Evaluating candidates for new head coach
Reed will continue feeling-out process and kick some tires during Grey Cup week
For the seventh time since 2012, the Alouettes are seeking a warm body to coach their team. After Dan Hawkins, Jim Popp, Tom Higgins, Popp again, Jacques Chapdelaine and Kavis Reed, fans would hope that one of these times the organization’s bound to get it right. Why not this time? General manager Reed, in charge of the hiring process, has been picking away at this since mid-September, when Chapdelaine was fired and Reed took over on an interim basis. Reed has had two more weeks, since the regular season ended, to work behind the scenes and will be in Ottawa this week for the Grey Cup to continue the feeling-out process and kick some tires.
Reed undoubtedly has produced a list of candidates which he’ll begin to whittle down. And, if history holds true, that list will be reduced to three or four finalists who will be flown to Palm Beach, Fla., where they can meet owner Robert Wetenhall. The patriarch probably will be joined by his son, Andrew, the Als’ lead governor.
We’ve divided candidates into three categories.
FAVOURITES
With Paul LaPolice signing a contract extension with Winnipeg that includes a financially hefty escape clause, that leaves DeVone Claybrooks, Corey Chamblin, Marcel Bellefeuille, Jamie Elizondo and Mark Washington.
Claybrooks, the defensive coordinator at Calgary, appears to be at the top of the list of those ready to become a head coach for the first time in the Canadian Football League. He played for the Als, works for the most successful and sound organization and, if hired, could probably convince Rich Stubler to join him as DC.
Chamblin, Toronto’s DC, was a former head coach at Saskatchewan and won a Grey Cup in that role. But he comes with a bit of an ego, it has been suggested, and might have rubbed some people the wrong way while there. However, he undoubtedly has improved the Argonauts’ defence.
Bellefeuille, B.C.’s receivers coach, would provide the Als with a francophone presence along with an offensive base. Bellefeuille was Hamilton’s head coach for three full seasons, going 26-28 overall. He also spent two seasons with the Als and was the offensive coordinator in 2007.
Elizondo is Ottawa’s OC and a former Als assistant. When the Redblacks played at Molson Stadium in September, four days after Chapdelaine’s firing, both Reed and president Patrick Boivin spoke at length with Elizondo before the game.
Washington played for the Als and has been the Lions’ DC since 2014. He launched his coaching career six seasons earlier with the same team.
WORTH REMEMBERING
This could be a considerable list, including the likes of Tracy Ham, Tom Clements and a number of other CFL co-ordinators, such as Mike Benevides, Marcus Brady, Khari Jones, Richie Hall and Mark Nelson. And don’t forget Laval head coach Glen Constantin who, yet again, has the Rouge et Or playing for a Vanier Cup this Saturday.
Ham and Clements are intriguing. And both are former CFL quarterbacks.
Not only did Ham complete his career with the Als, helping to mentor Anthony Calvillo when he badly required assistance, he has long been a favourite of Robert Wetenhall’s.
Ham has been the senior associate athletic director for internal operations at Georgia Southern University since 2014, so hasn’t actually been coaching. He did briefly coach at Clark Atlanta University, during the early 2000s, without success. The Division II team won only two of 22 games under Ham.
Clements, meanwhile, passed for more than 39,000 yards for four CFL teams between 1975-87, won two Grey Cups and was the most outstanding player in ’87. He has had a long and distinguished coaching career, culminating in a two-year stint as Green Bay’s assistant head coach. And he was Notre Dame’s starting quarterback during the 1970s, leading the Fighting Irish to a national championship.
That will serve him well with Robert Wetenhall.
Benevides, meanwhile, is Edmonton’s DC and was the Lions’ head coach between 2012-14. While the team didn’t win a championship, they never had a losing record, going 33-21 overall (.611 percentage).
Brady (Toronto), Jones (B.C.), Hall (Winnipeg) and Nelson (Ottawa) are all co-ordinators. Brady both played for and coached with the Als, serving as OC in 2012 under Marc Trestman, while Hall is a former Eskimos head coach who went 16-20 over two seasons.
As for Constantin, all he does is win, continuing to get publicity and recognition with each Rouge et Or victory. But the Als will have trouble convincing him to leave a successful program for the uncertainty of becoming a pro coach.
As for Constantin, all he does is win … But the Als will have trouble convincing him to leave a successful program …
LONG SHOTS
Here are some names to consider — Stubler, a favourite of Reed’s; Chris Palmer, who once coached with the Als (1983) before going to the NFL and was a Cleveland Browns’ head coach; Western head coach Greg Marshall, the other Vanier Cup finalist and a former Hamilton head coach. Even Danny Barrett, who’s coaching Miami’s running backs and is a former Saskatchewan head coach.
Reed has said he wants the hiring completed by mid-December.