Perry Lefko

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

Tom Wilkinson gets instructions from coach Hugh Campbell during the 1978 Grey Cup.

As the Edmonton Eskimos search for answers to the question of what has caused the franchise to fail, allow me to solve the mystery in two words.

Hugh Campbell.

The Eskimos have been in a steady freefall since Campbell stepped down as Chief Executive Officer in 2006 for health reasons after 26 years. He was the one person who ruled every aspect of the franchise and, many in the know will tell you, had a major voice in the direction of the Canadian Football League. In fact, some people called the CFL the Campbell Football League.

Such was the impact that Campbell had not only in the Eskimos' domain but the overall composition of the CFL. Whether it was dealing with players over a new collective bargaining agreement or any myriad of details, or simply providing expert input in the Eskimos' operations, Campbell was the point man.

Campbell starred as a player, won a record five consecutive Grey Cups as a head coach of the Eskimos and oversaw the franchise through glorious times, on and off the field.

Campbell's departure coincided with the Eskimos missing the playoffs for the first time in 35 years.

Campbell was replaced by Rick LeLacheur, who was the head of the organizing committee of the 2001 World Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Edmonton. He joined the Eskimos in 2002 as Chief Operating Officer.

Under the LeLacheur banner, the Eskimos finished last in the West in 2007 and 2008, third last year and are currently last in the league this year.

LeLacheur promoted head coach Danny Maciocia after his team finished last in 2008 but made the playoffs because of the ineptitude of Toronto and Hamilton, allowing the Eskimos to cross over to the East. There were criticisms of Maciocia's hiring given his record after winning the Grey Cup as head coach in 2005. Some thought he should have been fired. Maciocia had never been a GM before.

Maciocia hired Richie Hall, who had never been a head coach at the pro level, as his replacement. Midway through the season, the Eskimos hired Kevin Strasser, who had been part of Maciocia's staff at one point, as offensive consultant. Shortly thereafter, Strasser replaced Rick Worman, as offensive co-ordinator. It did little to fix the Eskimos' ails.

Hall decided after the season to co-ordinate the defence, which he did eminently well in Saskatchewan. That has also done little to fix the Eskimos' ails.

If you bundle LeLacheur, Maciocia and Hall together, there is a similar thread: All are doing their jobs for the first time, yet all were successful in their previous roles.

It was LeLacheur who stood out in front of the media on Monday and dressed down the team's last start, a 47-21 loss to Winnipeg. LeLacheur, who is not prone to making public pronouncements, had some harsh words for the state of the football operations.

"That was such an embarrassment on Saturday," he told the media. "When we did our review, one of the things I can tell you, I questioned football operations and the coaches if we were mentally or physically tough enough. I don't think we are. That can be changed."

One wonders how players felt upon hearing they are not mentally and physically tough enough from someone who has never played the game at their level. LeLacheur played junior hockey and has been involved in running major sports events, so it's not as if this guy doesn't know about athletes. That said, for a senior club executive to issue comments about the mental and physical toughness of football players, well, those are tough words, derived from conversations from the people he hired.

Had Campbell issued this statement, it would have carried considerable clout given his background and his ability to assess that.

The reality of the Eskimos' situation is they are a community-owned club run by a board, which means it takes a gathering of all of them or proxies to make decisions that could involve people's jobs. The likelihood had been the Eskimos were counting on beating Winnipeg and thus breathing some confidence into the entire organization. When the team lost as badly as it did, it only exacerbated the angst. Because of a car race in Edmonton on the weekend, the team had 48 hours after the loss to huddle together at the football and business operations level - and possibly the board, too - to develop an action plan going forward to say to the media. Call it Crisis Communications. LeLacheur has said in no uncertain terms that no one's job is safe, that he wants to see improvement, beginning with the next game, this Friday at home against the B.C. Lions, who beat the Eskimos in Edmonton 25-10 in the first game of the season for both teams. The Lions have lost three straight since.

If the team does not show drastic improvement over the next few games, the speculation is Maciocia will return to the sidelines. What would become of Hall is uncertain, given that he has a dual portfolio.

Anything is possible - along with the Eskimos suddenly turning it around and maintaining the status quo.

It was only a few weeks ago that LeLacheur and the rest of the Eskimos front office were celebrating the fact the 2010 Grey Cup, which is in Edmonton, sold all 60,000 seats in a record seven days. Hopes were high at that time that Eskimos might be able to win the West and play the Cup in their own stadium.

That doesn't appear likely at this point.

Edmonton is known as the City of Champions, but beginning with the last season of Campbell's career overseeing the Eskimos, there has been no evidence of that on the football field.