By Joel Gasson

Riders make first of many changes expected this off season

Dec 5, 2014 | 6:24 AM

The changes have officially begun in Riderville.

Saskatchewan Roughriders’ senior vice-president of football operations and general manager Brendan Taman met with the media for the first time since his team’s season came to an end a few weeks ago.

It was a busy session for Taman who answered questions from the media for over 20 minutes, including a number about the rumours swirling about the team’s coaching staff.

“The only thing I can confirm is that (offensive co-ordinator George Cortez’s) contract won’t be renewed and he won’t be back. The other names that were bandied about, that I heard about, like you guys, I can’t really comment on that right now because they’re still a part of our organization,” said Taman.

According to Taman, Cortez won’t be back next season because he and head coach Corey Chamblin felt it was time to go in a different direction with a new look and new ideas.

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Rumours have persisted about defensive coordinator Richie Hall, special teams co-ordinator Bob Dyce, defensive backs coach Barron Miles and perhaps more. They all remain in an evaluation process.

“I think one thing Corey is very aware of that you don’t want to go backwards when you make moves like that,” said Taman.

“You obviously want to have a list of people of list in line where you have ea pretty good chance at getting one of those two, three, four guys. If you don’t get you’re probably not acting prudently or accurately.”

The names for various coaching jobs that Chamblin is looking for all have CFL experience, but that’s about as far as Taman would go there. He also admits he’s leaving those decisions up the Chamblin and he only gets the odd update on what’s going on.

Where Taman does have control and knows what exactly is going on every day is the players. It’s his job to bring in the right players for the coaches to succeed on the field – a job Taman admits he needs to do better going forward.

“I didn’t help (Chamblin) enough in my end of things where we didn’t give him enough bullets in the gun, per say,” noted Taman when asked to evaluate Chamblin’s year.

This off season Taman and the entire organization is going to look at everything they do when it comes to recruitment and scouting.

The team particularly struggled this past season at finding a backup quarterback, linebackers and receivers to replace the players that were lost in the off season. It’s a deficiency Taman placed on his own shoulders.

“Everything stops with me and ends with me. So, I’ll be as responsible as anybody,” he said.

Exactly where that plan will take the Riders just yet isn’t known. But Taman did suggest he had a number of ideas on what they might do going forward. That could include a scout that works exclusively in the United States.

Not much may have been answered by Taman on Thursday, but it’s clear that this is just the beginning when it comes to the changes both on and off the field.

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