Riders Try to Douse Flames By Pouring On Gasoline

Last week the Saskatchewan Roughriders attempted to address multiple rumors concerning their coaching staff by holding a press conference with GM Brendan Taman.

However, aside from one firm answer regarding the fate of former offensive coordinator George Cortez, Taman managed to raise eyebrows across the province with discussion regarding the future of defensive coordinator, Richie Hall, that exposed a disconnect between the Rider management and the regard the team is held in the rest of the province.

Basically Taman said Hall is undergoing an evaluation process and his future with the team is something to be determined later if there is a better candidate for defensive coordinator. Hall has been the subject in the past of criticism for a defense that seems to go soft on second and long plays, but the last two years that criticism has been more muted, giving way to the idea that the Riders are too easy to run on, notably because they don’t have a bona fide middle linebacker.

One senses a power struggle behind the scenes where Rider Head Coach Cory Chamblin, a former defensive coordinator, would like to have the reins of the defense so his pearls of wisdom can drip directly onto the foreheads of the defensive team with no interruption. However, unlike Cortez (whose inability to adapt the offense to match the talent of his players, ran him afoul of Weston Dressler and perhaps Darian Durant and whose departure, while unfortunate, was predictable) Hall is a different kettle of fish altogether.

Hall has adapted under many head coaches and has done time as the head man himself in Edmonton. He is Rider Royalty, one of the few with three Grey Cup rings: one as a player, two as a coach. You cannot argue with the man’s heart, his approachability as a Rider coach, or for the last two seasons; the results of his defense.

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What Hall has given the Riders transcends the three Grey Cup rings. Therefore he needs to be handled in a different way than George Cortez. Rider fans are loyal to players and coaches they feel have been loyal to Saskatchewan. If, for some philosophical reason, it is necessary to move on from Hall, then Taman, who has an unnerving ability to be blunt about things, needed to show more diplomacy.

This club has more than enough money to pay assistant coaches to do a good job and the feeling outside of the Rider Cone of Silence is that if we can bring in the best coaches, let’s do it. By saying Hall is an option unless a better option comes around is a slap in the face and does nothing to sell the club to players and coaches as a place where if you show them loyalty, it will be shown back to you.

As a fan, I find that former Riders are great guys to talk to; full of stories, good humor and the number of former Riders living and working in and around Regina is growing. The Rider alumni do more events to showcase the former players and be involved in the community. What separates the Rider fan from their counterparts elsewhere in the country? It is the fact that we care and our passion gets down through the players. They feel if we care so much about this province and this team, then that passion has to be worth something.

I’m not sold on the process regarding Richie Hall because common sense tells me when the defense is on the field for most of the game, it tires out. The lack of a middle line backer is because none worthy of the role was brought in. That is not the defensive coach’s fault. Gary Etcheverry in Winnipeg was a former Rider defensive coordinator who covered up the lack of talent in his defenses by providing so many different looks, the offense didn’t know which way was up. The Rider scouting system was supposed to fill the holes the coaches had on their roster so we didn’t have to resort to trickery. Richie Hall hasn’t had to go the Etcheverry route these last two years.

It seems like the Riders have over-reacted to their season by burning everything down and starting over. The fault seems more likely with the scouting which brought in the players, not with the coaches who tried to put the players into situations where they could succeed. If the Riders get rid of Richie Hall, they are over-reacting and distracting fans from where blame needs to be assigned – the inadequate scouting.

Whether it is the system used to scout players, or the people running it, that should have been the first step the Riders took this off-season. Making it official about Cortez was a bit of raw meat given to the fans to distract them from what seems to be an incoherent mess behind the scenes.

We have seen how, if you give Richie Hall the players, his defense will make the stops needed to give the team a chance to win. Despite the feeling one gets from under the Rider Cone of Silence that the fans really know nothing, those of us who watch football, talk football and learn about football, realize there is more to the story than what we are being told.

Chamblin may have some candidates in mind that may be waiting until the end of the NFL season before committing one way or another. One new potential candidate for offensive coordinator is Jonathon Himebauch, the running back coach of the Edmonton Eskimos. His name popped into the ranks of those being considered, mainly I imagine, as a result of Edmonton’s running game.

Paul La Police declined comment on his interest in the job, but he was in Regina last week and probably not just because he still owns a house here. La Police will be looking at the BC head coach job and probably asking Wally Buono about any quarterbacks on the BC negotiation lists. If what he hears doesn’t appeal to him, expect to see him here unless there is another offensive coordinator position available.

What might spice things up is the re-entry of Kory Sheets into the picture. Sheets got an injury payout from the Oakland Raiders following his pre-season injury that derailed his NFL comeback. But looking at pictures of Riderville at the 2014 Grey Cup, Sheets was there in his number 1 jersey, taking questions from the audience.

The Riders never did replace Sheets, or give anyone a solid chance to replace him. If Sheets passes his physical and the Riders have an adequate change up back and back up, then the running game is back in action and the Riders become more attractive to potential coaches. If the Riders can duplicate Edmonton’s success in running, the team is back to the western final.

The time line for replacing coaches is the end of December which ties into the end of the NFL season and the usual firing of coaches afterwards. The Riders will be looking to beat the drums for season ticket renewals, so they will need to have some positive news to report to entice you to part with your money for this team.

The Riders admitted their scouting didn’t help, but no changes have been announced there. You have to wonder what they are thinking when serving up Richie Hall as a potential sacrificial goat other than they are looking to deflect attention from where the team failed to meet their own goals.

On this amazingly mild Monday morning, it seems likely the Riders and La Police will come to some arrangement. One hope the Riders will be able to use the benefit of perspective before going on to contemplate even more changes in the coaching ranks