Mark Cohon doesn’t see dysfunction in Edmonton as much as he sees misguided passion.
The commissioner of the Canadian Football League is in town for tonight’s Labour Day rematch that pits the Eskimos against the Calgary Stampeders. He’s seen the TV coverage of general manager Ed Hervey’s press conference; he’s read the back-and-forth that’s gone on between the GM and his head coach, Kavis Reed, in the days that followed. Reed seems to be implementing Hervey’s demanded changes (bench Simeon Rottier; handcuff offensive co-ordinator Doug Sams; make defensive co-ordinator Greg Marshall’s defence more aggressive) at his own pace. Rottier will sit, but he was listed as the starting right guard on this week’s depth chart. Sams won’t call crucial plays, Reed said, but will still wear the headset. It’s business as usual, Sams said of the plan for this week. Reed, meanwhile, has insisted he’s not going rogue on his boss, saying he follows Hervey, “Every day and twice on Sundays.”
After Eric Tillman’s two-year stint as GM ended with the organization in flux last November, the one thing that was counted on this year with Hervey hired in was that the dysfunction was gone. This week seemed to counter that and those old questions started to come back.
On Friday afternoon, Cohon echoed Reed’s Thursday comments.
“I think there’s a lot of passion in the two leaders you have here in Ed and Kavis and you want to see that passion, because if there’s not passion you get even more worried about it,” he said.
“I think they’ll work through it. I think you see these cycles in sports. You see the up and down in terms of cycles and they’ll work through it. I’m confident that the leadership here will make it happen and at the end of the day if the team is winning on the field that addresses a lot of the challenges that they have.”
Hervey’s outspoken press conference on Tuesday drew criticism from many around the league and marks another moment that the team’s public image has taken a hit. A quick move to Florida in April for a secret mini-camp drew its critics, as did the team holding its final roster announcement out of training camp 14 hours longer than any other team in the league. The Eskimos weren’t in violation of any league policies in their actions, but they’ve also strayed from the practices of the pack this year.
“Like any organization, whenever you have new people in there are sometimes growing pains and you work through those,” Cohon said. “I think we’ll have 32,000 fans here (tonight). You focus on the game and that’s what we have to look forward to.”
