THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — The Toronto Argonauts pulled the plug on the Bart Andrus experiment Monday.
The CFL club fired its head coach after posting a league-worst 3-15 record this season. The move comes less than a year after the Argos raised eyebrows by hiring Andrus, 51, even though he had no previous CFL coaching experience.
President Bob Nicholson, who wasn’t with the club when it hired Andrus in January, wouldn’t say that decision was a mistake, even though Toronto finished the year losing its final eight regular-season games. But Nicholson added the organization erred in not insisting Andrus hire assistants with CFL experience.
"We should’ve been more insistent upon that," he said. "We gave him a lot of flexibility bringing a non-CFL coaching staff in.
"Again, a lot of those guys worked very hard, they’re great teachers. But they certainly had a lot lacking in experience that we probably should’ve had."
Nicholson said the Argos’ coaching search begins immediately with no timetable in place as to when Andrus’ replacement must be in place. Nicholson wouldn’t divulge who is on the club’s radar, but added that finding a coach with CFL experience is a priority.
There’s no shortage of solid coaching prospects within the league. They include:
— Jim Barker, the Calgary Stampeders senior vice-president, football operations, has won a Grey Cup as an offensive co-ordinator and in his present post, and has previous CFL head coaching experience with the Argos. He has spent 10 seasons in the CFL as a coach and executive and has more than 30 years of coaching experience overall.
— Montreal defensive co-ordinator Tim Burke built an Alouettes unit that was first in 21 of the league’s 25 defensive categories last season. He’s a bright football mind who has CFL coaching experience with the Als and Calgary and has spent time in the NCAA ranks.
— Montreal offensive co-ordinator and assistant head coach Scott Milanovich has worked well the last two years with head coach Marc Trestman. Before joining the Als three years ago, Milanovich spent four seasons coaching in NFL Europe, including two as an offensive co-ordinator. He also played quarterback in the CFL, NFL, NFL Europe, Arena Football League and XFL.
— Greg Marshall had a dramatic impact in his first year as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ defensive co-ordinator, helping the club host its first CFL playoff game since 2001. Marshall has plenty of coaching experience within the league and has been dubbed a ‘head coach in waiting’ for years.
— B.C. Lions defensive co-ordinator Mike Benevides is a Toronto native who was a candidate last year but opted to remain with the Lions. Benevides is regarded as the heir apparent to Wally Buono when he decides to leave coaching to concentrate full-time on his GM duties.
— Noel Thorpe has served as Edmonton’s special-teams co-ordinator the last two seasons but added the title of assistant head coach in 2009. He spent his first six CFL seasons with Montreal (2002-’07).
Another logical candidate would be Calgary offensive co-ordinator George Cortez. However, Cortez told the Argos last year he wasn’t interested in the job.
The timing of Andrus’s firing is curious given it would’ve seemed more logical to do so immediately after the season. Nicholson said the Argos were complying with the CFL mandate of not making changes during the playoffs and last week both he and GM Adam Rita were in Las Vegas attending league meetings.
Also, the struggling franchise has been in a holding pattern while co-owners David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski figure out whether they want to hold on to the team.
Only Nicholson spoke Monday, prompting questions about the future of Rita and player-personnel director Greg Mohns.
Rita and Mohns are both CFL veterans and were part of Toronto’s Grey Cup-winning squad in 2004. The Argos have mustered just seven total wins in missing the playoffs the last two seasons and Andrus’ replacement will be the franchise’s fourth head coach since Mike (Pinball) Clemons stepped down following the ’07 campaign.
Nicholson added that attracting a solid coaching candidate will be challenging, given Toronto’s record the past two years and the coaching carousel since Clemons moved to the front office.
"No question, we’ve got to sell them on where we’re going with our organization in the future," Nicholson said. "That’s certainly my job to pitch that in terms of what I believe and how we’re going to make this thing work going forward.
"It’s a two-way street. We have to sell people on our system and they have to sell us on what they can bring to our club."
Nicholson downplayed the significance of Rita’s absence, saying he was simply acting as the pointman on the Andrus move. Nicholson didn’t think more front-office moves were in store but left the door open once off-season evaluations are completed.
Toronto will be paying two head coaches in 2010 as Andrus has another year on his deal, with a 2011 club option. There were reports Andrus was earning $475,000 a year and while Nicholson wouldn’t divulge Andrus’s salary, he said the $475,000 figure was "grossly exaggerated."
The Argos — who were 4-14 in ’08 — were hoping Andrus would follow in the footsteps of Trestman, another former NFL assistant who came north with no previous CFL experience. In his two seasons with the Alouettes, Trestman has guided the club to consecutive Grey Cup appearances, including last month’s 28-27 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Like Andrus, Trestman came with a reputation of being an offensive guru. While Trestman proved to be a quick study regarding the nuances of Canadian football, one of his first moves was hiring assistant coaches with CFL experience.
Andrus didn’t follow suit.
Only one assistant — special-teams coach Steve Burrato — had an extensive CFL coaching resume. What’s more, Andrus opted to increase his own workload by also assuming the offensive co-ordinator’s job.
Andrus often preached the importance of discipline but clashed with many players, including receiver Arland Bruce and defensive back Byron Parker, both of whom were traded.
Bruce did not immediately return a telephone message Monday.
Most importantly, Andrus never seemed comfortable with the Canadian game.
On Aug. 1, an Andrus coaching mistake was crucial in a 13-12 home loss to Winnipeg. Instead of watching the time clock late in the game, Andrus was busy working with the offence as the unit’s co-ordinator.
The time clock expired and Toronto was penalized so instead of trying a 47-yard game-winning field goal, kicker Justin Medlock faced a 57-yard attempt. His kick hit the upright, preserving the Bombers’ win.
The following week, Toronto lost 25-0 to Montreal, the first time since Sept. 13, 1992 the Argos had been shut out in a CFL game.
On Aug. 14, Toronto lost 36-28 to B.C. after backup Jarious Jackson came off the bench twice to ignite a 22-point fourth quarter for the Lions. But most distressing was that after Hamilton’s DeAndra Cobb and Winnipeg’s Fred Reid had both previously rushed well against the Lions, Toronto had just seven total rushing attempts and didn’t use the run game to run the clock and protect its lead.
Andrus started well enough, beating Hamilton 30-17 in his CFL coaching debut. And he showed a willingness to implement the Wildcat formation early on. But that seemed to change when Calgary turned an Argos miscue off the Wildcat into a touchdown in a lopsided 44-9 win July 17.
After that, Toronto’s offence became less imaginative and more predictable, in large part to inconsistent play at quarterback with Kerry Joseph, backup Cody Pickett and youngster Stephen Reaves. The offensive struggles put a lot of pressure on a rugged Argos defence, which was often left on the field far too long.
Joseph, too, spoke out against Andrus during the year, but the two later made up.
Nicholson said while the Argos didn’t have a team capable of winning the Grey Cup this season, the squad wasn’t as bad as its record.
"Did (Andrus) have the best CFL team on the field to work with? No," Nicholson said. "But I also think we had a much better team than people give us credit for.
"I don’t think we’re that far away in terms of some of our positions to upgrade to be a significant competitor in this league."
