Esks’ path fraught with risk
Change is a major theme of 2012 training camp
The Eskimos have lost a classy, consummate pro to free agency, and on the cusp of training camp, at that.
Of course, Dave Jamieson, the Canadian Football League club’s longtime vice-president of communications and broadcast, wasn’t about to strap on the pads, buckle up a helmet and put a lick on anyone.
For him, the Double E helmet was a prop for a news conference or a photo op, a symbol of excellence.
Jamieson’s skills were all about avoiding mishaps and conflict. He deployed them as effortlessly as any pro around, and better than most. So his abrupt resignation leaves a gaping, unexpected void.
Replacing the well-respected Jamieson will be a major communications challenge for the CFL club. It does give newly installed president and CEO, Len Rhodes, the chance to redraft the scope of the p.r. job description, which can’t be easy to do on the fly.
Change can be threatening, viewed suspiciously, in any organization, including a CFL club.
But then, change is a major theme with the Eskimos as training camp sets to open, on the field and off.
It’s a club that begins preparing for the 2012 season without longtime quarterback Ricky Ray (traded to the Toronto Argonauts), power back Jerome Messam (NFL), defenders Rod Davis and Mark Restelli (traded to the Montreal Alouettes) and Greg Peach (signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats), and receivers Jason Barnes (signed with Toronto) and Andrew Nowacki (released).
Of the projected replacements for Ray, neither Eric Ward nor Matt Nichols, both holdovers, saw meaningful time last season and 29-yearold Steven Jyles, who came over in the Ray trade, has yet to prove over a full season that his surgically repaired right arm is fully healthy.
Veteran Kerry Joseph turns 39 on Oct. 4, the day before the club plays Hamilton at home.
One of Nichols or Ward (bet on Nichols) must emerge, and swiftly, or the club may take a significant backward step. But that’s what training camp is for.
Incoming talent includes receivers Cary Koch, Aaron Hargreaves and Greg Carr, offensive guard Simeon Rottier, defensive tackle Don Oramasionwu, as well as kickers Grant Shaw and Burke Dales.
Two key coaches, defensive co-ordinator Rich Stubler and special teams coach Rick Campbell are gone.
For a revamped team that surprised many by finishing second in the West Division with an 11-7 won-lost record, hosted a playoff game for the first time since 2004 and advanced to the Western Final, that represents significant turnover.
Some believe the sweeping changes, especially the Ray trade, banking on an unproven youngster like Nichols, if he’s the emergent quarterback also represents a major risk that will ultimately be worn, for good or ill, by general manager Eric Tillman.
“People still want us to run the team the way it was run all the years when it was in the ditch,” Tillman said of the Eskimos, whose last Grey Cup victory came in 2005. “And (if) we run it dramatically different, we’re taking the risk.
“No, the real risk was continuing to do things the way they were done before.”
Tillman will live with the downside risk that comes with change. He firmly believes his plan will work. It rankles him
“We enter this season with great enthusiasm.”
ESKS GM ERIC TILLMAN
plenty that, given his performance record (he has fashioned Grey Cup champions in B.C., Toronto and Saskatchewan), he has to justify his moves, not to mention his template, time and again.
“We enter this season with great enthusiasm,” Tillman said. “The critics have had the chalk for the last five or six months. “But we have it now.” Like it or not — and Tillman clearly does not — the fans and the unwashed in the media will be watching his club closely to see whether what is fashioned from that chalk in 2012 represents a step forward for the Eskimos or a step back.
It’s the nature of the beast.