Ottawa Redblacks’ story is nothing short of miraculous
A very promising note regarding the upcoming Grey Cup is that neither Chris Jones nor Rick Campbell were employed by their respective teams two years ago — which should provide Saskatchewan Roughriders fans with optimism about what may lie ahead after a 3-15 season.
Jones’ 26-10 regular-season record over his first two years as the Edmonton Eskimos’ head coach speaks for itself.
I do not want to diminish the work being done in Edmonton by Jones or general manager Ed Hervey, but what Campbell (head coach), Marcel Desjardins (GM) and company have been able to accomplish with the Ottawa Redblacks over the last 18 months is nothing short of miraculous.
To tweak a staff and a roster in two seasons is one thing. It is an entirely different matter to develop an entire football-operations staff and a coaching staff, build a roster, renovate a stadium, create a home and foster a winning environment out of thin air. It is mind-blowing!
I was part of the Ottawa expansion in 2002, when the team was known as the Renegades. The expansion draft was quite different then, but for whatever reason our team was built around the offensive line — mixing a balance of seasoned vets (Carl Coulter, Chris Burns), players in their prime (Val St. Germain, Seth Dittman), some promising youngsters (George Hudson and myself ) and a blue-chip firstround draft pick (Alex Gauthier).
We were a little thin at the socalled skill positions at the beginning. In fact, the offensive linemen lovingly and openly referred to members of our receiving corps as “statues” because they looked grand and majestic and — oh! — because they caught the ball like a bunch of statues.
Then, as now, the CFL was a quarterback-oriented league. The best quarterback available in the expansion draft was Dan Crowley, who had been Edmonton’s third-stringer. He was a gunslinger who we loved playing for, but he was cut the day after we signed some former NFL defensive back named Kerry Joseph.
I wouldn’t trade that time in my life for a fistful of Grey Cup rings. Anyone who was part of the Renegades will tell you how special a team we were, and how the friendships and families we built in those few short years went beyond the gridiron. But we couldn’t win, given the circumstances.
The CFL and then-commissioner Mark Cohon got the Redblacks’ expansion draft right. More top-end talent was made available for the new team to add and build around. It also helped that Ottawa signed as a free agent Henry Burris, who is to start against Edmonton on Sunday in Winnipeg.
Burris, Campbell and the entire team went through the typical bumps and beatings of a firstyear team in 2014 as they got to know one another.
I often referred to them as the University of Ottawa Redblacks because of how bad they were at times in 2014, but Hank wasn’t going anywhere and neither were the coaches. They were allowed to learn and build an offence and a mentality together from the ground up and add talent as they went along.
A lot was made last off-season about the receiving corps Desjardins was able to put together, but don’t think for one second that a phone call from Burris didn’t garner some attention from the free agents. Let me put it this way: Who would you rather play with? A perennial MOP candidate, such as Burris, or a former third-stringer?
I am not one for predictions (although I do like a good Cinderella story), but regardless of how Sunday’s Grey Cup turns out, the Redblacks — thanks in no small part to Burris — have built a winning environment in which players want to play and one that fans want to experience.
That is a perfect reflection of a great ownership group — another reason for the great season the Redblacks are enjoying.