Lefko on Ticats: Hamilton’s holy trinity
Posted January 10, 2012 7:14 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats unveiled their new holy trinity on Tuesday, hoping the threesome will be able to deliver the team to the promised land of the Grey Cup, something which has been foreign to the franchise since last winning it in 1999.
Newly-hired head coach/director of football operations George Cortez, newly-acquired quarterback Henry Burris and newly-classified general manager Bob O’Billovich, now “promoted” to vice-president of football operations but no longer having final say on all personnel matters, stood as one at a media gathering in the heart of Hamilton.
Whether they can collectively win the Cup in a city starved for it will play out in time. The Ticats haven’t been partying since 1999. They are the only one of the eight franchises currently in the CFL not to have won the Cup or even competed in it in the new millennium.
“There’s a lot of wins at this head table,” O’Billovich said in reference to Cortez and Burris. “Hopefully this will get us over the hump. I think this will be a great new face for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.”
The trio collectively has multiple Grey Cup rings. They also have what can best be described as an interesting six degrees of separation. Burris comes from Calgary where he had been the team’s starting quarterback for the last seven years. He played nine seasons in all with the Stamps, a good part of it with Cortez as the offensive co-ordinator. Cortez worked for much of his career co-ordinating the offence for GM/head coach Wally Buono, who moved to B.C. in 2003 to assume the same role. During his first four years there, Buono had O’Billovich as his player-personnel director.
Since Ticats owner Bob Young took over proprietary of the team after the 2003 season, he has done everything within his financial power to win the Cup, or at least get a sniff of it. He has routinely changed presidents, general managers, head coaches, quarterbacks, running backs and, yes, even mascot Pigskin Pete, all with one expressed purpose in mind.
When apprised that Cortez, who worked the last two years as quarterbacks coach of the Buffalo Bills, was interested in the Ticats’ head coaching vacancy but demanded control of player personnel as one of his conditions, Young didn’t flinch. He’s never been shy about paying for talent, even if it hasn’t always worked, because he’s craving a winner.
“He talked about winning and winning Grey Cups – actually winning multiple Grey Cups,” Cortez said with a smile. “We’ll start out with one and go from there. It’s all about winning games and winning championships.”
The ebullient Young, normally in attendance for the Cats’ big hirings and firings and always wearing a baseball cap with the team’s logo, was not in attendance, nor was president Scott Mitchell, his trusted lieutenant since 2007. Doug Rye, the team’s executive vice-president and the Ticats’ representative on the Board of Governors, spoke on behalf of the other two and didn’t waste much time handing over the microphone to the other three.
Rye’s presence may mean a lot or nothing at all, given how Young and Mitchell have been the faces and speakers of the franchise in the last few years, in particular during the controversial proceedings with Hamilton City Council for a new stadium. The team will move into the new digs, once the current digs at Ivor Wynne Stadium are renovated in time for the 2014 season. The Ticats’ home(s) for the 2013 season are still to be determined.
The chance to be part of this interesting time in the Ticats’ history is another factor that interested Cortez.
The Ticats are taking a huge risk giving Cortez, who has never been a head coach, such absolute power. But he comes from an organization in Calgary that more often than not has been a model for consistency and stability.
It is the exact opposite of the Ticats.
“I was offered a good opportunity to become a head coach and to do the things I felt were necessary to put an organization in place,” Cortez said.
For the first year, anyway, Cortez will run the offence, and expect it to be flashy because that’s what he’s done in the past. But it is all contingent on Burris, who lost his job as the starting quarterback of the Stampeders towards the end of the 2011 season only a year after voted the Most Outstanding Player in the CFL. He knew after his team bowed out meekly in the first-round of the Western Semi-Final that his time was up in Calgary. It was just a matter of where and when.
The Cats made a trade with Calgary before the new year, acquiring Burris from the Stamps, and less than two weeks later signed Cortez. It’s like Cowtown has moved east to Steeltown.
“I had a great run there, eight, nine years all in once place,” Burris said. “I was blessed and thankful for all they did for me. As time goes on, things change. The pastures will be greener on the other side this year.
“It’s part of the icing on the cake,” Burris added, speaking of having Cortez as his coach. “I couldn’t have asked for a better situation. He was the best guy for the job. I’m looking forward to being together with him again. George’s life is all about detail. He’s a very detail-based guy. He’s not only a great coach, he focuses on everything beyond the game. That’s what makes him a good coach. He’s going to do great things for the team and for the City of Hamilton.”
And yet, hasn’t this type of hype and enthusiasm come from the mouths of different football people who came to Hamilton with bravado and excitement and left without delivering?
“I think actions speak louder than words,” Burris said. “Just come out and see what happens. I can’t speak about what happened in the past. It’s a new face, a new attitude. I’m just looking to put in my two cents worth. This is definitely a good place for me to be at the right time.”
Leave it to Ticats’ legend Angelo (Walking Tall) Mosca, famous for his robust play on the football field and wielding a wicked cane off of it, to make a point that best sums up the future going forward for Cortez, Burris and O’Billovich.
“They’ve got to prove to me they are different,” Mosca said. “There’s a lot of experience. We’ll see what happens. We keep going after people. When are we going to make heads or tails out of this thing?”
It’s a valid question.
