Perry Lefko

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

Exactly who is running the Toronto Argonauts?

Owner David Braley?

General manager Adam Rita?

Head coach Jim Barker?

All of the above?

There's been no shortage of news in Argoland the last few days, going back a week to when Barker was announced as the new head coach. That was followed a few hours later by the news that Braley, the B.C. Lions owner, had officially become the new owner of the Argos, replacing David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski.

All of these moves indicate a proactive approach to a team that had done little in the last few months while waiting for its ownership situation to be resolved.

The Argos sent veteran Canadian receivers Andre Talbot and Brad Smith to Edmonton for import defensive tackle Eric Taylor the day after Jim Barker's hiring.

Now, exactly a week later, Toronto has dealt import receiver P.K. Sam to Calgary for fellow import receiver Jeremaine Copeland. That deal has Barker written all over it because he comes from the Stamps and has a long history with Copeland.

Barker acknowledged Copeland's importance.

"We have a bunch of young players but we had no presence," he said. "He brings a presence. He's a guy who has won championships in this league and who makes players better."

Sam had just been re-signed by the Argos prior to the free-agent deadline early Tuesday morning.

Now he's gone.

So, too, is Greg Mohns, the Argos' longtime assistant GM/player personnel director, and Canadian scouting co-ordinator Miles Gorrell. Mohns had been actively involved in the Argos' player-personnel moves, notably signing free agents such as Sam, until his surprising dismissal on Wednesday.

"I would sincerely like to thank Greg and Miles for all of their hard work and valuable contributions to the Argos organizations over the years and wish them both all the best in the future," Rita said in a media release. "We have decided to go in a different direction with our personnel department and will make more announcements in the weeks to come."

Barker was busy assembling his staff, which he said will be finalized Friday, and making some player moves, when the announcements were made that Mohns and Gorrell were no longer Argo employees.

"It just happened. I had nothing to do with it," he said.

So Rita, who has been involved in hiring three head coaches over the last two years who collectively won seven games while losing 29 and failed to make the playoffs both seasons, is still in the job. He's heard his share of criticism from the media and fans for the Argos' fall the last two seasons following four successful seasons of making the playoffs and challenging for first in the East.

It's been suggested that Rita and Braley have a great relationship, dating back to Rita's hiring as head coach of the B.C. Lions in 1997, the same year Braley bought the team. But their relationship goes much further back because both have long histories in the CFL.

So, if Barker had nothing to do with the changes in football operations, someone had to pull the trigger on the two surprising firings, particularly when Rita said last week after Barker's hiring that both Mohns and Gorrell were still going to be on staff.

When Cynamon and Sokolowski bought the Argos after the 2003 season, they left the football operations intact and were rewarded with a Grey Cup in their first year. But they gradually became more involved in some of the personnel moves.

A new owner of a business typically makes moves to put his own people in place.

Now it appears the new owner of the Argos, an individual who knows the CFL as well as the auto parts business he has built into financial empire, is starting to put his imprint on the Argos.

Yes, the Argos are now the Braley Bunch.