THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL — The only general manager the Montreal Alouettes have had since returning to Quebec more than a decade ago is staying put.
After a prolonged negotiation, the Alouettes announced Wednesday that Jim Popp has signed a contract extension that keeps him with the CFL club through the 2014 season.
Team owner Robert Wettenhal noted when he first purchased the Alouettes in 1997, there were no players signed and the stadium issue was unsettled with the team drawing few fans at Olympic Stadium.
"We had one asset, and that was Jim Popp," Wettenhal said. "Jim, and Jim alone kept this team together in 1996.
"He has been the person who has built this team through five football coaches. Year in, year out, he’s a winner."
Popp has built two Grey Cup-winning teams in his 14 seasons in Montreal. Over that period, the Alouettes have had a losing record just once, won a league-high seven East Division titles and have never missed the playoffs.
Popp’s overall regular-season record as a GM, including two seasons with the defunct Baltimore Stallions where his team won the 1995 Grey Cup, is 195-97-1.
Popp noted Wednesday he turned down offers from the Toronto Argonauts to become their GM two years in a row before Baltimore moved to Montreal in 1996 because of his desire to start a new team in this city.
"This is a very special place for me," said Popp, 45. "I took some real chances to be a part of Montreal when we first started.
"No one knew what kind of success we would have."
Popp has built a reputation as an astute evaluator of talent, scouring lesser-known colleges for players and consistently finding pieces among the annual castaways from NFL training camps. Appropriately, Popp arrived in Montreal two hours prior to Wednesday’s news conference after an extended scouting trip at NFL camps and said he would hit the road again after attending Friday night’s home game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Team president Larry Smith noted with Popp and head coach Marc Trestman both locked up with long-term contracts, the Alouettes’ future looks bright.
"We are confident we have two of the best leaders in the CFL," Smith said. "The key to Jim’s success is that he finds players everywhere."
Smith revealed the Alouettes and Popp first entered contract negotiations last fall, though neither side wanted to get into too many details about it. Popp admitted to the speculation he was fielding offers from NFL clubs during that time although he said some of the reports weren’t true.
Prior to this season Popp’s wife and six children — all born and raised in Montreal — moved to the Charlotte, N.C., area for the first time as his contract status remained unresolved.
"Unfortunately, because of the length of the discussions and the way things went, there had to be choices made," Popp said. "We moved our family back to the U.S., and that’ll be a challenge.
"I don’t know if that would have happened if things were done quicker, but we’ll make it work."
Popp said he made every attempt not to use the interest from NFL clubs as leverage against the Alouettes in his negotiations.
"I don’t think we were too worried with what the NFL was doing," Smith said. "We were worried about what we were going to do."
Although talks did drag on, Popp said it was the organization that insisted on a long-term deal.
"Why argue with them?" Popp asked. "I’m grateful for it.
"That tells you a lot from an owner of what he thinks of you."
Prior to signing their new deals, both Trestman and Popp were mentioned prominently in NFL talk. But Popp fully expects to honour the terms of his new contract.
"I expect to be here until then," Popp said. "When we get closer to that, then we’ll see."
