Tom Higgins will be coaching from the edge of the snowbank Sunday. And he's cool with it.

It's been written here that if Higgins becomes the first Eskimos head coach in 33 years to miss the playoffs, he's history.

Higgins says he understands.

"There'd be a lot more pressure on the organization,'' he said.

"You weren't good enough to keep this going,'' he added of the rationale.

Higgins says he gets it. That's football.

"Sure. I have no problem with that. Every game is a test. Every game is an evaluation.''

Higgins surprised some by speaking to the subject yesterday, 48 hours before what could be his last game as Eskimos head coach. I saw it more as Higgins grabbing an opportunity presented to him to use himself to take pressure off his team.

Whatever, it's out there. And a coach speaking to the subject of getting fired before the make-or-break game of the season is going to take the focus off the quarterback's fingers, etc.

But Higgins also added he's not exactly losing sleep over it.

"That's me. Don't live your life in fear," he stated. "Sooner or later, I'm going to be the ex-head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos.''

He says ideally he'd prefer to one day become ex-head coach as a matter of choice on his part rather than being tied to "a big log and running me out of town.''

But he gets the gig.

'YOU'RE A GENIUS OR THE VILLAGE IDIOT'

"You're a genius or the village idiot.

"This is it. This is what you have to deal with. If we win this game - and I am very confident we will win this game - then we're in the playoffs and a big weight will come off the players.''

Higgins says he doesn't think of tomorrow against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as possibly being his final game as head coach.

"No. My coaching career will go on and on and on,'' he said, whether it be bantam, college or somewhere else.

"Tom Higgins is a better coach right now than he has ever been in his life.''

He said a situation like this is to be met head-on.

"It deepens your resolve. When everything is going your way is one thing. When it goes bad, that's when it will show whether you're truly a coach or not. When you get in one of those really tough times, then you see exactly what happens.''

Higgins said it bothers him hearing fans get on the case of quarterback Jason Maas. But he says he has no problem with them getting on him.

"I don't mind if it's me. Don't attack my family, but I understand if it's Tom Higgins.

"At some point the Eskimos are going to be coached by somebody else. I hope it's a lot later than sooner," he declared.

"As director of player personnel, I know we've been getting a lot of things done to make this team better next year. It's going to be exciting, but right now the only thing that's important is 2 p.m. Sunday.''

WATCH OUT FOR THAT CLIFF

Higgins's coaching career here has had a coaching-from-the-edge-of-a-cliff feel to it every season. After losing the Western Final the first year, he had to get to the Grey Cup or be fired. After getting to the 2002 Grey Cup in Commonwealth Stadium and losing it, he had to get back and win it or be fired. Now ...

Odds are Higgins won't be put on that log when he's fired. He'll likely move back into his old job as general manager. And he'll likely have a large say in choosing between Danny Maciocia or Greg Marshall (Hey, the league can have two Greg Marshalls as head coach, it used to have two teams called the Roughriders).

But all that is premature. The Higgins I saw talking about all this yesterday was taking one for his uptight team.

He and his coaching staff have been working hard this week to send this heebie-jeebie team of his into the game as relaxed as possible.

This is a team which has not handled being defending Grey Cup champions or facing the end of that 32-year playoff streak worth a damn. The embarrassing losses in Hamilton and Regina reflect that.

"I think we were emotionally too high for the game in Regina,'' said Higgins.

"It's like asking somebody to squeeze a glass of water as tight as you can. After 10 minutes you can't hold it anymore. You were holding it too tight. I think we went there hanging onto that glass too tight.''

Higgins is trying to sell calm and confidence this week and, considering his precarious position, he's succeeding in doing that - in front of the media, at least.

"I'm excited. I'm confident we'll line up and play our best game of the season. I think we'll go out and execute. And if we go out and execute, I like our chances. If we win, we're 9-9 and in the playoffs and we can wash the season out of our memories and go after it in the playoffs.''

If not? No mystery. He's history.