END OF THE RHODES
Suspicious timing: Jones
On the eve of Mike Reilly’s now widely expected departure to join Ed Hervey with the B.C. Lions in the CFL’s unprecedented free agent frenzy, the timing appears highly suspicious.
Len Rhodes, it was announced Monday, is out as president and chief executive of the Edmonton Eskimos.
If Mike Reilly departs to the B.C. Lions in free agency Tuesday for $700,000 a year as reported, it will leave the bookends of Rhodes legacy being the allowing of then-GM Eric Tillman to trade Ricky Ray to Toronto days after he took the job to, quite likely, the virtual certainty of the departure of Reilly.
Could this be punishment for that possible double whammy?
Or could it be a last minute move to influence Reilly to stay to complete his career here?
Both Rhodes and Eskimos chairman of the board Brad Sparrow insist none of the above scenarios were involved.
The announcement was made at 10:01 a.m. via an email news release. It stated that Brad Sparrow, chairman of the board of directors and Rhodes “jointly announce” that Rhodes “will not be seeking another term” and that the board and Rhodes “have mutually agreed that it is in the best interests of the organization to allow Len to depart on Feb. 20, 2019.”
The denials came quickly. “The timing is actually a total coincidence. It’s not tied to Mike Reilly whatsoever,” Rhodes told me a few minutes following the announcement.
“This organization has never been about one individual whether it’s the president and CEO or a quarterback.”
On the other hand, Rhodes allowed that timing was involved.
“It’s better for anyone who joins or rejoins the organization, whether it’s Mike Reilly or anyone else, for this to be known now than for me to wait a week to deliver the news.”
Rhodes’ contract ends at the conclusion of the current season. He said it was decided by the board to do it sooner than later.
Sparrow, who co-chaired, along with Rhodes, the ballistic success of the 2018 Grey Cup hosting, widely judged as the best ever, was in Mexico City Monday.
“Len and the board discussed a number of things (and) came out with a mutual agreement that the timing should be now, before the season starts, to give us the opportunity to start searching for a replacement,” he said in a telephone interview with me early in the afternoon.
“The timing is not related to Mike Reilly. Not whatsoever.
“Like any other Edmontonian or Eskimos fan, I am still hopeful that Mike Reilly is an Eskimo Tuesday — or soon. But the timing and what it looks like are just not related. The timing of what goes on in Brock Sunderland’s office and with free agency is awkward, but that’s it. There’s nothing to read into that at all.
“The board of directors needs to have a good president and CEO in place. Len has been a good one and now we need to find another one.”
Rhodes, 55, said it was a decision that sort of evolved.
“It was multiple conversations, honestly. At the end of the day I thought I’d done a number of things in seven years and as the contract was set to expire at the end of 2019, after a lot of reflection, I thought it was better to try something else in my life for a next chapter.
“Honestly, what I went through two years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer was a big turning point. When I went through surgery it just gave me a different perspective. So I questioned everything. It’s difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t had a health issue. You look at things in a different way.”
The initial judging of Rhodes in social media resulted in his cancelling his Twitter account within an hour of the announcement, calling it “a negative cesspool.”
Much of the comment was centred on his dismissal of Ed Hervey as general manager.
Neither Rhodes, nor Sparrow were particularly interested in dealing with the firing of Hervey by Rhodes. Due to front office positioning, power, and money issues — not football operation issues — that was totally supported and endorsed by the board.
“There is not one single event that caused this to happen,” said Rhodes. “I had the support at the time when I made those recommendations and decisions.”
Sparrow said what went down with Hervey wasn’t related.
“Len, as CEO of the club, was paid to make tough decisions and he had to make tough decisions. And guess what? So will the new president and CEO have to make tough decisions with personnel and strategies and all kinds of things.”
Both gave solid support to Hervey’s replacement Brock Sunderland going forward.
“I believe Brock has the plan that’s going to be good long term with or without Mike Reilly,” said Rhodes. “He has my full support as president and CEO, but I know he has the board’s support as well, which is really important.”
Sparrow said he believes the Eskimos have the people in place to carry on until Rhodes’ replacement is found.
“We’ll begin the process immediately and we’ll take our time to find the right person. Hopefully we’ll have somebody in place as soon as possible and certainly before the season starts,” he said.
“We are just now going to put our thoughts together on what exactly we’re looking for and we’ll have that sort of matrix of talent and skills and experience and various things, so we’ll get to that in due course.”
The board chairman insisted on giving Rhodes credit for his seven years on the job.
“He was a very hard-working leader and we were pleased with his performance,” he said.
Rhodes came in as ‘The Brand Man’ from previous positions with Molson and Reebok based in Montreal and Toronto. He definitely left his mark on that side of the business.
Rhodes provided sponsorship deals that kept the Eskimos’ bottom line healthy and, of course, played his role in the Grey Cup success, financial details of which are soon to be revealed.
“I know we’ve never had sponsorship revenue like we’ve ever had it in our history, so it’s been a record amount overall. And we also had the biggest single partnership in our history when we signed The Brick to naming rights for the field,” said Rhodes.
His successor will need to be stronger in the area of ticket sales and marketing.
But Rhodes said he believes he goes out for the most part “being able to hold my head high.”
“With the success of the Grey Cup, I feel like I’m leaving on a high,” Rhodes said. “Many of our athletes struggle with what’s the right time to leave. I look at this and say ‘This is probably the right time.’”
What I went through two years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer was a big turning point ... You look at things in a different way.