THE CANADIAN PRESS
HAMILTON — Marcel Bellefeuille always aspired to become a head coach in the CFL, just not like this.
Bellefeuille was appointed interim head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Monday after Charlie Taaffe was fired from the top post. Bellefeuille, in his eighth CFL season as an assistant coach but first with the Ticats, said the circumstances surrounding his promotion took some of the lustre off his lofty accomplishment.
"I envisioned my first opportunity coming during the off-season and getting an opportunity so you have mixed feelings," he said. "But from the same perspective I am a professional and it’s our responsibility to move forward and create the best team and give ourselves the best opportunity in this playoff race going down the stretch here."
Taaffe was twice named the CFL’s coach of the year with Montreal (’99 and 2000) but was never able to match that success in Hamilton. Last year, the Ticats were a dismal 3-15 in their first season under Taaffe and through 10 games this year were 2-8 and tied with Winnipeg for the league’s worst record, leaving him with a 5-23 overall record in Steeltown.
Taaffe was fired two days after the Ticats lost a lopsided 35-12 home decision to the B.C. Lions. Yet despite Hamilton’s futility this season, it’s just four points behind second-place Toronto (4-6) in the weak East Division.
General manager Bob O’Billovich said while he never has been a fan of making a mid-season coaching change, he felt he had to make the move to give the Ticats a chance of making the playoffs for the first time in five years. And O’Billovich made the move less than a week after publicly stating he felt Taaffe would remain on the sidelines through the season.
"It was just my instinct and gut feeling and evaluation that Charlie just wasn’t the right guy for this situation as it is now," said O’Billovich. So I made the decision that I did and we’re looking to carrying on for the rest of the season with Marcel Bellefeuille as our interim head coach.
"Charlie did everything I asked of him, he worked hard … this is one of those situations where you just do what you have to do in the best interests of your football team. At the moment, that was the case but last week probably changed my mind a bit.
"Charlie was very professional about it, he knows the business. What he did here was not for lack of effort."
Bellefeuille, an Ottawa native, is with his third CFL team, having also served with Saskatchewan and Montreal. He has been a head coach before, leading the University of Ottawa to the 2000 Vanier Cup. He becomes just the second Canadian-born head coach in the league, joining Edmonton’s Danny Maciocia, a Montreal native.
Wally Buono, the B.C. Lions head coach/GM grew up in Montreal but is a native of Potenza, Italy.
And O’Billovich said Bellefeuille will be given every opportunity to become Hamilton’s full-time head coach.
"Marcel is a bright, up-and-coming football mind, who is very capable of becoming a successful head coach in this league," O’Billovich added. "If I were to make a short list of candidates to interview to be head coach, Marcel would be on that list."
Bellefeuille will continue to call Hamilton’s offensive plays and says he has a definite gameplan to kick-start Hamilton’s fortunes.
"I think we’ll have to play aggressively and take some chances," he said. "We’ll also have to play with some passion and more energy as well as be more assignment friendly.
"Hopefully we’ll be able to insulate the environment and let the players know they’re capable of doing this. It’s important we create the attitude that we can."
Bellefeuille said while he won’t make wholesale changes to the club’s offensive and defensive gameplans, he definitely will make some.
"I think you have to tweak everywhere," he said. "Certainly this is what we want to do.
"This is what we have to do."
.One position where Hamilton needs more production is quarterback. Veteran Casey Printers, who is reportedly earning $500,000 this season, has struggled to get the offence going and has thrown just one touchdown pass this year — compared to five interceptions. By comparison, backup Richie Williams has three TD passes.
Bellefeuille said Printers remains Hamilton’s starter — for now — but added the club needs more consistent play from under centre.
"The key is whoever we decide to play has to be more consistent for this team to move forward," he said.
Hamilton has eight regular-season games remaining and Bellefeuille figures the Ticats must win at least five to be a playoff contender.
Ticats centre Marwan Hage said he felt terrible when he heard the news about Taaffe’s departure.
"It’s never a good feeling because we’re all in this together, coaches included," he said. "When one of us goes it’s really not a good feeling because coach Taaffe has a family and a life so we’re cutting bread on his table, too."
Taaffe became Hamilton’s 19th head coach Dec. 15 2006, amid much fanfare. Not only did he sign a three-year deal reportedly worth $300,000 annually but was re-united with GM Marcel Desjardins, who Taaffe worked with in Montreal.
But it was a tumultuous season-and-a-half run for Taaffe in Steeltown.
Last year, the Ticats posted a CFL-worst 3-15 record, which ultimately cost Desjardins his job. Shortly after O’Billovich was hired he met with Taaffe and quickly announced that Taaffe would remain as the club’s head coach.
The following month, though, the Charleston Gazette reported Taaffe was leaving Hamilton to become the offensive co-ordinator and coach of quarterbacks at the University of West Virginia. Trouble was, no one from the school asked the Ticats permission to speak to Taaffe.
Complicating matters even more was that Taaffe’s contract with the CFL club didn’t contain an escape clause that would’ve allowed him to leave for another job.
Although no job offer was reportedly made to Taaffe, the entire situation created no shortage of speculation regarding his interest in remaining in Hamilton.
But O’Billovich said Taaffe worked very hard to help make the Ticats better this year and added he has no regrets about keeping him aboard.
"When you looked at the overall picture from last year to this, there were a lot of other things outside of Charlie’s control prior to me coming that made it tougher for him to be successful," O’Billovich said. "I felt with Charlie’s awareness and knowledge of the players from the previous year … he deserved the opportunity.
"There’s nothing negative about Charlie and what he was doing. The reality of the situation is we’ve had two stinkers this year and both have come on a short week and I think that’s a sign of the youth on our football team. The fact of the matter is all the games except those two the players have played extremely hard and we had our fair share to win the majority of the games we lost. I still believe we’re on the right track."
