Hervey’s lack of concern for marketing was his downfall
GM built winner on the field, but he wouldn’t play ball with the media
We’ve got to do more than have a good product on the field. We’ve got to expose our product. LEN RHODES
Winning is everything, but it’s not enough, according to Edmonton Eskimos president Len Rhodes.
It certainly wasn’t enough to save Ed Hervey’s job as general manager.
And if you walk down that twisted line of logic, it will take you to the spot where Hervey’s opposition to media access collided with Rhodes’ belief that he can pack 40,000 people into Commonwealth Stadium for every home game, if only he and the team’s stakeholders receive more co-operation from the football operations side. Which would be Hervey. Or, was.
Rhodes fired Hervey on Friday morning, citing an impasse over contract extension talks and a philosophical difference over stakeholder access to Eskimos players.
Ground Zero for this battle then would be the Eskimos locker-room, territory that had been ceded by Rhodes to Hervey, out of respect for the job Hervey had done with the on-field product since taking over as GM in December 2012. That would be the “winning is everything” part of this yarn, as commemorated by those 2015 Grey Cup rings and a 40-32 record as GM.
Hervey, who was among the most talkative players when he was an Eskimos wide receiver, changed his tune as a GM. He wanted the local media out of the way as much as could be accomplished. They were too much of a daily distraction for his players, apparently. So the room was eventually closed, and the clock started ticking.
After a brutal first year, the Eskimos won 12 regular-season games and made it to the Western final in 2014, 14 more and a Grey Cup in 2015 and 10 more and an Eastern final appearance last year.
But the seats at Commonwealth Stadium weren’t filling up in lockstep with the win column. And the ticking grew louder.
“Having put Ed in the role four years ago, I have a lot of time and respect for the gentleman,” Rhodes said Friday. “He did great things. What he did to build a contender, which was always his consistent objective on the field, was second to none.
“Yes, we did win a Grey Cup, but it’s not enough. We’ve got to do more than have a good product on the field. We’ve got to expose our product. We’ve got to adjust and evolve with what’s going on in the marketplace. There’s a lot of competition when it comes to sports and entertainment.”
As team president and a marketing guy, Rhodes was tasked with overcoming that challenge, and he surely has to eat most of the blame for the fact attendance continued its downward trend and fell by three per cent last year. But there was enough finger-pointing to go around, and when Rhodes decided Hervey wasn’t willing to become part of the solution, in fact Hervey was part of the problem, something had to give.
The food chain being what it is, Hervey’s defiance meant he had to go.
The clash of philosophies had reached an embarrassing public peak during the live microphone debacle of last season. Head coach Jason Maas refused to wear one, and both he and the team were fined by CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge for breaking that commitment. When the experiment was rescheduled for the final, meaningless regular-season home game, a petulant Maas wore a mic but said nothing.
As a major stakeholder, TSN was owed professional courtesy and co-operation and received neither from the Eskimos, who chose to die on an ant hill rather than fulfil a commitment made in part by Rhodes, acting as a league governor. That’s on Maas and Hervey. And there is every chance the Eskimos board of directors made a decision on Hervey at that point.
Rhodes said Friday the team is now seen as a barrier to new initiatives like that one, and he wants to ensure the Eskimos embrace such experiments going forward, and act as a progressive member of the CFL.
It’s well past time for that realization. And if Hervey was actually willing to risk his job to defy his bosses over media access and live mic experiments, the mind boggles. Hervey didn’t return a call on Friday, so I’m not sure what the heck he was thinking.
In general, you do as your boss desires or suffer the consequences. Trouble is, Rhodes’ base assumption is flawed. There is no chance crowds of 40,000 will flock to home games simply because the Eskimos fling open the doors of their room to the media and their minds to marketing ideas. No teams in the league, not even the most consistent winners, approach that number.
And what if the Eskimos suddenly stop winning, which is the risk when letting go a football mind like Hervey’s? Finding a capable new GM will take time. He, in time, will want his own head coach. By pulling the trigger on Hervey two months before the season starts, based on issues lingering from last season and years before, Rhodes has signed up the Eskimos for a period of instability, which isn’t good for the record.
And winning, as they say, is everything. Until somebody like Rhodes decides it isn’t. This is his second GM firing, and he’s getting only slightly better at it. Remember him saying there was “no specific reason” for axing Eric Tillman in November 2012? That was bizarre.
On Friday he had his reasons, valid or not, but his timing was truly awful.
And timing, like winning, is everything. Until somebody decides it isn’t.