Clashy coach will be very lucky if he gets second chance

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/11/2009 (5866 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In pondering Mike Kelly’s future, a paraphrase of an old punk rock tune comes to mind: “Should he stay or should he go now?”

Go figure, The Clash. That should be Kelly’s nickname. He’s clashed with the media on occasions. He’s clashed his own players. He’s clashed with other team’s players. He’s clashed with Bombers fans, for Pete’s sake.

Kelly personifies conflict. It’s in his DNA. He can’t help himself. And, to be fair, it’s also won the Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach the adoration of the segment of every society that adheres to a “Give ’em hell” mentality.

But let’s put aside Kelly’s polarizing image for a moment to discuss his rookie season as a head coach. It was a train wreck, almost from the moment he was handed the job by Bombers president and CEO Lyle Bauer.

Personally, I’m willing to give Kelly a pass on not only releasing Kevin Glenn for squat — after paying his bonus, no less — but also giving up two top draft picks to Edmonton for Stefan LeFors.

Let’s not rewrite history. The vast majority of fans had turned on Glenn. They practically booed the guy out of town. Sure, Kelly could have kept Glenn for insurance, but that would mean his highest paid player would have been on the bench and quite probably a malcontent. Tough call.

Face it, Glenn needed a fresh start and that’s exactly what awaited him in Hamilton. And even the Tiger-Cats waited until about Week 15 to give Glenn the No. 1 job.

Then there’s LeFors, who got hurt in the Bombers opening game, then aggravated the injury in Week 3. So how do you fairly judge his performance? Although it’s curious that Kelly never, ever brings up LeFors’ name when he talks about the Bombers quarterbacking future. That’s not a good sign for LeFors, but it reflects poorly on Kelly’s decision in the first place (Hey, there’s two words you won’t be hearing in Bomberville for a while).

In fact, it’s actually hard to believe that when Kelly returned to Winnipeg, offence was his calling card. Remember? Only Kelly was going to touch the quarterbacks. Only high school coaches use the shotgun.

Flash forward to November, and Kelly’s choice of quarterback is non-existent, every other back-up on the roster at the start of the season has been run out of town and the emergency replacement, Michael Bishop, threw for 10 yards in the final half of the Bombers final regular-season game as the club finished a dismal 7-11.

Worst. Offence. Ever.

After the loss, Kelly was naturally painting a rosy future for the Bombers. He talked about rebuilding the offensive line and an improved secondary; both worthy accomplishments.

Kelly and Bauer have cited the “improved culture” in the Bombers’ dressing room this season, too, and how they all get along so famously. So I guess the 29,000 fans who had to sit through that debacle on Sunday, as they quietly filed out of the stadium midway through the fourth quarter, could take consolation in the fact that the Bombers are best of pals.

Resurrection

Now let’s be honest: If the Bombers had won on Sunday, this entire column would have been about the Biblical-esque resurrection of a team that stuck by their embattled head coach and overcame enormous odds and adversity to host the East semifinal against the same Tiger-Cats.

Kelly would have been basking in redemption and all of his detractors would have had to shut the hell up. That’s the way it works.

But not only did the Bombers not win, but they lost at the hands of Glenn, of all people. And the Bombers offence amassed exactly ONE first down in the second half against Greg Marshall’s defence, he being the former Winnipeg coordinator passed over for the Bombers top job in favour of Kelly. Talk about bad optics.

Yes, the Bombers did make some improvements, almost all of them defensively. What’s truly frustrating is that the one guy who was brought in to accomplish one thing — find/tutor/polish a franchise quarterback and thereby solidify the Bombers offence — dropped the ball so stunningly.

It’s like signing a home run hitter whose only RBI was on a sacrifice fly. Really, I don’t want to hear about anything Mike Kelly did to bolster the Bombers defence. That’s not why Doug Berry was fired after going 8-10 and MAKING the playoffs.

Kelly was given the job by his old friend Bauer to fix the Bombers at quarterback. He didn’t come close. Ten yards, one first down, and two interceptions returned by the Tiger-Cats for touchdowns. And at the end, a frustrated veteran receiver like Terrence Edwards openly tells reporters “we need to change the system.”

Maybe the Bombers can’t afford to fire Kelly. Maybe Bauer and the board of directors see enough good on the field to justify keeping him around.

Maybe. But this much is certain: Kelly was brought in for a specific purpose, and at that purpose he failed horribly.

If Mike Kelly is extremely fortunate, he’ll get another chance to try again.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Randy Turner
Reporter

Randy Turner spent much of his journalistic career on the road. A lot of roads. Dirt roads, snow-packed roads, U.S. interstates and foreign highways. In other words, he got a lot of kilometres on the odometer, if you know what we mean.

   Read full biography