Bombers’ Burke expects to hear from Ticats by week’s end

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This article was published 04/01/2012 (5082 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tim Burke says he expects to know by this Friday whether he will be returning next season as the defensive coordinator of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Burke is in the running for the vacant head coach job with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and said Wednesday afternoon that the Ticats have informed him that they will make a final decision by the end of this week.

“It’s down to three people and from those three, they’re going to make their decision by the end of this week,” Burke said by telephone from his off-season home in Lawrence, Kansas.

Burke was asked if he likes his chances. “To be honest with you, I don’t have a feel one way or the other.”

Toronto Argonauts special teams coordinator Mike O’Shea is also still a candidate for the Ticats job, sources said Wednesday.

But the man the Ticats really want to take the job is former Calgary Stampeders offensive coordinator George Cortez. Cortez is currently the quarterbacks coach for the Buffalo Bills, but TSN reported Wednesday morning that the Bills have granted Hamilton permission to interview Cortez for the Ticats job.

It’s unclear if Cortez is even interested in the job. He previously took his name out of the running for the head coach job with the Toronto Argonauts in 2009.

Burke says he’s not expecting to hear the Ticats’ decision until after that interview takes place.

Burke had a standout first year as the Bombers defensive coordinator, molding what was a good defence in 2010 into the most dominant defence in the league in 2011. The Bombers won the CFL’s East Division last season and advanced to the Grey Cup, but lost to the BC Lions.

It was the fourth year in a row that a defence led by Burke competed in the Grey Cup.