The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are going to restructure their football operations and it’s expected Edmonton Eskimos’ receiving coach Mike Kelly will join the team as general manager/head coach, two sources told Sportsnet.ca.
Kelly would take over the coaching job from Doug Berry, who was fired Wednesday after three seasons, and replace current GM Brendan Taman, who will be reassigned to the post of director of player personnel.
Kelly, prominent because of his bald head, has a long association with Bombers’ current president/chief executive officer Lyle Bauer from their days working together on Winnipeg’s staff in the ’90s. Kelly, who has almost 30 years of coaching experience and is in his first season with the Eskimos, worked for the Bombers’ from 1992-96 as the team’s offensive co-ordinator. Bauer worked as the assistant general manager.
One source said Kelly would only come to Winnipeg as the GM/head coach, hence the repositioning of Taman in the organization.
The announcement won’t come for at least two weeks because the Eskimos are playing this Saturday in the Eastern Final in Montreal. Regardless of whether the Eskimos qualify for the Cup the following week in Montreal, the Canadian Football League has an embargo on team announcements during the week of the championship game.
Kelly played a major role in the Bombers’ making it to the Grey Cup in ’92 and ’93. The Bombers finished first in the East Division from 1992-94. The Bomber offence set 29 club records in his tenure.
Kelly has also worked in the XFL and NFL and was a head coach at Valdosta State University from 1997-99.
Prior to joining the Eskimos, Kelly had been a professor of sports management at Drexel University in Philadelphia, instructing both undergraduate and graduate courses in coaching and leadership.
