After losing 60-1 to the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday night, the 0-5 Hamilton Tiger-Cats have to do a complete diagnostic.
How else is this franchise going to figure out its go-forward plan?
Not since 2007 have the Cats started a season 0-5. They finished 3-15 that year. They also rank last, or near the bottom, of almost every offensive and defensive statistical category in the league.
If you listened to CHML’s The 5th Quarter after the 60-1 debacle, more than half the fans who were asked about the future of head coach Kent Austin want him to be the fall guy. Back to that in a moment.
Injuries are still an issue. Jeff Reinebold’s defence is not nearly as explosive as Reinebold’s special teams unit was. And the tug-of-war for the offensive play-calling duties between Austin and offensive coordinator Stefan Ptaszek is worrisome.
When your kicker is the team’s lone bright spot — and Sergio Castillo has been excellent this season (and the only reason Hamilton didn’t lose 60-0 in Calgary) — you know you’re in trouble.
Turfing the head coach is always the easiest answer — but it’s not always the correct one.
Despite Hamilton’s winless record, their lack of imagination on offence, their leaky defence and subpar return game, the Tiger-Cats are two wins out of a playoff spot.
Firing Austin now might seem like the popular thing to do, but I don’t think it will be the trigger that will suddenly transform the Ticats into a superhuman squad.
But if one was of the mind to make a change, here are your options.
Internally, the candidates would be Reinebold, who appears to be treading water himself; Ptaszek, who had tremendous success with McMaster University but is finding the transition a tad more difficult; and a wild card might be defensive line coach (and the most-tenured Ticat coach) Dennis McPhee, a former head coach at Waterloo.
Don’t like any of those options? Okay, let’s look outside the organization and see who could emerge as the top contenders to replace Austin in Hamilton.
Why not start with the team that handed the Cats their hats on Saturday night at McMahon Stadium? Head coach Dave Dickenson has a solid staff under him and would hate to see defensive coordinator DeVone Claybrooks or special teams coordinator Mark Kilam leave the barn. Both are great at their jobs, but are they ready to be “the man?”
B.C. Lions offensive coordinator and former Ticats QB Khari Jones, along with defensive coordinator Mark Washington, have been successful in making the transition from player to coach. The downside is that neither has been a head coach in the league.
You can strike Lions receivers coach Marcel Bellefeuille off your list. It would be downright shocking to see the former Ticats head coach return to Steeltown after his somewhat surprising dismissal following Hamilton’s loss in the 2011 East Final.
Edmonton’s Mike Benevides seems like a logical choice. He’s won Grey Cups with Calgary and B.C., has tasted success as a head coach in the CFL and is a Toronto native.
Saskatchewan’s co-offensive coordinator/assistant head coach Stephen McAdoo also has sipped bubbly from the Grey Cup and seems poised to make the jump into the head-coaching ranks.
Riders’ special teams coordinator Craig Dickenson has a great track record along the CFL sidelines, and with his brother Dave doing so well in Calgary, why can’t he duplicate that?
Winnipeg’s offensive and defensive coordinators, Paul LaPolice and Richie Hall, both have head coaching experience with various degrees of success. LaPolice lead the Bombers to the 2011 Grey Cup final while Hall guided Edmonton to a playoff spot in his first of two seasons with the Eskimos. Both are well respected throughout the league and have what it takes to lead an organization.
Ottawa coordinators Mark Nelson, Jalme Elizondo and Bob Dyce are on the radar, but I don’t think there would be much interest from the Tiger-Cats. Same for Montreal defensive coordinator/assistant head coach Noel Thorpe, though I’d be interested to see how Alouettes quarterbacks coach and CFL legend Anthony Calvillo fares as a head coach. Is a return to Hamilton in the cards?
And that brings us to the Argos, who boast a couple of longstanding (and successful) coordinators in Marcus Brady and Corey Chamblin.
Brady was once a quarterback in Hamilton and has guided offences in Montreal and Toronto, while Chamblin served as the Tabbies’ defensive coordinator in 2011. Chamblin was head coach of the Roughriders from 2012-2015 and railroaded the Tiger-Cats in the 2013 Grey Cup at old Mosaic Stadium.
While Chamblin is more likely to get another head coaching gig before Brady ever does, it should be noted that the former QB could be ready to make the jump sooner rather than later.
The 5th Quarter listeners also put forth names like longtime defensive guru Rich Stubler and TV analyst Matt Dunigan.
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