Perry Lefko

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

Eskimos president Rick Lelacheur speaks to the media after the firing of Danny Maciocia.

Hiring Danny Maciocia as general manager made no sense at the time, nor does his firing now.

You can say that hiring Danny Maciocia as a GM last year when he had never done the job before and had gone through several losing seasons as head coach long after winning the Grey Cup was ill-advised.

Maciocia's hiring of Richie Hall to succeed him as head coach hasn't yielded much success. The team barely made the playoffs last year and started out 0-4 this year before beating the B.C. Lions, who had a record of 1-3, 28-25 in a mistake-filled game by both teams on Friday night in Edmonton.

It provided some tempory relief -- for Hall, that is -- but showed no evidence the Eskimos are improving. B.C. played with a second-year quarterback, Travis Lulay, making only his second career start and his inexperience showed.

It now appears that following the decision to fire Maciocia on Saturday that his execution had already been decided by Eskimos' tough-talking chief executive officer Rick LeLacheur and the board of directors heading into the game against the Lions. LeLacheur, who hired Maciocia as head coach, addressed the Edmonton media on Monday without Maciocia and Hall and ripped the football operations, saying no one's job was secure unless the team showed improvement in the next game. The improvement was microscopic.

LeLacheur openly criticized the team saying it lacked mental and physical toughness in his media address. That's about as big an insult as you could make about a team.

According to one source, Maciocia was on borrowed time after addressing the team's pathetic situation last weekend with LeLacheur and the board. When asked what was wrong with the team, Maciocia reportedly said: "I don't know what's wrong, the talent sure is here."

The source said it was perceived by the board that Macicoia was trying to put the blame on the players and the coaches, and that neither would respect him after he blamed them to cover his own backside.

So now the Eskimos are going forward with no GM in place at a key time when National Football League prospects need to be evaluated, the negotiation list has to be addressed on a daily basis and with a second-year head coach who hasn't proven himself.

At least Maciocia could have been a backstop as interim head coach while continuing as GM, unless this was all about public sentiment, which makes his firing understandable. Eskimo fans wanted him to go, and were quite vocal about it. So in that sense, LeLacheur has satisfied Maciocia's critics.

Firing Hall, who also serves as defensive co-ordinator, would have removed a good chunk of the coaching staff. That's where Maciocia would have been useful as an interim GM. He's an offensive co-ordinator -- and the offence is underperforming despite a mid-season change last year that has produced less success. Another one of the defensive coaches could have been given the added task of co-ordinator.

Firing coaches in mid-season rarely ever works. Firing a GM with no immediate replacement is absolutely an even worse plan.

LeLacheur, a low-key figure who has suddenly became the central figure in a season gone wrong so far, has made some decisions that are bold, but lack understanding or reasoning. But at least he wasn't spouting poppycock when he said no one's job in the organization is secure.

His own position will clearly be evaluated and watched going forward.