Ask Milt Stegall about whether he would want to coach a football team at any level once he retires as the CFL's greatest receiver of all time and I can almost guarantee you he would answer with his standardized rebuff:
SDLqMilt Stegall would only consider a coaching appointment if someone could guarantee that all the players he were coaching were Milt Stegall."
Therein lies the greatest challenge of any coaching appointment: teaching and conveying your message and philosophies to 50-plus differing personalities that all react independently to what you have to say and do.
What one player may perceive as an offensive or demoralizing remark another may understand and be motivated by. When one player or member of the media thinks a coach is being too harsh, another may think it is justifiable and just what the situation calls for.
In the very cutthroat and ruthless business of pro football, some of us respect those coaching figures more who don't sugar-coat the realities of the game for the sake of preserving our delicate sensibilities, and tell us like it is. One thing you learn in the trials and tribulations of this game is that sooner or later the truth does rear its ugly head -- whether you appreciate it or not and whether it is convenient or not.
There was quite a stir last week when it was speculated whether the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in his opening address to his team at the end of training camp made the following remark: "Some of you are not here because you are the best players at your position, but because you are the cheapest."
Apparently a number of people thought that was an uninspiring way to kick off the regular-season meeting. Well, whether it was said or not, I can tell you one thing with absolute assurance: It couldn't be any more true. Welcome to the reality of professional sports and a salary-cap Canadian Football League.
I suppose some people would rather be lied to and told that, "Amazingly this year, we were able to sign and keep all the best and most expensive players available to us at every single position, and that happens to be all of you sitting right here in this room right now. How we pulled it off I have no idea."
I, for one, would rather not have my intelligence insulted to such a degree.
In my time in professional football, I have always respected and benefited most from those players and coaches who simply did not pull any punches in revealing the nature of the game, and salary caps are part of the new landscape that has been ushered in by the CFL that need to be realized.
One quote I do remember quite vividly from this year's training camp is when GM Brendan Taman remarked to the press that when he evaluates the players on the roster now, he sees more than just their strengths and weaknesses, he also sees our price tags dangling from our helmets.
That is what salary-cap eras are all about -- performing a cost-benefit analysis on every player on the roster and determining whether their benefit exceeds their cost, and by what margin. It's not pretty or fair, just the truth, and something all players -- veteran or rookie -- need to be reminded of and exposed to at some point in their careers.
But still, some would argue, wouldn't telling some of your players that they aren't necessarily the most talented options out there, just the most economical, be a less-than-motivating diatribe? I suppose it depends on what kind of person or athlete you are.
Maybe you are the kind that would see such a statement as a challenge and gauntlet and strive to go out and prove, week in and week out, that you are both gifted and efficient.
Or maybe you are somebody that prefers to have smoke blown up your posterior because your self-esteem and confidence are so fragile that you need to be lied to like you were a child looking for the confidence to compete in organized sport for the first time.
Professional football, ladies and gentlemen, is as brutal a game as it gets -- both on and off the field -- and the sooner we all learn that, the better off we all will be.
, always a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Free Press.
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