Taman’s major decision

It's hardly a surprise the Saskatchewan Roughriders chose Brendan Taman to be their next general manager, a position he already had but this time with the final say in all the football operations.

The Roughriders announced Taman's promotion on Wednesday, succeeding Ken Miller, whose title of vice-president of football operations superseded the general manager.

"We will be returning to a more traditional structure with Brendan (Taman) being GM and having full control of football operations as I think that will be the best solution for us going forward," Roughriders president Jim Hopson said.

Miller retired at the end of the 2011 regular season, a period in which the Roughriders fell from competitive grace and failed to make the playoffs after getting to the Grey Cup the previous two seasons.

The veteran coach hired Greg Marshall to succeed him, then fired him after the Roughriders started out with only one win in their first eight games. Miller had some initial success on the sideline again, guiding the team to three consecutive wins, but the Riders plummeted thereafter and finished last in the league with a 5-13 record.

So rather than blow up the football operations, Hopson appointed Taman as his football guy. Taman has been a CFL lifer and has been a GM before, guiding Winnipeg to the Grey Cup in 2007, losing to Saskatchewan.

The announcement of Jeremy O'Day, a longtime star centre with the Riders, as Taman's assistant is a little surprising. He retired last season and was then hired as the team's football operations co-ordinator, an entry-level position. His latest appointment is a rapid rise up the ranks, but Taman said O'Day easily surpassed the team's expectations.

"He brings forth incredible dedication and passion to this job and he knows the importance of the Riders to the community," Taman said.

If the Roughriders really wanted to keep things in-house, they could have announced that long-time defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall has been hired as the new head coach. He was bypassed in multiple interviews for head coaching positions with various teams before he was finally given his first chance when Edmonton hired him in 2008.

He lasted all of two seasons without any discernable success. He at least lasted longer than Marshall, another longtime runnerup for head coaching jobs, who didn't even make it Labour Day.

Hall would be familiar to fans and the community and likely deserves a second chance to improve on what he did wrong the first time, but Taman is going to look outside of the club as part of his search.

He said on Wednesday he has a good idea of the type of candidate he's looking for, but wouldn't divulge names because some of the candidates are currently with other teams in the playoffs and it would be a disservice to those people to publicly reveal them.

"We're going to take as long it takes to get the best guy," he said. "I'll get the right guy when I get the right guy."

Taman has worked with Dave Ritchie in Winnipeg, who is a free agent with a good resume. He won the Grey Cup with B.C. in 1994 and was on the losing end in 2007 with Winnipeg.

The only knock against him is he's in his 70s and perhaps considered too old at a time when there is a trend in the CFL to hiring younger guys who have never been a head coach (Winnipeg's Paul LaPolice, Edmonton's Kavis Reed, Montreal's Marc Trestman and Hamilton's Marcel Bellefeuille). But if the hunger to get back to coaching counts for anything, combined with a Grey Cup ring, Ritchie should be in the mix.

Sources tell sportsnet.ca that Taman is eyeing Hamilton defensive co-ordinator Corey Chamblin, who has never been a head coach in the CFL. Chamblin's situation could be predicated on what happens with the Ticats in the playoffs and beyond.

There have been rumbles from Steeltown that if the Ticats don't beat the Alouettes Sunday in the Eastern Semi-Final, Bellefeuille will be fired. He has a losing record in 3.5 seasons and the team has regressed

Logically, then, the Ticats would have to decide whether or not to keep Chamblin if they fire Bellefeuille. Either way it appears he's in a good situation going forward.

If Marshall was handpicked by Miller, Taman might have had some say in the decision but not the final one. This time, Taman will have that all-important deciding vote.

When teams are eliminated from the playoffs, Taman can begin interviewing candidates from those squads (assuming he receives permission) and the hiring could happen fairly quickly.

Whomever Taman hires, the pressure to win will be immense.

"This past year was unacceptable to our organization and unacceptable to our fans," Hopson said.

The Roughriders were once a team that couldn't win for trying, but they became a franchise that made it to the Grey Cup in 2007 after an 18-year absence and some trying times in between that nearly included the folding of the franchise. They won in 2007, a painful memory to be sure for Taman, and have attained incredible success on and off the field until this year's collapse.

And that's why Taman's coaching hire will be crucial. The pressure to win will be immense because the franchise can't go backwards at a time when its faithful fans are literally paying it forward, helping the Roughriders with annual seven-figure profits.

Miller didn't give Marshall much time, perhaps because he simply couldn't cut ties with the team and the players he knew intimately.

This being a more traditional structure -- to use Hopson's words -- the head coach won't be followed by a previous head coach or someone with an all-encompassing title that could include returning to the sidelines if the appointed head coach fails. Taman has never been a head coach and likely never wants to be.

That's why there'll be much attention in Riderville to see who Taman chooses to lead the team back to the promised land of the Grey Cup.

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