And So it Begins
I’ve been thinking a bit about 1979 when Ron Lancaster took over as head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The team was three years overdue for a rebuild and Lancaster had the job of cutting old teammates while laying the foundation for what he hoped would be a new team.
So while Lancaster went with young players like Roger Aldag and Bob Poley on the offensive line and figured he would take his lumps as the kids learned their craft, Lanaster went got a quarterback he hoped would be able to compensate for the inexperienced offensive line and make plays.
He brought in Tom Clements which was ironic since Clements had broke the hearts of Rider fans three years before in the Grey Cup. Clements could not only throw, he could run which could conceivably buy him some time as the offensive line learned by fire.
The experiment didn’t last long. After seven games with two touchdowns to 11 interceptions, but more importantly, taking a regular beating with no hope of it getting better, Clements was traded to Hamilton.