BY ARASH MADANI
sportsnet.ca
Less than two weeks after interviewing with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for their vacant defensive coordinator position, Corey Chamblin was in Hamilton over the past weekend for a two-day interview for the same position with the Tiger-Cats.
Chamblin, the current defensive backs coach of the Calgary Stampeders, met with Hamilton head coach Marcel Bellefuille and was encouraged by the philosophy of the franchise that has finished at 9-9 the past two seasons.
"I like the direction and vision the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are going in," Chamblin said in a phone interview Monday. "I like what (Bellefuille) said. That’s what made it pretty good. What he was saying. I thought ‘I like that.’ I didn’t know some of the things they have going on there, being in the West all these years. But I can buy the vision Marcel has and where he’s going with that.’"
Chamblin has emerged as one of the more sought-after coaching candidates throughout the CFL this off-season. Not only in the two cities speaking to him about running their defences, but on two occasions he was brought toSaskatchewan to interview for the Roughriders’ head coaching position, which eventually went to Greg Marshall.
Blue Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice met with Chamblin before Christmas and that visit also was encouraging according to Chamblin.
"I’m not leaning one way or another," he said. "I liked a lot of what Paul said. But no decision has been made by either team and I don’t know what happens from here. Both teams have positives. And regardless, I am happy where I am and I have a real good job where I am."
Cahmblin does, working in Chris Jones’s defence in Calgary, with a secondary that continues to be a strong, brash, athletic, ball-hawking group.
Chamblin was on the staff that won a Grey Cup in 2008, a year after he broke into the league as Winnipeg’s defensive backs coach.
It is believed that Bellefuille and the Tiger-Cats do not want the hiring process to replace Marshall as defensive coordinator to be drawn out.
Internally, Brad Miller is the frontrunner to take over should Bellefuille decide to keep continuity within his staff.
Winnipeg’s top choice for its coordinator position was Richie Hall, but it is believed he will join Marshall in Saskatchewan, pending what sources say is a settlement with the Edmonton Eskimos, who fired him after his second season as head coach last November.
In addition to Chamblin, the Blue Bombers are said to have had some interest in CFL unknown Bill Bradley, who has had a decorated playing and coaching career in the U.S.
Bradley played with the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1970s and has spent the past two seasons as a defensive backs coach in the UFL with the Florida Tuskers.
However a source told Sportsnet Bradley is not interested in coming to Winnipeg.
