Inside the CFL: Ownership interference an issue for Ottawa

By GRAHAM KELLY on October 29, 2021.

The great expansion stories in professional sport have been the Las Vegas Golden Knights making it to the Stanley Cup Final in their first year of operation (2017) and the Ottawa Redblacks getting to the Grey Cup in their second season (2015), winning it in the third. The Golden Knights fired coach Gerrard Gallant three years later.

Ottawa GM Marcel Desjardins was the first person hired by the new team in 2013. He had won three Grey Cups as Jim Popp’s assistant in Montreal. To be expected, the club won only two games in its inaugural season. But then, Desjardins, his coach Rick Campbell and quarterback Henry Burris stunned the CFL by getting to the Grey Cup in 2015 and losing to Edmonton. The score was 26-20.

The next year, the new kids on the block won it all, beating Calgary in the big game 39-33 in overtime. They were back two years later but lost the championship to the Stampeders, 22-16.

And then the expansion team fell back to earth, with a 3-15 mark in 2019 and 2-9 so far this season. They host Calgary tonight.

After their 2018 Grey Cup appearance, they lost seven starters from their offence, among them quarterback Trevor Harris, receiver Greg Ellingson, running back William Powell and critical left tackle SirVincent Rogers Sr. That Grey Cup year they ranked in the top three or four in most offensive and defensive categories. In 2019 after plummeting to the cellar in practically every department. Rick Campbell (he wasn’t fired) and most of his coaching staff departed, replaced by former Bomber coordinator Paul LaPolice. There has been no improvement this year and so the lumberjack-themed Redblacks swung the axe on Desjardins Monday.

Said Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group President and CEO Mark Goudie, “That run of three Grey Cup games in four years was phenomenal. But if you look at our record over the past couple of years, it’s just not good enough… For all our sports properties, we’ve hired people we have confidence in and give them carte blanche to run their organization. I got to a place where I felt I was not going to be able to have 100% confidence in what came next for the Redblacks going into next season…”

Said Desjardins: “I told him, he was making a mistake. Am I disappointed? Yes. Am I going to dwell on it? Hell no, I’m fine. I lost my parents when I was seven and 10. This is nothing compared to that.”

Professional sports is a very public business. When the paying customers start hollering for someone’s head, they usually get it. That was the case in Ottawa. It all comes down to the bottom line.

In Desjardins’ defence, when you are under a salary cap and have, say, three winning seasons in a row, you can’t afford to keep all the stars. Harris, Powell, Rogers Sr. and Ellingson were free agents. They commanded hefty salaries so the Ottawa GM couldn’t afford to keep them. That’s just reality in today’s CFL. The Stampeders have gone through the same thing several times. Calgary always seems to replace star players they can no longer afford but there is only one John Hufnagel.

Since 2018, the team’s biggest problem has been at quarterback. In 2019 they went with Dominque Davis who was no good then and has not improved since. They traded draft picks to Calgary for Nick Arbuckle. When Toronto cut Matt Nichols, Ottawa signed him and traded Arbuckle to Toronto who was then traded to Edmonton three days ago. The oft-hurt Nichols is on the six-game injury list. Over 10 CFL seasons, he has only managed to play four full seasons.

What about the head coach?

“Paul LaPolice has a couple of years on his contract and I expect him to be here for awhile,” Mark Goudie said.

Most good candidates for the GM position want to choose their own head coach, but again there’s that bottom line problem. Desjardins’ contract had a year left. To pay him out and then fire LaPolice and honour the remaining years of his contract would cost the owners a lot of money.

Over the years, ownership interference has been a real problem for the Ottawa CFL franchise. Twice the team folded. Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself.