places.  Coaching is one of those places.
 
3) Their personnel people in the last 5 years have been better than ours.  Mack had a philosophy that he stuck to regardless of outcome... I respect the hell out of him for sticking with what he believed in... however, it didn't work.  In fact, it gave 7 CFL teams a distinct advantage over the Bombers; in decreasing the market for proven CFL players. 
 
These 3 items I think answer all of your questions.  Better personnel and better coaching translate into better QB development, a better OL, and playoff chances.  An "outside the organization" perspective may be the needed voice in the room to counter an incumbent's "Bomber way" views.

Miller rubs me the wrong way.  The GM will select the HC?  Just like the GM will fire the current coach?  Miller said football ops would be up to the GM, then he said football ops decisions are made after discussing with him first.  Who's he trying to fool?  "The GM will hire the coach...that I tell him to hire" is more accurate.

Lots of nice people get fired from their jobs. That's life. In this situation, it had to be done. No way the team could have any legitimacy going forward with the fanbase trying to sell Tim Burke as the guy who would coach this team to a championship. Renewals probably went up 15% this morning with this firing. And I agree that the entire architect of this mess was Joe Mack. Our import & Canadian talent is the worst in the CFL. From his comments last week, Miller hates the guy.

You've got it wrong.  For every success there are 3 or more failures and most of the successes have a good to great vet support system around them, which we don't have.  
 
I do expect a turnaround next year.  The 2 or 3 year plan is just an excuse to be bad for a couple of years.  Drafting to become a winner doesn't work in the CFL where your best players can leave for the NFL or go to FA and play where they want to.  Didn't you learn anything from the Mack years?  Vet management, coaches and players speed up the rebuilding process.
 
An all rookie team of Miller, Walters, newbie HC, and newbie starting QB would pretty much guarantee a bad year filled with potential.  Fans would talk all day about how much better it will be when they have played together for a while.  Rookie HC mistakes will cost us some games, but 'He's just learning his job'.  Rookie QB mistakes will cost us other games, but 'He's just learning his job'.   It will get better soon.  After winning a couple of meaningless games at the end of the season folks will search for stats to show how we are 'on the cusp' of a good season next year.  We're just a couple of good players away from a competitive team they will say.  If all the newbies turn out to be good, they will be right.  If one or more of them don't have the right stuff, then blow it up and start over yet again.