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Some final thoughts after a day in Blue Bomber history that won’t soon be forgotten.
It’s about Lyle Bauer, and the timing of his resignation as Bomber president/CEO.
One of his favourite sayings, aside from “Good seats are still available,” was about always doing what’s best for the football team.
He said it again as he bid adieu the other day, when I asked him about his questionable hirings and firings of head coaches the last few years.
“I see where you’re going here,” Bauer began. “The decisions that have been made, whether you like them or don’t like them, have always been made in the truest interest of the Winnipeg Football Club. Whether it turns out or not, will be seen in the future.”
We didn’t have to wait long to see how it would turn out for Mike Kelly — he’d be fired later that same day, after being charged with domestic assault.
So Bauer’s judgment over the years when it came to coaches went something like this: fire Dave Ritchie and hire Jim Daley in 2004, fire Daley and hire Doug Berry in 2005, sign Berry to an extension in 2008, then fire him five months later and hire Kelly.
Of three hires, I’d say Bauer succeeded once, with Berry.
That might be a good batting average in baseball, but it’s lousy in the hiring business.
Which brings us back to the timing of Bauer’s departure.
If he really wanted what was best for the organization, Bauer would have handed in his keys right after the season ended.
Instead, he played a game of million-dollar chicken with the board of directors.
First, he endorsed the return of Kelly far too quickly, just days after the season, in effect handcuffing the board.
If the board had wanted to discuss Kelly’s future — (ital) if? (ital) — it suddenly was backed into a corner: any dissent over the coach would automatically be seen as meddling in Bauer’s business, questioning his decision.
In essence, to get at Kelly, the board would now have to go through Bauer. And that would be expensive.
With two, maybe three years, left on a contract paying him somewhere north of $300,000 per (we’re not sure, that’s confidential), buying out the CEO (ital) and (ital) the coaching staff wasn’t a realistic option.
And so the cat-and-mouse game was on.
As questions about Kelly’s future mounted, the board doing its year-end reviews,
Bauer began sending out mixed signals about his own future, suggesting everything was in the board’s hands.
Still, he didn’t walk away, despite the fact he’d considered the idea for a long time.
We found that out on Thursday.
“The last number of months, maybe even the last couple of years, these are things that have been in the back of my mind,” Bauer said.
So why endorse the controversial head coach so quickly after the season, if you might leave?
Could it be Bauer was hoping to cash a nice, fat severance cheque, then go “double-dip” someplace else?
This past week, the board repeated its support of Bauer, intending to soldier on with Kelly as the coach, but under some strict conditions.
That’s when Bauer finally stepped down.
In the end, he didn’t get his severance, walking away from the gig on his own. We’ll give him credit for that.
But it took far too long to get to that point.
And now the Bombers have a late start in rebuilding their front office. The Christmas season will delay it even further.
I don’t see how that was in the best interest of the Winnipeg Football Club.
paul.friesen@sunmedia.ca