Perry Lefko

Perry Lefko keeps you connected to all the news in the CFL on Sportsnet.ca.

Things are unravelling in Winnipeg, where the Bombers now need a new president, head coach and QB.

Talk about a bombshell. Make that a Blue Bombshell.

On Thursday, the same day Lyle Bauer resigns as president and chief executive offer of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the person he handpicked as head coach shortly after the 2008 Grey Cup is arrested and charged with assault and harassment following a domestic dispute and then is fired a few hours later.

It is only the latest in a series of controversies for Mike Kelly.

The Bombers’ board planned to address Kelly’s future on Friday, presumably to let Bauer have his chance to leave the club after 10 years of yeomen service, but moved up the schedule. They claimed it had nothing to do with Kelly's arrest, but that it was strictly based on his coaching record. But if that was the case, why wasn't this move made sooner?

Kelly had a turbulent season in 2009 as the Bombers’ head coach and head of football operations, failing to make the playoffs with a 7-11 record and committing numerous on-field and off-field blunders that embarrassed the organization.

There had been rampant rumours that the Bombers’ board had been split on its decision whether or not to retain Kelly as head coach. One rumour suggested Bauer was told to fire Kelly, but he chose to resign rather than fire his longtime friend.

While Kelly is innocent until proven guilty, this latest controversy would seem to have lessened whatever goodwill he had left with the club.

The timing of Bauer’s resignation combined with the news of Kelly’s arrest is either an interesting coincidence or something that needed to be done quickly in advance of news of Kelly’s arrest and subsequent firing. For several weeks the rumour mill had Bauer resigning to join the Calgary Stampeders as president, but he has quashed that talk. The Stamps have an opening for a president following the resignation this week of Scott Ackles, who has returned to B.C. where he will oversee the Lions’ 2011 Grey Cup bid.

In only two years with the Stamps, Ackles led the team to a Grey Cup win and oversaw the team’s hosting of the Cup this year. He is considered one of the top, young executives in the Canadian Football League. In a mess such as the Bombers, he’d be the type of individual to step in and immediately create an air of respectability.

Under Bauer’s regime, which began in 2000, the Bombers wiped out a $5.4-million debt and have played twice in the Cup, losing both times. But there has been upheaval in the football operations in recent years that has included three different head coaches -- Dave Ritchie, Doug Berry and Kelly. The team has only posted a winning record once since 2004.

Kelly had a wealth of CFL experience as a position coach, but he had never been a head coach at the professional level and showed his immaturity on and off the field. He made numerous mistakes in his estimation of personnel, of which he total authority, and failed miserably as the team’s offensive co-ordinator and ultimately turned over those duties to an assistant. He alienated the Winnipeg media and had verbal run-ins with the fans.

In the final game of the season, the Bombers had a chance to make the playoffs, but crapped out at home against Hamilton. While that game only added to the speculation fuelling Kelly’s firing, Bauer gave him a vote of confidence. Now Bauer is gone -- either of his own volition or because he refused to fire his friend.

Bauer brought respectability to the Bombers with his leadership skills -- retiring the debt and overseeing the team’s Grey Cup bid in 2006 -- and his courageous battle to beat throat cancer and create a foundation to financially assist cancer victims and their families added to that upstanding reputation.

But the product on the field in recent years floundered. Kelly made a mockery of the franchise and forced Bauer too often to defend him like a father protecting his reckless child.

The team is lacking a proven starting quarterback because Kelly blundered addressing that issue by trading for Stefan LeFors from Edmonton last off-season and alienating incumbent veteran Kevin Glenn, who ultimately was released. Glenn had his revenge, humbling the Bombers in the final game of the season and now heads into the 2010 season as Hamilton’s starting quarterback.

LeFors, meanwhile, did nothing to suggest he can be a bonafide starter in the CFL, while Michael Bishop failed to play consistently when the team plucked him out of the unemployment line midway through the season.

So now the Bombers need a new president, a new head coach and a new quarterback.

And you thought the Toronto Argonauts’ situation was a mess?

What will be interesting is if the Bombers bring back Brendan Taman as general manager and let him pick the head coach. He was embarrassed by Kelly and ultimately resigned earlier this year to take a mental break, but he resurfaced a few months later in Saskatchewan. Taman had a great relationship with the media, while Kelly did not, mainly of his own doing.

Here’s some choices to replace Kelly:

Calgary offensive co-ordinator George Cortez. He is a career assistant but is long overdue to be a head coach.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ defensive co-ordinator Greg Marshall, another career assistant. He has experience as a defensive co-ordinator in Winnipeg and is well respected in the community.

Saskatchewan Roughriders’ offensive co-ordinator, a former OC in Winnipeg who deserves a look, too.

Football broadcaster Matt Dungian, whose resume as a player includes quarterbacking the Bombers. He was a head coach of the Stamps in 2004 and had a 4-14 record, but he deserves another chance.

Montreal quarterbacks coach/assistant head coach Scott Milanovich. His stock is high following the Als’ recent Grey Cup victory.